The Justice Department wrote a secret memo that authorized Friday's killing of al-Qaida leader Anwar al-Awlaki, The Washington Post reported.
Because al-Awlaki is an American citizen, some legal questions were raised over whether the government was authorized to conduct the drone strike that killed him. The DOJ memo could help clear up some of those legal issues.
A former intelligence official told The Post that such a killing would not have been conducted without an opinion by the Justice Department.
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