Salon.com > Kill Lists

Government can keep legal justification for drone strikes secret

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 22:20:00 +0000

The Obama administration does not, under law, have to provide legal justification for its targeting killings to the public, a federal judge ruled today. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan said the government did not violate the law by refusing the New York Times' FOIA requests for such information.

As Reuters noted, however, "McMahon appeared reluctant to rule as she did, noting in her decision that disclosure could help the public understand the 'vast and seemingly ever-growing exercise in which we have been engaged for well over a decade, at great cost in lives, treasure, and (at least in the minds of some) personal liberty.'"

Human rights groups condemn White House drone “rulebook”

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:16:00 +0000

Antiwar and human rights groups have reacted with ire to news, reported by the New York Times, that the Obama administration has sought to codify its drone program.

The Times reported late last week that, concerned that an "amorphous" set of guidelines over targeted killings could be passed on to a new president, efforts were made ahead of the election to pin down a clearer set of rules about kill lists and drone strikes approvals.

However, as the Guardian reported, human rights groups have noted that such a drone "rulebook" does nothing to ensure that the U.S. act in line with international law nor would it increase transparency drone programs.

"To say they are rewriting the rulebook implies that there isn't already a rulebook," Jameel Jaffer, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Center for Democracy, told the Guardian. "But what they are already doing is rejecting a rulebook – of international law." Jaffer contined:

Obama administration has expanded kill lists to a “matrix”

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:40:00 +0000

Forget about kill lists, the Obama administration has already moved on to developing a "disposition matrix" -- the next generation of targeted, extrajudicial assassination programs. A lengthy Washington Post report by Greg Miller Tuesday revealed that the developing terrorist database "is designed to go beyond existing kill lists, mapping plans for the 'disposition' of suspects beyond the reach of American drones."

The WaPo story, based on interviews with current and former national security officials, illustrates that kill lists -- once considered emergency measures post 9/11 -- have been crystallized as a permanent fixture of our national security apparatus. All the while the question of targeted assassination overseen by the president remains an untouched topic in this year's election campaign. WaPo's Greg Miller wrote: