Title: The drone memos : targeted killing, secrecy, and the law /
Authors: Jaffer, Jameel,; American Civil Liberties Union,
Year: 2016
Subjects: Targeted killing United States.; War and emergency powers United States; Uninhabited combat aerial vehicles (International law); Terrorism Prevention Law and legislation United States
Abstract: "The Drone Memos is a groundbreaking volume that collects and explains the legal documents underlying the Obama administration's hugely controversial program of remote-control assassination. Jameel Jaffer led the ACLU legal team that sued for the release of these documents. In The Drone Memos, he compiles the legal memos, white papers, and government speeches that, taken together, ratified and even expanded the Bush administration's "war on terror." These documents are now key precedents, and they will be debated inside and outside the United States for years to come. In a powerful introduction, Jaffer contextualizes and explains the memos and connects the legal abstractions to the real-world violence being perpetrated in our names. The memos, he argues, place astonishingly broad power in the hands of future presidents--power that the Constitution never envisioned, and that will almost certainly be abused"--
Contents: Chekhov's drones -- "The tight leash" -- Secrecy, and the fiction of it -- Law without limits -- February 19, 2010, Office of Legal Counsel memorandum, "Lethal operation against Shaykh Anwar Aulaqi xxxxxxxxxxxx " -- July 16, 2010, Office of Legal Counsel memorandum, "Applicability of federal criminal laws and the constitution to contemplated lethal operations against Shaykh Anwar al-Aulaqi" -- March 25, 2010, remarks of Harold Hongju Koh at the annual meeting of the American Society of International Law, "The Obama administration and international law" -- May 25, 2011, Justice Department white paper, "Legality of a lethal operation by the Central Intelligence Agency against a U.S. citizen xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" -- September 16, 2011, remarks of John O. Brennan at Harvard Law School, "Strengthening our security by adhering to our values and laws" -- November 8, 2011, Justice Department white paper, "Lawfulness of a lethal operation directed against a U.S. citizen who is a senior operational leader of al-Qa'ida or an associated force" -- March 5, 2012, remarks of Eric Holder at Northwestern University School of Law -- April 30, 2012, remarks of John O. Brennan at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, "The ethics and efficacy of the President's counterterrorism strategy" -- May 22, 2013, letter from Attorney General Eric Holder to Hon. Patrick J. Leahy -- May 22, 2013, Presidential policy guidance, "Procedures for approving direct action against terrorist targets located outside the United States and areas of active hostilities" -- May 23, 2013, fact sheet, "U.S. policy standards and procedures for the use of force in counterterrorism operations outside the United States and areas of active hostilities" -- May 23, 2013, remarks of President Barack Obama at the National Defense University --