"Few presidents have ever granted the Fifth Freedom. It's the right to defend our laws, by breaking them. To safeguard secrets, by stealing them. To save lives, by taking them. To do whatever it takes to protect our country. The Fifth Freedom is mine alone. I am Sam Fisher. I am a Splinter Cell."

— Sam Fisher in the "Official Fifth Freedom Trailer" for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist.^[1]

The Fifth Freedom is a concept derived from the Four Freedoms articulated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the State of the Union Address he delivered to the United States Congress on January 6, 1941. In the address (also known as the Four Freedoms speech), FDR proposed four fundamental freedoms that humans "everywhere in the world" ought to enjoy, including:

1. Freedom of speech and expression
2. Freedom of religion
3. Freedom from want
4. Freedom from fear

In the universe of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, the Fifth Freedom is the implicit freedom that exists to protect the other four. When all other means are exhausted, this unofficial Fifth Freedom permits disregard to any law, agreement or framework of ethical behaviour in order for a Splinter Cell to accomplish the mission and protect the other Four Freedoms of United States citizens. As Dermot P. Brunton put it, "All means are acceptable."

For example, with the Fifth Freedom a Splinter Cell may kill in combat or by assassination, may torture or kidnap people, may deploy on U.S. soil, and may spy on other U.S. government agencies.

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