I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6010 
To prohibit the extrajudicial killing of United States citizens, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 30, 2010 
Mr. KUCINICH (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. FILNER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 
STARK, Mr. ELLISON, and Mr. JACKSON of Illinois) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Select Committee on Intelligence 
(Permanent Select), and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary 
and Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To prohibit the extrajudicial killing of United States citizens, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) On January 27, 2010, The Washington 
Post revealed that United States citizens have been 
included on lists maintained by the Central Intel-
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ligence Agency (CIA) and the Joint Special Oper-
ations Command (JSOC) to be assassinated. 
(2) The January 27 Washington Post article 
reported that the JSOC and CIA maintain lists of 
individuals deemed ‘‘High Value Targets’’ and 
‘‘High Value Individuals’’, whom they seek to kill or 
capture, that the lists currently include United 
States citizens, and that the President has author-
ized military operations with the express under-
standing that a United States citizen may be killed. 
(3) Admiral Dennis C. Blair, then the Director 
of National Intelligence, in testimony before the 
House Select Committee on Intelligence on February 
3, 2010, confirmed the policy of including United 
States citizens on such lists, stating that ‘‘a decision 
to use lethal force against a U.S. citizen must get 
special permission’’ before the targeting of a United 
States citizen can be granted and that ‘‘being a U.S. 
citizen will not spare an American from getting as-
sassinated by military or intelligence operatives over-
seas if the individual is working with terrorists and 
planning to attack fellow Americans.’’ 
(4) The Obama administration has publicly au-
thorized the extrajudicial killing of Anwar Al-Awlaki, 
a United States citizen born in New Mexico who is 
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accused of involvement in terrorist organizations 
abroad, the first confirmed United States citizen to 
be added to a CIA list of targets for capture or kill-
ing. 
(5) According to an article published in The 
Nation in November 2009, the private security con-
tractor Blackwater Worldwide, now Xe Services, is 
intimately involved with the targeted assassination 
programs run by the CIA and JSOC in Pakistan. 
(6) 
Department 
of 
Defense 
Instruction 
1100.22, issued on April 12, 2010, states that ‘‘se-
curity is inherently governmental’’ and that the 
‘‘U.S. Government has exclusive responsibility for 
discretionary decisions concerning the appropriate, 
measured use of combat power, including the offen-
sive use of destructive or deadly force on behalf of 
the United States’’, particularly in operations that 
have virtually no transparency, accountability, or 
oversight. 
(7) United States Attorney General Eric J. 
Holder recognized that the Department of Justice 
has successfully prosecuted many terrorism defend-
ants in Federal courts, stating on Friday, November 
13, 2009, that ‘‘for over two hundred years, our na-
tion has relied on a faithful adherence to the rule of 
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law to bring criminals to justice . . . Once again we 
will ask our legal system to rise to that challenge, 
and I am confident it will answer the call with fair-
ness and justice’’. 
(8) Executive Order 12333 (46 Fed. Reg. 
59941; relating to United States intelligence activi-
ties), issued by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, 
stated, ‘‘No person employed by or acting on behalf 
of the United States Government shall engage in, or 
conspire to engage in, assassination’’. 
(9) Executive Order 11905 (41 Fed. Reg. 7703; 
relating to United States foreign intelligence activi-
ties), issued by President Gerald Ford in 1976, stat-
ed, ‘‘No employee of the United States Government 
shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, political 
assassination’’. 
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) due process of law is a fundamental prin-
ciple in the United States Constitution, the United 
States has a commitment to the principles included 
in the Bill of Rights, and no United States citizen, 
regardless of location, can be ‘‘deprived of life, lib-
erty, property, without due process of law’’, as stat-
ed in Article XIV of the Constitution; 
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(2) the participation in, or planning of activi-
ties, by the United States Government that result in 
the extrajudicial killing of a United States citizen 
undermines the rule of law and the moral standing 
of the United States in the world; 
(3) the United States and other responsible na-
tions have a vital interest in upholding the rule of 
law; 
(4) the authority granted to the President in 
the Authorization for Use of Military Force (50 
U.S.C. 1541 note), following the terrorist attacks of 
September 11, 2001, is not limitless; 
(5) this authority has been used by the Execu-
tive Branch to circumvent the role of Congress as a 
co-equal branch of Government, to justify holding 
prisoners indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay, for mass 
domestic spying on United States citizens in viola-
tion of their most basic constitutional rights, and to 
use lethal force against United States citizens 
abroad who are believed to participate in terrorist 
activities absent judicial review; 
(6) the notion that the constitutional rights of 
one citizen can be revoked to protect the constitu-
tional rights of other citizens should be rejected; 
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(7) the use of extrajudicial force against a cit-
izen of the United States that is outside of the inter-
nationally recognized battlefields of Iraq and Af-
ghanistan constitutes a violation of the law of armed 
conflict; and 
(8) it is in the best interest of the United 
States to respect the rule of law and set the example 
for upholding the principles of international and do-
mestic law. 
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON THE EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLING OF 
UNITED STATES CITIZENS. 
(a) PROHIBITION.—No one, including the President, 
may instruct a person acting within the scope of employ-
ment with the United States Government or an agent act-
ing on behalf of the United States Government to engage 
in, or conspire to engage in, the extrajudicial killing of 
a United States citizen. 
(b) REPORT ON UNITED STATES CITIZENS ON TAR-
GETED ASSASSINATION LISTS.—Not later than 7 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President 
shall submit to the congressional intelligence committees 
a report on the identity of each United States citizen that 
is on the list of the Joint Special Operations Command 
or the Central Intelligence Agency as ‘‘high value individ-
uals’’ or ‘‘high value targets’’. 
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(c) ASSURANCES TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 7 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Presi-
dent shall submit to the congressional intelligence commit-
tees a written assurance that no United States citizens 
are being added to the list of the Joint Special Operations 
Command or the Central Intelligence Agency as ‘‘high 
value individuals’’ or ‘‘high value targets’’. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) CONGRESSIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘congressional intelligence com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) the Permanent Select Committee on 
Intelligence of the House of Representatives; 
and 
(B) the Select Committee on Intelligence 
of the Senate. 
(2) 
EXTRAJUDICIAL
KILLING.—The 
term 
‘‘extrajudicial killing’’— 
(A) means a premeditated and intentional 
use of lethal force against a United States cit-
izen; and 
(B) does not include— 
(i) the use of lethal force against a 
United States citizen after a trial and find-
ing of guilt for such citizen by an appro-
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priate tribunal consistent with due process 
of law; 
(ii) the use of lethal force against a 
United States citizen who is directly par-
ticipating in hostilities in a zone of active 
armed conflict and the United States is a 
party to such conflict; and 
(iii) the use of lethal force against a 
United States citizen that is authorized for 
law enforcement personnel under certain 
circumstances, including self-defense, de-
fense of others, and enabling the release of 
hostages. 
Æ 
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