BEWARE THE GIFT OF POISON FRUIT Even outside an immediate threat scenario, it would be unrealistic to expect security and intelligence agencies to abandon all cooperation with States known to torture, particularly where there are strong historical links and other demographic associations. Indeed, it would be impossible to confront threats of international crime and terrorism without such cooperation. Advocates for an ongoing relationship with States that torture also point to the plain fact that through cooperating with such regimes, meaningful changes to abusive practices can better be achieved. In balancing the often delicate relationships with allied partners overseas, States should ask what positive preventive measures can be taken to ensure that the relationships between executive agencies do not encourage or lead to abuse. These are certainly not easy issues to grapple with and we should not assume that a clear legal prohibition is necessarily effective in responding to the challenging legal and practical dilemmas that States face. More consideration among expert actors should be considered to weigh competing principles before guidelines for executive actors might be adopted. 20