Leak of Unclassified "white paper" on Targeting U.S. Citizens Working with al-Qaida Abroad

NBC news obtained an unclassified 16-page memo from the Justice Department that specified that American citizens believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” can be assassinated from an order the U.S. government, even without evidence of their actual intention to attack the U.S. This paper, which was confidentially sent to key lawmakers last year, forms the legal basis of the Obama administration’s increased use of drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects abroad.

The September 2011 assassinations of Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan (the image shows the site of the attack), two U.S. citizens not indicted by the U.S. government nor charged with any crimes, serve as examples of these orders. The drone also killed Awlaki’s teenage son, Abdulrahman. Their relatives filed a wrongful-death lawsuit July 2012, expressing in the complaint that “the killings violated fundamental rights afforded to all U.S. citizens, including the right not to be deprived of life without due process of law.” The Pentagon, the Justice Department, and press officials with the CIA refused to comment and the Obama administration coerced a federal court to dismiss their lawsuit.

Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday that Obama has decided to send to Congress the classified rationale for the drone strikes in an effort to “consult with Congress on national security matters.” The leak of the unclassified "white paper" has intensified demands to see the classified legal advice given to Congress

Many commentators are striking parallels to the George W. Bush administration’s secretive detention and interrogation practices. Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights calls (end of the article) it “chilling,” claiming that Obama’s release was just a “Cliff Notes version for public consumption” that was solely an “attempt to appear transparent,” but in reality, his intentions remain vague.

The white paper claims “a lawful killing in self-defense is not an assassination…a lethal operation conducted against a U.S. citizen whose conduct poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States would be a legitimate act of national self-defense that would not violate the assassination ban.” Do you believe these orders are justified? Is Obama giving an inadequate amount of information? Considering American wartime history, are these justifications rightfully infringing on due process rights in light of the security of the country?