User blog comment:SilencedSkies/The Illusive Man: Good, Evil or just bad writing?/@comment-260563-20120730041142/@comment-142.255.20.178-20120811021706

Technically, what both the UNSC and Cerberus did was illegal AND unethical. The only difference is that the UNSC succeeded. Cerberus, at that point, was still Alliance Black Ops. What do black ops do aside from doing questionable shit that's gonna get them in trouble in exchange for serving their cause anyway?

I doubt the Earth government constitution legalized the UNSC to kidnap children for their tests. Hell, 70% of those kids died. That would count as murder. The only difference is that the government supported the Spartan Program all the way, while the Alliance in Mass Effect was too soft for Cerberus' ideals.