美无人机可空袭涉恐公民惹争议

Political rules in America dictate that anyone hoping to get rather top jobs in the administration must first face what's called a confirmation hearing. Basically that involves being grilled by the relevant congressional committee. That's what John Brennen is currently going through. He's in line to take over the running of the CIA. He's a controversial choice not least because of his stance on the use of drones to target militants. Ahead of the hearing, the Obama administration has been under pressure to release a classified memo outlining how drones could also be used against American citizens abroad suspected of terrorist activity. Christopher Anders is with the American Civil Liberties Union and Richard Samp is chief counsel at the Washington Legal Foundation. So has the White House actually handed over the memo? Here's Richard Samp.

My understanding is that yes, the intelligence committee members were given copies of a lengthy 60-page analysis by the Justice Department. We should be clear, however, that this, shortened versions of this same analysis have previously been provided in fact to Attorney General Holder a year ago and a lengthy speech laid out the case for allowing the killing of Americans but only in very limited circumstances. Number one, they have to be leaders of al-Qaeda. Number two, it cannot be possible for them to be captured because of their locations, so that really a drone strike is the only alternative. And number three, there has to be evidence that these individuals pose an imminent threat.