A journalist-spy is killed by the security service of a country that has just switched from Soviet to American alignment. An allied Western intelligence agency almost certainly provided that security service with intelligence that led to the killing. Both the host country government and the Western intelligence agency have every institutional reason to ensure the killing is never formally attributed. Now consider: the killing occurs at the single moment of maximum international media attention on that country — the start of historic peace talks. From a pure operational security perspective, why might this timing, which appears to maximize risk of exposure, actually minimize the long-term risk of accountability?