Editing CIA A Study Of Assassination (1953) (section)

====Edge Weapons.====

Any locally obtained edge device may be successfully employed. A certain 
minimum of anatomical knowledge is needed for reliability. 

Puncture wounds of the body cavity may not be reliable unless the heart is 
reached. The heart is protected by the rib cage and is not always easy to 
locate. 

Abdominal wounds were once nearly always mortal, but modern medical 
treatment has made this no longer true. 

Absolute reliability is obtained by severing the spinal cord in the cervical 
region. This can be done with the point of a knife or a light blow of an axe or 
hatchet. 

Another reliable method is the severing of both jugular and carotid blood 
vessels on both sides of the windpipe. 

If the subject has been rendered unconscious by other wounds or drugs, 
either of the above methods can be used to ensure death.