For those who haven't heard, the White House has recently released a memo outlining the rules it's laid out for targeting US terror suspects for
assassination preemptive killing, in order to prevent a "terrorist attack." This paper, touted as
policy instead of a legal document, was, depending on who you listen to,
leaked to the media, though a White House spokesperson claims that they were released as an attempt at transparency.
The New York Timesreports that the Justice Department declined to disclose the white paper in a letter on Jan. 23, telling the newspaper the document was a "draft" and was exempted from FOIA because it was part of the "deliberative process."
But White House spokesman Jay Carney touted the release of the white paper as evidence the administration was enabling a public conversation about the principles behind the government's targeted killing program, stating at one point on Tuesday that the white paper had been "released" rather than leaked.
According to
The New York Times, the document was originally leaked to NBC, and have since made their way online (still searching for a copy). Analysts, including the ACLU and
The Young Turks, are concerned about the incredibly broad language, that could be interpreted as
making anyone a fair target. Essentially, their concern boils down to language stating that "High level government officials" need to more than have concern about a person's unspecified "recent" activities, and that their current actions make sending troops to apprehend them "dangerous". There is also concern over the fact that suspected persons are not told they are suspects, and thus are not given the chance to clear their names, or otherwise receive notice that they are considered terror suspects.
On a final note, I'll leave this rather lengthy interview from the Majority Report podcast, which goes quite in depth with this issue, and is well worth the listen.
