No Americans will be targeted in terror strikes, White House says

WASHINGTON – The White House said Tuesday that no American citizen "will ever be targeted" in raids against terror suspects, a blanket statement that appeared to signal a break from the Obama administration's strategy for pursuing and targeting suspects in counterterrorism operations overseas. Under former President Barack Obama, the Justice Department had issued a legal opinion giving the U.S. the authority to target Americans who are working with terrorists abroad. White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters the Trump administration will lean on the guidance of Central Intelligence Agency director Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, but he added that "no American citizen will ever be targeted." It was not immediately clear whether Spicer's intended to recalibrate U.S. policy. The U.S. specifically targeted and killed American Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical cleric, in Yemen in 2011.