President Obama's revelation last week that a counterterrorism operation let to the accidental killing of an American and an Italian hostage, as well as two Americans associated with Al Qaeda, has once again raised the circumstances under which the U.S. can use lethal force to target American citizens abroad, The Christian Science Monitor's Anna Mulrine reports: "A 2011 Department of Justice memo says that to legally order the death of a US citizen without a trial, the government must determine that the citizen is 'a senior Al Qaeda leader or an associated force' who is 'actively engaged in planning operations to kill Americans.'"
Christopher Swift, adjunct professor of national security studies at Georgetown University in Washington, told CSM that the memo is the only legal authority out there about when American citizens can be killed without trial in the name of national security. The problem is the memo's "'reliance on due process is vague,'" Swift said.
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