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Espionage In Transnational Law, Leslie S. Edmondson

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Traditionally, spies have been defined as "secret agents of a State sent abroad for the purpose of obtaining clandestinely information in regard to military or political secrets." Older authorities have stated emphatically that the gravamen of espionage is the employment of disguise or false pretense. Such deception has been the justification for visiting the severest of penalties upon the captured spy. Curiously, however, the employment of spies has not been considered reprehensible conduct. The refusal to officially acknowledge the commissioning of a spy operated to relieve the government of any responsibility either to the offended state or to the secret …