When you think of secret dossiers, the mind often jumps to spy movies or dystopian novels. In reality, however, a dozen nations actually keep written or digital rosters of individuals they deem worthy of elimination. These are the infamous “kill lists” that governments use to target what they call terrorists, spies, or other perceived threats. In this roundup we reveal the ten states that have, at one time or another, quietly compiled such lists – a chilling glimpse into the world of 10 governments secretly operating behind the scenes.
Below you’ll find each country, a snapshot of how its list was assembled, who ended up on it, and the methods employed to turn a name on paper into a real‑world operation. Some lists are openly acknowledged, others are whispered about in intelligence circles, but all share a common thread: the power to decide who lives and who dies, often without public oversight.
10 governments secretly: The Global Kill Lists
10 United States
The United States runs a quasi‑public, quasi‑secret roster known as the “disposition matrix,” a database that logs names, locations, and preferred lethal methods for individuals the government categorizes as threats to national security.
During Barack Obama’s administration, the matrix was refreshed each week in sessions the press dubbed “Terror Tuesday.” Senior officials from the Pentagon and the CIA would submit names, and the president gave final approval. Occasionally, allied agencies such as Britain contributed entries.
Once a name cleared, the CIA or the military would shadow the target, often striking with drone‑launched missiles or dispatching covert special‑operations teams. In a few rare cases the target was captured for interrogation. The bulk of the victims were suspected jihadists operating in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia.
Critics argue that the list has contained individuals with tenuous ties to terrorism, and the drone campaign has produced a high civilian toll – more than 400 Pakistani deaths from 330 strikes between 2001 and 2013. The administration maintains that the matrix is a defensive tool, not a hit list, insisting it merely catalogues potential threats.
9 China
China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) may not maintain a rolling hit list today, but in 2010 it demonstrated the capacity to eliminate an entire CIA spy ring operating on its soil – wiping out more than thirty agents.
The CIA’s tradecraft at the time relied on low‑security, unencrypted communications, with operatives using ordinary laptops and desktops to exchange messages. That technology was originally designed for regions with weak counter‑intelligence, not a surveillance‑heavy state like China.
Chinese counter‑intelligence units swiftly traced the traffic, identified the CIA operatives, and moved in to assassinate them. While the confirmed death toll stands at thirty, intelligence analysts suspect the real number is higher, underscoring China’s relentless approach to protecting its secrets.
8 Britain
Britain’s own kill list is an unsettling document that, paradoxically, contains a majority of its own citizens. The UK’s intelligence agencies – MI5, MI6, and GCHQ – once compiled a roster of roughly two hundred British nationals who had travelled to join the Islamic State.
Estimates suggest that up to seven hundred Britons fought for ISIS at its peak, but the government zeroed in on the most dangerous, including twelve bomb‑making specialists. The aim was to prevent these fighters from returning home and orchestrating attacks.
Special Air Service (SAS) operatives were inserted into Iraq to locate and, where feasible, eliminate the targets. In other cases, the UK employed drone strikes to neutralise high‑value individuals, blending covert action with remote precision.
7 France
Under President François Hollande, France assembled its own kill list, modelled loosely on the American disposition matrix. The French roster targeted people believed to have taken hostages or otherwise threatened French interests, primarily in Syria and the Sahel.
French officials framed these operations with euphemisms such as “neutralisation of strategic objectives,” “targeted eliminations,” or “homicide operations,” deliberately avoiding the word “assassination.” Lacking a fleet of attack drones, France relied on manned aircraft to carry out the strikes.
On several occasions France handed over intelligence on its targets to the United States, which then executed the killings via drone. The French list was compiled by the army and the DGSE (the French equivalent of the CIA), but the nation remains tight‑lipped about the specifics of its covert programme.
6 Germany
Germany does not conduct its own lethal raids, but it does furnish the United States with a roster of individuals it deems threats. German intelligence passes names to the US, where they are added to the Joint Prioritized Effects List (JPEL), a massive catalog of roughly three thousand drug dealers, Taliban fighters, and Al‑Qaeda operatives operating in Afghanistan.
Members of the U.S. Task Force 373 (now known as Task Force 3‑10) are tasked with hunting down anyone on the JPEL. While capture is the official objective, the realities of combat often lead to lethal outcomes, especially when targets resist arrest or attempt to flee.
5 Russia
Russia’s alleged kill list remains shrouded in mystery. The Kremlin never admits to maintaining such a roster, and NATO officials have not confirmed its existence. However, Ukraine has made bold claims about a Russian list targeting journalists.
In 2018, Ukrainian authorities announced that Russia had compiled a list of forty‑seven Russian and Ukrainian journalists slated for assassination. The claim surfaced after a staged killing of Russian reporter Arkady Babchenko, who appeared to be murdered in Kiev before reappearing the next day to explain the hoax.
Ukrainian officials said the deception was designed to expose Russia’s alleged plan to eliminate Babchenko and others. Following the reveal, they published the names of the forty‑seven journalists they said Russia intended to target.
4 Iran
Iran’s counter‑intelligence triumphs echo those of China. While CIA operatives were using an unencrypted web portal to coordinate espionage against Iran’s nuclear program, Tehran’s cyber‑units detected the traffic and traced it back to several CIA assets.
Iran first learned of the spy network when a double‑agent supplied a secret website the CIA used for communications. Realising the vulnerability, Iranian officials launched a massive search using Google to locate any other hidden CIA sites.
Once identified, Iranian forces tracked, captured, and executed the CIA spies who accessed those sites. Only a handful escaped. Iran also shared its findings with allied nations, including China, enabling them to replicate the operation on their own soil.
Former CIA contractor John Reidy later blamed the agency’s own security lapses for the debacle, noting that he had warned the CIA about the insecure communications years before the operation, only to be dismissed.
3 Philippines
The Philippine government’s list, comprising 649 alleged terrorists, was thrust into the public eye when officials sought a court ruling that would have effectively labelled those individuals as terrorists, granting the state sweeping powers to eliminate them.
The roster alarmingly included several non‑combatants, such as United Nations human‑rights advocate Victoria Tauli‑Corpuz, as well as unnamed “John Doe” or “Jane Doe” entries that could be filled in later. Many of the names belonged to activists rather than armed insurgents.
Authorities insisted the names represented members of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army. Human Rights Watch condemned the list as a tool for President Rodrigo Duterte to silence political dissent and eliminate rivals.
2 Israel
Israel openly acknowledges its use of a hit list. In August 2001, the government published a roster of seven Palestinians it intended to eliminate after the Palestinian Authority refused to hand them over following terror attacks.
Some analysts view the public release as a strategic move, a psychological pressure tactic meant to demonstrate that Israel would only strike when other parties failed to cooperate, thereby compelling potential attackers to flee.
The Israeli Defence Forces employ a mix of snipers, helicopter‑launched missiles, and even more unconventional methods such as attaching explosives to victims’ phones. The state consistently refers to these operations as “targeted killings” rather than assassinations, though civilian casualties in Gaza and the West Bank have sparked international controversy.
1 Sri Lanka
In 2010, a leak exposed a Sri Lankan intelligence list targeting 35 journalists and NGO workers. The list ranked individuals by perceived importance, but no killings had occurred before the disclosure.
One of the names was J.C. Weliamuna, director of Transparency International’s Sri Lankan branch, who survived a suspected grenade attack in his home two years earlier – an incident many suspect was linked to the defence ministry.
Another listed individual was Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu of the Center for Policy Alternatives, who had received death threats in 2009. Since 2006, Sri Lanka has been linked to at least fourteen journalist murders, as well as torture and forced disappearances.
The government denied ever compiling a hit list, though officials admitted to monitoring certain groups. Amnesty International asserted that the list was deliberately leaked to intimidate journalists and human‑rights defenders.