Anwar al-Awlaki

Site of drone strike

How the Obama administration’s drone program normalized targeted killing

Justice

A former ACLU lawyer who challenged the secrecy of the president’s drone program says Congress and the courts should have provided more oversight.

American-born Al Qaeda leader killed in Yemen

Attorneys critical of AG Holder’s justification for targeted killings of Americans

Global Politics
The World

US Citizen’s Death by Drone

Global Politics

Why Drones Are Our Modern Nuclear Bomb

How a Danish Former Biker Turned Jihadist, then Double-Agent, Says he Helped the CIA Track and Kill Anwar Al Awlaki

Global Politics

American-born al-Qaeda leader Anwar Al Awlaki was killed by US drone strikes in Yemen in September 2011. It turns out that the CIA may have gotten help from a Danish double-agent to get to their target.

Eric Holder: US Can Target Citizens Overseas

Attorney General Eric Holder outlined the United States’ legal defense of using lethal force against U.S. citizens overseas if that citizen is posing a terrorist threat.  Holder’s speech, delivered Monday afternoon at Northwestern University, argued in part that the U.S. Constitution’s definition of due process defends the use of lethal force, even without the written consent […]

Islamic Extremism in Yemen

There are increasing worries Al Qaeda is using the instability in Yemen to spread its influence. An American military operation assassinated the radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki last year. One week ago militants took over the town of Radda.  Stephen Sackur, with our partner the BBC, sent this report.

The World

US and other countries rely more on drones

Conflict & Justice

With the increasing prevelance of drones, and the fact that they have killed both militants and civilians, some people are worried that a dangerous global drone arms race may be beginning. Scott Shane reports.

Top of the Hour: ‘Underwear Bomber’ Trial to Begin, Morning Headlines

The trial of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man charged with trying to detonate a bomb sewn into his underwear on a Christmas 2009 flight to  Detroit, is set to begin today. Abdulmutallab has an attorney assisting him, but is acting as his own lawyer. He reportedly told federal agents he was directed by U.S.-born cleric […]