CRISPR systems have been engineered into potent genetic tools for both basic and applied research. The most promising and wide utilization of CRISPR is for targeted genome editing, leading to precise genetic alterations within any genome of interest, as demonstrated in a plethora of organisms including several important crop plants. Bacterial blight (BB) is a devastating rice disease. The causal agent Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) uses secreted transcription activator-like effectors (TALEs) to ectopically activate host SWEET sucrose transporter genes, conditioning a state of disease susceptibility. Xoo uses a limited set of TALEs to target promoters of three SWEET genes (SWEET11a, 13, and 14) in rice. CRISPR/Cas9 was used to engineer rice lines that carried multiple mutations in three SWEET gene promoters. The SWEET promoter mutations were introduced into different rice varieties, and the disease evaluation showed that editing SWEET promoters conferred robust, broad-spectrum BB resistance. We also developed rice lines that carried knockout mutations individually or in combination in three SWEET genes (SWEET11a, 13, and 14). The knockout lines are useful diagnostic tools to determine SWEET-inducing TALEs in field Xoo isolates and guide the deployment of resistance genes derived from the genome edited SWEET promoter mutations. CRISPR/Cas9 has also been used to probe other resistance and defense genes in rice. In addition, we have developed CRISPR system for gene editing in plant bacteria. Our results demonstrate a route to realize the promising potential of genome editing and advance basic understanding of crop disease in agriculture.