CAIRO – Following the failed Christmas terror plot on a US plane, the Obama administration is mulling a “targeted killing” policy of Americans involved in terror schemes overseas, reported the Washington Post on Thursday, February 4.
"We take direct action against terrorists in the intelligence community," Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told the House Intelligence Committee late Wednesday.
“If we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that."
The Post has earlier reported that President Barack Obama had embraced predecessor George W. Bush's policy of authorizing the killing of Americans involved in terror plots overseas.
It said the CIA and Joint Special Operations Command have three Americans on their lists of specific people targeted for killing or capture.
The move follows reports hinting that a Yemen-based American imam, Anwar al-Aulaqi, was involved in the botched plot by a young Nigerian to blow up a US-bound plane on Christmas Eve.
Aulaqi was also reportedly said to have links to an Army major who shot dead 13 people at Fort Hood military base in November.
US counter-terror officials have warned that Americans could be recruited by Qaeda militants in Yemen to launch attacks against the US.
"We don't know how many additional Americans he's gotten to," a senior counter-terror official told The Daily News, referring to Aulaqi.
"There was nothing specific any of them were alluding to. But we certainly have indications that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has a variety of plans to strike the United States."
Muting Critics
The American spy chief denied that the new strategy aims to silence critics of Washington.
"We don't target people for free speech,” Blair said, in response to a question by the Committee’s top Republican Representative Pete Hoekstra about the standards of judging whether the suspect has "crossed the line" from denouncing US policy into recruiting terrorists or coordinating attacks on US targets.
“We target them for taking action that threatens Americans.”
Under the Bush administration, critics of the US policies were barred from entering the country, chiefly Swiss-based Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan.
The Republican lawmaker, however, did not buy the “targeted killing” policy would go in the right way, citing a 2001 incident in which Peru's air force shot down a plane carrying US missionaries, killing a woman and her seven-month-old daughter, after the aircraft was misidentified as a drug-smuggler.
"We were careless and we were reckless,” Blair replied.
“And I want to make sure that this committee does everything that it can and within its power that it does not allow the community to be reckless and careless again.
"While I'm in charge, we will not be careless and reckless," he pledged.
"We take direct action against terrorists in the intelligence community," Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told the House Intelligence Committee late Wednesday.
“If we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that."
The Post has earlier reported that President Barack Obama had embraced predecessor George W. Bush's policy of authorizing the killing of Americans involved in terror plots overseas.
It said the CIA and Joint Special Operations Command have three Americans on their lists of specific people targeted for killing or capture.
The move follows reports hinting that a Yemen-based American imam, Anwar al-Aulaqi, was involved in the botched plot by a young Nigerian to blow up a US-bound plane on Christmas Eve.
Aulaqi was also reportedly said to have links to an Army major who shot dead 13 people at Fort Hood military base in November.
US counter-terror officials have warned that Americans could be recruited by Qaeda militants in Yemen to launch attacks against the US.
"We don't know how many additional Americans he's gotten to," a senior counter-terror official told The Daily News, referring to Aulaqi.
"There was nothing specific any of them were alluding to. But we certainly have indications that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has a variety of plans to strike the United States."
Muting Critics
The American spy chief denied that the new strategy aims to silence critics of Washington.
"We don't target people for free speech,” Blair said, in response to a question by the Committee’s top Republican Representative Pete Hoekstra about the standards of judging whether the suspect has "crossed the line" from denouncing US policy into recruiting terrorists or coordinating attacks on US targets.
“We target them for taking action that threatens Americans.”
Under the Bush administration, critics of the US policies were barred from entering the country, chiefly Swiss-based Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan.
The Republican lawmaker, however, did not buy the “targeted killing” policy would go in the right way, citing a 2001 incident in which Peru's air force shot down a plane carrying US missionaries, killing a woman and her seven-month-old daughter, after the aircraft was misidentified as a drug-smuggler.
"We were careless and we were reckless,” Blair replied.
“And I want to make sure that this committee does everything that it can and within its power that it does not allow the community to be reckless and careless again.
"While I'm in charge, we will not be careless and reckless," he pledged.
