President Obama is set to announce his nomination of former Pentagon general counsel Jeh Johnson to become the next secretary of Homeland Security, replacing Janet Napolitano. Johnson played a key role in crafting policies used to guide the U.S. drone wars and the detention of terror suspects. During a speech at Oxford University last year, Johnson rejected the terms "indefinite detention" and "extrajudicial killings," which are frequently used to describe how the administration detains and assassinates people without charge or trial. He said such terms might be appropriate in a law enforcement setting, but not in the context of what he called a war with al-Qaeda and its "associated forces."
Jeh Johnson: "Viewed within the context of conventional armed conflict, as they should be, capture, detention and lethal force are traditional practices as old as armies. Capture and detention by the military are part and parcel of armed conflict. We employ weapons of war against al-Qaeda, but in a manner consistent with the law of war. We employ lethal force, but in a manner consistent with the law of war principles of proportionality, necessity and distinction."
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