Being semi-retired with time to do useless things I have been watching Netflix, including watching series I never bothered with when they were on network TV. One such is Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. If you're familiar with the series then you know the Trekkie hero in this one is Captain Sisko, held in the same esteem as captains Kirk and Piccard. Well, in one episode, Season 6 Episode 19 if memory serves, he violates Federation laws, protocols, regulations...and his plot ends up with an assassination (murder) of a political figure, a Romulan Senator. And while it was one of Sisko's accomplices who plotted and carried out the assassination, without his knowledge, the good captain does learn the truth after the fact. He decides the "right" thing to do is cover it all up, and that same accomplice also murders another person who was hired to perform some tasks since he could not be trusted not to talk. It was a brutal foray into political intrigue.
The episode is told as a flashback as Sisko is dictating into his personal log recounting the whole plot. During which he justifies each step since "the end" is designed to save lives. Basically, in case you never watched the series, the powerful enemy, the BAD GUYS, is an organization called The Dominion, which recruits and overtakes planets and peoples...just like the old Soviet Union did...and is building their empire. Finally they invade Federation space (that's us, Earthlings) and the Klingons agree to ally with us to fight this common enemy. The Romulans sign a non-aggression pact with The Dominion and are sitting on the sideline just watching as The Dominion is winning the war. Every day, at Deep Space Nine, those soldiers read the latest casualty lists and Captain Sisko grows angry especially when friends and comrades appear on the list. He decides they can only hope to win the war if the Romulans join the allies. His plot is designed to create fake intelligence showing The Dominion plotting a sneak attack against the Romulans, much like Hitler's surprise attack against Stalin's Soviet Union, who had also signed a non-aggression pact.
Anyway, the point is this episode is an interesting study in "does the end justify the means?" Sisko's dictation into his personal log addresses all the moral, ethical, and legal questions one would expect, and that we all know, should something similar happen here, said person(s) would be prosecuted (impeached!) to the fullest extent of the law (and beyond). At the end of the episode Sisko is alone in his quarters and he wraps up his dictation saying, upon reflection if he had to do it again, he would! Then he says, "Computer...delete my personal log" and the screen fades to black.
If you have Netflix watch that episode. It's only 45 minutes, no commercials, on Netflix.