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Article updated: 2/5/2013 12:03 PM

Memo gives basis for drone strikes vs U.S. citizens

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A 2011 drone strike in Yemen killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizens. A Justice Department document says it is legal for the government to kill U.S. citizens abroad if it believes they are senior al-Qaida leaders continually engaged in operations aimed at killing Americans.

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An unclassified Justice Department memo reveals that the Obama administration's justification for drone strikes that kill al-Qaida linked U.S. citizens abroad is based on a much broader definition of whether they pose an imminent threat than was previously known. The government does not need information that a specific attack is imminent, the document says, only that the targeted suspect is involved in ongoing plotting against the United States.
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