Gaining a decision advantage for the Nation should not trump morality - some advantages or ways of gaining an advantage are clearly immoral. For example, relea

Gaining a decision advantage for the Nation should not trump morality - some advantages or ways of gaining an advantage are clearly immoral. For example, releasing a genetically engineered virus which killed the entire population of the South American continent would gain a decisive advantage for the US nation, because it would open up lots more lebensraum and could be invaded and settled, but it's not usually seen as an acceptable way to behave. Unacceptable actions include cheating on your allies, treating your enemies like animals, massacring civilians in or out of wartime, etc. Cheating on allies is particularly damaging because it means no one will trust an American from now on.