Obama's secret death warrant on al-Awlaki revealed

President Obama's secret memorandum authorising the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki was only legally valid if he could not be taken alive, it has emerged.

The legal writ, issued by the Justice Department, tackled the issues surrounding the targeted killing of a U.S. citizen by the American government - on the surface an unconstitutional act.



The issuing of the document followed fraught negotiations between administration officials and lawyers at the DOJ.Constitutional? Anwar al-Awlaki - a U.S. born citizen - was killed using secret authorisation from the justice department

Killed: Anwar al-Awlaki, left, and Osama bin Laden have both died following attacks by the U.S.legal? Officials at both the White House and the Justice Department have since refused all requests to answer how fifth amendment rights - guaranteeing a fair trial for all U.S. citizens - were satisfied by the secret memorandum

Officials at both the White House and the Justice Department have since refused all requests to answer how fifth amendment rights - guaranteeing a fair trial for all U.S. citizens - were satisfied by the secret memorandum.

The New York Times revealed more information regarding the secret document today.

The paper reported the roughly 50-page document was completed by the DOJ's legal Counsel around June last year.

According to the paper: 'The deliberations to craft the memo included meetings in the White House Situation Room involving top lawyers for the Pentagon, State Department, National Security Council and intelligence agencies.

'It was principally drafted by David Barron and Martin Lederman, who were both lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel at the time, and was signed by Mr. Barron.'

The news follows the revelation that American militants like Anwar al-Awlaki are placed on a kill or capture list by a secretive panel of senior government aides.

Once the panel adds a terror suspect to its list it then informs the president, White House officials told Reuters.

There is no public record of the operations or decisions of the panel, which is a subset of the White House's National Security Council.

Neither is there any law establishing its existence or setting out the rules by which it is supposed to operate.

The panel was behind the decision to add Awlaki, a U.S.-born militant preacher with alleged al Qaeda connections, to the target list. He was killed by a CIA drone strike in Yemen late last month.

The role of the president in ordering or ratifying a decision to target a citizen is fuzzy. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to discuss anything about the process.

Current and former officials said that to the best of their knowledge, Awlaki, who the White House said was a key figure in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al Qaeda's Yemen-based affiliate, had been the only American put on a government list targeting people for capture or death due to their alleged involvement with militants.