Dennis Blair: U.S. Can Kill Suspected American Terrorists Abroad

Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair offered confirmation on Wednesday that the U.S. intelligence community is authorized to assassinate Americans abroad who are considered direct terrorist threats to the United States.

"We take direct actions against terrorists in the intelligence community," Blair told lawmakers at a House Intelligence Committee hearing. "If we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that."

Blair, who was on Capitol Hill Wednesday to give an annual threat assessment, also confirmed al Qaeda's continued ambitions to carry out another attack on American soil.

This latest information comes in the wake of a string of terrorist plots that have reportedly stemmed from radicalized Americans overseas.

The Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al Awlaki, a former imam at a mosque in Falls Church, Va., was in contact with both Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the perpetrator of the failed Christmas airline bombing, as well as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the officer accused of killing 13 people at Ft. Hood, Tex. in November.

Last month, the FBI charged American David Coleman Headley both as an accessory in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and as a plotter in attacks on a Danish newspaper that printed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005.

Blair's latest disclosure follows last week's Washington Post report that recent military action in Yemen, which had been successful in killing many top al Qaeda officials, but not al Awlaki, was approved by President Obama. Al Awlaki is one of a handful of Americans that has been determined by the National Security Council and the Justice Department to be a U.S. intelligence target.

Some House members raised concerns about these latest developments. Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), who criticized the intelligence community this week for misconduct surrounding the 2001 attack on a plane piloted by American missionaries in Peru, questioned the policy.

"The targeting of Americans -- it's a very sensitive issue, but again there's been more information in the public domain than what has been shared with this committee," Hoekstra said. "There is no clarity...what is the legal framework?

Glenn Greenwald penned an op-ed on Thursday criticizing the intelligence community's newly revealed authority to kill Americans abroad. Greenwald argues that "special permissions" for assassinations should not serve as sufficient credentials for murder. Without any judicial approval or oversight, Greenwald says, this process is "basically giving the President the power to impose death sentences on his own citizens without any charges or trial."

Comments

[butonelife]

08:01 PM on 02/09/2010

And how long will it be before the next president, or the next, decides to drop the single word, "abroad" from the directive?

[shahada2009]

09:58 AM on 02/09/2010

It is not surprising to learn of the news to justify killing Americans of terrorism! This policy is all ready in place in North African countries, where Muslim Americans living in these countries are being hounded, threaten and in some cases assault by American Terror programs under Africom! There is one prominent case now in Morocco which was featured on Al Jazeera May 2009! And, this Muslim Black American has gone threw hell! Al Jazeera learned that the security forces have been ordered to remove Black, Arab and Pakistani American Muslims without causes, because they are prone to extremism; according to these program statement of the North African Terror program! Al Jazeera interviewed this American on television, it is very interesting to see how our terror security forces are running wild! This program was used on this Muslim Black American almost killing him in the process! It is one thing to target a known terrorist, who is actively associating with, supporting the extremist insurgencies but to persecute, malign Muslim Americans in these countries without cause or because of a racist and traditional hatred is wrong! I have this site for anyone's edification!

[shahada2009]

03:19 AM on 03/21/2010

This is the case aforementioned above.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLrzi6F-s8U

[olmossy]

10:55 AM on 02/08/2010

Should make it a lot easier to get rid of those pesky liberal, commie leftist..

[blueskybigstar]

11:22 AM on 02/05/2010

The CIA and company are American corporation's personal police force.

http://www.freespeech.org/node/2449

[blueskybigstar]

11:17 AM on 02/05/2010

How do we know if they are really terrorists?

American intelligence agencies, in my opinion, have lost all rights to secrecy and should not be allowed to take any one's life.

[hippie chucker]

11:02 AM on 02/05/2010

Adam Gadahn, the American who is a PR man for Bin Laden, is in a cave with al Q leadership, when a Hellfire missile comes out of nowhere.

This hypothetical is a violation of what, exactly? This so called "American" agitates to get you, and your family killed......

[ProfessorDuh]

10:40 AM on 02/05/2010

The idea of a "central front" in a "war" that isn't a war against a stateless, invisible enemy represented by an empty noun is a rhetorical device so rarified that it makes the question about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin seem quite practical by comparison.

[bluesraves]

05:57 PM on 02/05/2010

Answer my question

[kimleehan]

10:15 AM on 02/05/2010

How do you fight people who are not afraid to die.? You try to kill more of them than they kill of you. Don't stop with American terrorist, a terrorist is a terrorist.

[ProfessorDuh]

10:34 AM on 02/05/2010

"Terrorist" is just a word that covers a multitude of sins. Without due process, you can be a "terrorist" as easily as anyone else. And just as easily dead, no questions asked or answered.

[bluesraves]

05:46 PM on 02/05/2010

spineless git

[Breakwind]

11:09 AM on 02/05/2010

Excellent comment, and so true..
Fanned

[DuPageDem]

10:12 AM on 02/05/2010

So much for all that purdy talk about "the rule of law" and "upholding our values." Meet the new emperor, same as the old emperor.

[fr33d0mhawk]

10:03 AM on 02/05/2010

The CIA assassination plans sound good for a FOX News sounbite, but what happens if a CIA hitman kills an innocent American? Does the hitman get charged with murder or does he get a ticker tape parade courtesy of Rupert Murdoch? History has proven time and again, when KGB-like government policies allow torture and murder, the innocents are harmed far more often than the guilty with no accountability.

The CIA is making America less safe because of their KGB actions, demonstrated by the CIA success in turning Iran into a terrorist state, a state that received a windfall of millions of dollars of US made weapons from Reagan. Reagan's t terrorist welfare package sort of debunks the theory that the CIA, or the GOP for that matter, is against terrorism. How many Al Qaeda terrorists were recruited in Iraq before 2000, maybe a dozen or less? How many Al Qaeda terrorists were recruited in Iraq after 2003 because of torture and murder of innocents, tens of thousands or more? Which terrorist group will be the next beneficiary of CIA training and free weapons handouts? Let's hope its not the Teaparty.

[Breakwind]

10:01 AM on 02/05/2010

We made it plain after 9/11 that we would seek out and "bring justice" to terrorists wherever they are found. We did not give a list of "excepted" countries. There is nothing secretive about this policy-- it is wide open to the world. That we will take out American terrorists also, only shows that we make no distinctions or play favorites. This is good, sound policy.

[vinny]

08:54 AM on 02/05/2010

CIA has evolved into a secret death squad

[vinny]

08:51 AM on 02/05/2010

CIA Mission Statement

•Collecting information that reveals the plans, intentions and capabilities of our adversaries and provides the basis for decision and action.

•Producing timely analysis that provides insight, warning and opportunity to the President and decisionmakers charged with protecting and advancing America’s interests.

•Conducting covert action at the direction of the President to preempt threats or achieve US policy objectives.

------------
Ki//ing Americans abroad would only occur if the President approves it.

[Galen Wohnus]

01:46 PM on 02/05/2010

We already read the article, thanks.

[Rubiconski]

08:01 AM on 02/05/2010

"Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair acknowledged in a congressional hearing on Wednesday that the U.S. may, with executive approval, deliberately target and kill U.S. citizens who are suspected of being involved in terrorism."

"suspect"?

What about the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States? The right to confront your accuser and the right to a PUBLIC trial. Who in the U.S. government has delegated authority outside of the Constitutional framework to authorize the murder of a U.S. citizen?

This is unconstitutional hardcore tyranny. The U.S. Government has become nothing but a bunch of thugs.

[StillAmused]

07:41 AM on 02/05/2010

Ever notice how, once they've been k!lled, they're ALL "suspected" terrorists?

Happens to entire small villages in Afghanistan.