U. S. Citizens overseas even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the u. S. We will speak with Jameel Jaffer from the aclu. The Obama Administration is claiming the Legal Authority to indefinitely detain americans without charge or trial. The way in which our fundamental rights, our bill of rights, our constitution freedoms have been abridged by the last 10 years and more as president obama is unhappily following in that tradition. We will speak with Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg who is in new york this week to attend an appeal in his lawsuit against the ndaa. We will speak with Computer Security researcher Jacob Appelbaum who lost a federal Appeals Court ruling that the government could subpoena his twitter and email information without a warrant as part of its probe into wikileaks. The boy scouts of america prepared to vote on whether to lift its ban on gay members. The question always comes down to, can case raise quick raise kids . Most people really do not have an answer. I raise my hand and say, i was raised by gay couple and im doing pretty well. I started 99 on the act, i own and operate my own business, i am an eagle scout. I believe i would make you very proud. We will speak with eagle scouts zach wahls. All of that and more coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The Obama Administrations legal rationale for assassinating u. S. Citizens without charge has been revealed for the first time. A secret Justice Department document obtained by nbc news says the administration can target citizens who are senior operational leaders of al qaeda or an associated force even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the u. S. The documents describe is a white memo, provided to members of the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committee last year. Its release follows failed civil liberty groups fighting legal justification for the targeting of an american. We will have more after headlines. And the report has revealed a detailed look at global involvement in the cia secret program of prisons, rendition and torture in the years after 9 11. The open Society JusticeInitiative Says 54 countries aided the cia until president obama halted the program in 2009. The report also reveals that at least 136 people were held by the cia during those years the largest tally to date. The countries assistance ranged from allowing cia planes to refuel to hosting the prisons where the detainees were tortured. The reports authors said the report comes as an italian Appeals Court has reversed a Lower Court Decision acquitting three cia agents involved in the 2003 kidnapping of a muslim cleric. Abu omar was seized in the streets of milan in 2003, taken to u. S. Bases in italy and germany before being sent to egypt where he suffered torture during a fouryear imprisonment. The reversal means all 26 tried in the case had been found guilty in italy. None have been extradited, but are subject to arrest if they travel in europe. The Justice Department is filing civil charges against the Credit RatingAgency Standard and poors for improperly rating Mortgage Securities leading up to the nations financial crisis. The charges would mark the governments first enforcement action against a major Credit Ratings agency following the nations near economic collapse. But s p only faces Civil Penalties of fines and restrictions, not jail time for top executives. Prosecutors reportedly this all but decided to file the civil case after s p balked at paying fines of at least 1 million. The federal bureau of prisons has announced plans to review the use of solitary confinement in prisons nationwide. The u. S. Is among the World Leaders in holding prisoners alone in small cells, in some cases up to 23 hours a day. In a statement, the aclu welcome the review saying president obama took his Public Campaign for gun control on the road monday with a speech in minnesota. With his state of the Union Address one week away, he emphasized his plan to ban assault weapons and increase background checks on gun buyers. We dont have to agree on everything to agree it is time to do something. [applause] there wont be perfect solutions, we will not save every life, but we can make a difference. That is our responsibility as americans. That is what i will do every single day as long as i have the honor of serving as your president. A number of republican senators have announced they wont try to filibuster the confirmation of chuck hagel as secretary of defense. The pledge by arizona senator john mccain and others likely means hagel has enough votes should another republican decide to filibuster his bid. Activists in syria are claiming over 270 people have been killed in nationwide violence since sunday. The syrian observatory for human rights says at least 90 people died across syria on monday after some 180 people lost their lives building was bombed in the Northern City of aleppo. The head of refugee operations for the middle east and north africa warned syrias violence is causing system of destruction. It is an appalling situation in syria. All of these figures probably are not capturing the true story of how syria, the people, but also the syria the country, are facing systematic destruction. For diplomats recently have claimed a small breakthrough in the impasse between Syrian Rebels and president alassad after Opposition Leader said he is open to sitting down with al assads aids. Iran in president ahmadinejad has arrived in cairo for a threeday visit to attend a summit of the organization of islamic cooperation. It is the first trip to egypt by an iranian leader since irans 1979 islamic revolution. Israel has carried out a new series of raids in the occupied west bank, arresting 23 members of the group hamas. Three of those detained were lawmakers in the palestinian parliament. The arrests come as Israeli Forces have dismantled yet another palestinian encampment challenging the occupation of the west bank. In what appears to be growing strategy, palestinian activists established a new outpost to protect their land from expanding settlement growth. Israeli forces and settlers moved in, firing live ammunition and arresting 10 people. It was the third palestinian, to be established and removed in the occupied west bank over the past month. The protest encampment follows the conclusions of a u. N. Human Rights Council inquiry reaffirming the settlements illegality and calling for complete dismantlement. Panel chair Christine Chanet said israels leadership has knowingly violated International Law by continuing the settlements growth. Is robust cease activities and provide israel must cease activities. You will see in our report, i think it is the first time you will find a historical background exhaustive of all the sentiments [indiscernible] the governments of israel are openly, sometimes not so openly in international stage, supports the settlements but they have the full council [indiscernible] a group of civil rights lawyers has followed lawsuit seeking to end in new yorks spying on americans. It alleges the nypd violates the landmark guidelines which limit how police carry out political investigations. The attorneys are calling for an end to all spying on muslims unless theres evidence of wrongdoing and for Court Auditor to oversee compliance. House lawmakers in arkansas have voted to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy with no exception for women who are victims of rape or incest. The measure now heads to the state senate, which last week passed an even harsher measure banning abortions after detection of a fetal heartbeat. Seven other states currently ban abortion at 20 weeks. In new york, hundreds of people packed a Budget Hearing in the state capital albany on monday urging Governor Andrew Cuomo to reject the gas drilling process known as fracking. Cuomo is expected to soon decide whether to lift the moratorium on fracking, a process that involves blasting fluid deep underground to extract gas. The demonstrators voiced concerns fracking would pollute water supplies, harm the environment, and threaten public health. Among them was the actor and activist mark ruffalo. 2 trillion dollars that is in Renewable Energy should come to this state, leading the world, we should be fossilfree by 2030. We can do that with our help. We will help you get there. We will help the president. But we will cream you if you opened at new york state to fracking. Direct actions are continuing against the keystone xl pipeline that would direct Tar Sands Oil from canada to the gulf coast. On monday, an oklahoma woman temporarily halted construction on the pipeline by chaining her neck to an excavator. She was arrested following her act of protest. President obama has delayed a decision on the Keystone Pipeline until the spring. He initially postponed until after the president ial election. Those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. Welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. The Obama Administrations into a legal justification for assassinating u. S. Citizens without charge had been revealed for the first line. According to a secret Justice Department document detained by nbc news, the Obama Administration claims it has the Legal Authority to target citizens who are senior operational leaders, at al qaeda or and associated force even if theres no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the west the september 2011, a u. S. Drone strike in yemen killed two american citizens, anwar awlaki and samir khan. The following month, another u. S. Drone strike killed al awlakiss 16yearold son Abdulrahman Al awlaki who was born in denver. The document obtained by nbc news is described as a white memo that was provided to members of the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees as a summer of a classified memo prepared by the Justice Departments justice and Legal Counsel. Last month a federal judge denied a request by the aclu and the New York Times for the Justice Department to disclose its legal justification for the targeted killing of americans. The Obama Administration secrecy around the Drone Program is expected to be a top issue at this weeks confirmation hearing of white house counterterrorism adviser john brennan to the director of the cia. Brennan has been dubbed by critics to be obamas assassination czar. Joining us now is Jameel Jaffer , deputy legal director of the aclu. You have looked at the white memo. This is something you have it asking for for quite some time. Talk about its significance. Go with it through it with us. It is a remarkable document and something everybody ought to read in the sand like everyone should read the torture memos from the last in ministration. It professes to set out the power the government has to carry out the targeted killings of american citizens who are located far away from any battlefield, even when they have not been charged with a crime, even when they do not present any imminent threat in any ordinary network. It is the pris sweeping powers set out in the memo purports to provide a legal test vacation for that power and explain why the limits on that power cannot be enforced in any court. The confidential Justice Department white paper youre talking about introduces a more expansive definition of self defense or imminent attack than any articulated by the u. S. Government before. It reads can you talk about the significance of that and how exactly imminent is defined in this document or not defined . You have to start with the acknowledgement there are circumstances in which the government has the authority and maybe even a responsibility to use legal force. Even if you think about it domestically, someone is waiting a gun waving a gun, you dont have to get award for legal force. But that is when the threat is imminent in the ordinary meaning of the term. Theres not time to go to a judge or deliberate. But the kind of eminence the government is defining here and the way the government has defined the term is much broader. Theyre talking about situations in which the person presents no immediate threat, no known plot. These people are located far away from any actual battlefields. Youre not talking about the situation where there are battlefields the government has to worry about. Youre talking about something much more like a Law Enforcement context. In that context, the traditional rule is the government has the authority to use legal force only in narrow circumstances. This memo redefines the circumstances in charlie. Lets turn to attorney general eric holder commenting last march when he outlined what the white house billed as the legal rationale for its claimed right to kill u. S. Citizens who belong to al qaeda or associated forces. It is an unfortunate but undeniable fact some of the threats we face come from a small number of United States citizens who have decided to commit a Violent Attacks against their own country from abroad. Based on generations old legal principles and supreme Court Decisions handed down during world war ii as well as during this current conflict, it is clear that United States citizenship alone does not make does not make such individuals immune from being targeted. Jameel jaffer, respond. It is not a question of immunity. No man is arguing that americans are internally opinion from the governments use of legal force. Under what circumstances than the government used legal force is what is in question. Those circumstances traditionally have been fined nearly, for good reason. Now the government is creating an extremely broad category of people who can be targeted without judicial review before the fact, without judicial assessment after the fact. It is very dangerous. At some level, the people who have written this memo and exercising this authority in the Obama Administration must be convinced of their own trustworthiness. But even if you accept the people who are in office now are trustworthy in the sense, this power will be available to the next administration and the one after that and every future conflict, not just the one against al qaeda. According to the administration, the power is available all over the world, not just geographically, and battlefields. What is the meat is not an officially called memo, but a white paper . Does that have legal implications . Some have said this is a kind of transparency that the administration through these kinds of leaks is giving the public the ability to assess the strength of the in ministrations legal argument. The truth is, this is just a briefing document, not a legal memo. It tells us a little about the authority the government is claiming, the legal memos are still secret. We have been litigating for those memos for 18 years to two years 18 months to two years. We just pulled one case here in new york. What is the case your organization is doing . Their two freedom of information act cases were litigating. One is in new york and 1 ntc 1 is an effort to get the legal memos. The New York Times as a parallel request. The one in dc is about civilian casualties. Who has been killed in these drone strikes . The administration has not released numbers. We are reliant on those outside the administration to do that work. We think the administration should release its own numbers. U. S. Citizens and nonu. S. Citizens . Yes, most of them are not u. S. Citizens that are being killed. Only four have been killed that are u. S. Citizens. The rest of the noncitizens, some killed in somalia, pakistan, according to the figures. Were talking somewhere on the order of 4000 people who have been killed with these drones. The Administration Still has not released the legal numbers that purport to justify the program. One of the cases were litigating, the one in new york, is the effort to get that justification. This briefing paper provides as little more information, but it is not a justification itself. For the same reasons the government was right in 2009 to release the torture memos, we think they should release these. Lets get specific. I saw you in sundance, the premier of a film called dirty wars. It tells the story, among others, of abdulrahman awlaki,