NEW YORK — The US government, citing possible ‘‘exceptionally grave harm to national security,’’ told a US appeals court it wants to give the public less information about its legal justification for using drones to kill Americans suspected of terrorism overseas.
The Justice Department, Department of Defense, and Central Intelligence Agency made the request in papers submitted late Thursday to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan.
The document outlining the justification was sought through a Freedom of Information request by The New York Times and the American Civil Liberties Union. In April, a three-judge panel ordered the memo be released.
Lawyers for the government said they were not appealing the order but demanding more redactions to protect security and to prevent damage to the ability to engage in confidential deliberations.