The Obama administration believes it could technically use military force to kill an American on U.S. soil, according to a letter written by U.S. attorney general Eric Holder.
In the letter responding to inquiries raised by Republicans on military drone strikes, Holder writes that in “extraordinary circumstance” the military has the legal right to drone strike in order to kill a citizen on American soil, but added that the administration has “no intention of doing so.”
“The question you have posed is therefore entirely hypothetical, unlikely to occur, and one we hope no president will ever have to confront. It is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States,” Holder wrote.