Event – State-sponsored assassination: from the Cold War to the present with Dr Luca Trenta
September 25th 2024 – 15:00-16:00 (GMT+1)
Dr Luca Trenta
Chair: Dr Oliver Kearns
About the Event
SPIN is delighted to host the book launch for SPIN-ster Dr Luca Trenta‘s new book, The President’s Kill List. Join us to hear more about the book and its themes, including a Q & A session. The event will be held online, through Zoom. Please email secrecyresearch@gmail.com for an invite link.
About the Book
The President’s Kill List investigates the US government’s involvement in the assassination of foreign officials from the early Cold War to the present day
- Traces continuities in the conduct of US foreign policy and in the arguments used to justify and legitimate assassination plots
- Details the direct and indirect methods deployed by the US government to assassinate foreign officials
- Utilises extensive and often recently declassified archival material to unveil new details of Cold War and post-Cold War plots
- Analyses the secretive decision-making surrounding assassination plots, as well as the extent, nature, and role of presidential orders to kill
- Explores and exposes the euphemisms, innuendos, silences, and denials that have long characterised the US government’s approach to assassination
From Fidel Castro to Qassem Soleimani, the US government has been involved in an array of assassinations and assassination attempts against foreign leaders and officials. The President’s Kill List reveals how the US government has relied on a variety of methods, from the use of poison to the delivery of sniper rifles, and from employing hitmen to simply laying the groundwork for local actors to do the deed themselves. It shows not only how policymakers decided on assassination but also the level of Presidential control over these decisions. Tracing the history of the US government’s approach to assassination, the book analyses the evolution of assassination policies and, for the first time, reveals how successive administrations – through private justifications and public legitimations – ensured assassination remained an available tool.