‘Kill List’ Document Outlines When US Can Target Its Own Citizens in Drone Strikes

‘Without saying so explicitly, the government claims the authority to kill American terrorism suspects in secret.’

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- Andrea Germanos, staff writer, Common Dreams, February 5, 2013

 

A “profoundly disturbing” Justice Department document—with “chilling” parallels to the Bush torture memos—obtained by NBC News outlines when the U.S. can put its own citizens on a “kill list” to be targeted in drone strikes.



“This is a profoundly disturbing document, and it’s hard to believe that it was produced in a democracy built on a system of checks and balances. It summarizes in cold legal terms a stunning overreach of executive authority – the claimed power to declare Americans a threat and kill them far from a recognized battlefield and without any judicial involvement before or after the fact,” Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, said in a statement.

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