US wants to withhold information on justification for using drones to kill Americans ov... - 0 views
www.greenfieldreporter.com/...US--Drone-Killing-Memo
war & peace U.S.-foreign-policy drones FOIA litigation transparency
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The U.S. government, citing possible "exceptionally grave harm to national security," told a federal appeals court it wants to give the public less information about its legal justification for using drones to kill Americans suspected of terrorism overseas. The Justice Department, Department of Defense and Central Intelligence Agency made the request in papers submitted late Thursday to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan. The document outlining the justification was sought through a Freedom of Information request by The New York Times and the American Civil Liberties Union. In April, a three-judge panel of the court ordered the memo released.
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Lawyers for the government said they were not appealing the order but instead were demanding additional redactions to protect national security and to prevent damage to the government's ability to engage in confidential deliberations and to seek confidential legal advice. It asked that the full 2nd Circuit consider the request if the three-judge panel turned it down. It also suggested that the request be sent to the lower court for further review of specific changes the government was requesting. Lawyers for the Times and ACLU said Friday that the government's continued delays regarding the document are cheating the public of a fully informed and fair debate over the highly classified "targeted-killing" program.
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David E. McCraw, vice president and assistant general counsel of The New York Times Co., said in an email: "The government raised all these points before and lost. After two and a half years of litigation, it's time for the delays to stop so the American people can fully participate in the debate on this important issue."