Drones, Continued

[Content Note: War; death.]

Welp:

In his first major speech on counterterrorism of his second term, Mr. Obama hopes to refocus the epic conflict that has defined American priorities since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and even foresees an unspecified day when the so-called war on terror might all but end, according to people briefed on White House plans.

As part of the shift in approach, the administration on Wednesday formally acknowledged for the first time that it had killed four American citizens in drone strikes outside the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, arguing that its actions were justified by the danger to the United States. Mr. Obama approved providing new information to Congress and the public about the rules governing his attacks on Al Qaeda and its allies.

A new classified policy guidance signed by Mr. Obama will sharply curtail the instances when unmanned aircraft can be used to attack in places that are not overt war zones, countries like Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. The rules will impose the same standard for strikes on foreign enemies now used only for American citizens deemed to be terrorists.

Lethal force will be used only against targets who pose "a continuing, imminent threat to Americans" and cannot feasibly be captured, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a letter to Congress.

So, the administration discloses it has killed four US citizens in drone strikes, and defended those killings by "arguing that its actions were justified by the danger to the United States," and we're supposed to feel better than the administration is revisiting its drone policy to use it only when there's a threat to the US, which was the justification just used to defend the droning of US citizens on foreign soil. Cool. I feel totally confident that this is meaningful change in our reprehensible drone policy. (No, I don't.)