demote maximally

   to kill one of your associates

   Espionage jargon. The career as a spy of the victim certainly can fall no lower:

    Jonathan smiled at the cryptic jargon... in which 'demote maximally' meant purge by killing. (Trevanian, 1972)

   A maximum demote is such a killing:

    The assassinations are called 'sanctions' if the target is someone outside the CIA, and 'maximum demotes' if the target is one of their own men. (Trevanian, 1973)