国际英语新闻:White House defends guidelines for targeting Americans in drone strikes

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- The White House on Tuesday defended the guidelines for targeting Americans in drone strikes following the leak of a government memo outlining legal basis for a lethal drone strike against an American citizen.

The strikes against Americans overseas are sometimes "necessary to mitigate ongoing attacks," and the operations are "fully consistent with our constitution," said Jay Carney, the White House spokesman at the daily briefing.

Calling those strikes legal, ethical and wise, Carney stressed that President Barack Obama believed it is "entirely appropriate" to target the senior operational leaders of al-Qaida, regardless of nation of origin.

Members of al-Qaida "have without questions engaged in plots against the U.S.," thus the president must confront with the situation, he said.

His remarks came a day after NBC News obtained and reported on a copy of a confidential Justice Department memo which concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens who are believed to be "senior operational leaders" of al- Qaida or associated force, even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.

The 16-page memo was provided to members of the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary committees in June by administration officials on the condition that it be kept confidential and not discussed publicly, according to NBC News.

The memo showed the U.S. government dramatically increased the use of drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects abroad, including those aimed at American citizens, such as the September 2011 strike in Yemen that killed alleged al-Qaida operatives Anwar al- Awlaki and Samir Khan, both of whom were U.S. citizens and had never been indicted by the U.S. government nor charged with any crimes.

"The condition that an operational leader present an 'imminent' threat of violent attack against the United States does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future," the memo states.

Conducting drone strikes is one of Obama administration's most secretive and controversial polices. Targeting U.S. citizens,in particular, have drawn fierce opposition from civil liberties groups in the country.