WASHINGTON, Feb 6: The US Congress is seeking to limit the administration’s authority to kill suspected terrorists as a leaked White House memo has alarmed America.

The memo, detailing America’s drone policy, seeks to provide legal cover to the strikes that have killed hundreds of suspected terrorists and others in Pakistan and elsewhere.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduling a hearing to consider the drone policy while a group of 11 Democratic and Republican senators have sent a joint letter to President Barack Obama, urging him to tell the lawmakers how he justifies the execution of suspected terrorists, including those who are US citizens.

Other lawmakers have said they will grill John Brennan, President Obama’s nominee for CIA director, on this issue during his Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday.

The lawmakers are also criticising the drone policy in individual interviews to various US media outlets.

“It deserves a serious look at how we make the decisions … to take out, kill or eliminate … not just American citizens but other citizens as well,” said Congressman Steny Hoyer.

“We ought to carefully review our policies as a country.”

Mr Hoyer is the No. 2 Democrat in the House of Representatives and is considered an influential voice within the party.

“Congress has to reconsider the scope of action of drones and use of deadly force by the United States around the world because the original authorisation of use of force, I think, is being strained to its limits,” said Senator Chris Coons, also a Democrat.

Andrea Prasow, senior counter-terrorism counsel for Human Rights Watch, complained that in the new drone policy the Obama administration had effectively shunned international law.

“When the US is engaging in lethal conduct in other nations it must be in compliance with international law, and the white paper doesn’t suggest that it takes that requirement seriously,” she said.

Amnesty International, USA, has sent lawmakers 12 questions for Mr Brennan’s confirmation hearing, urging him to describe his role in making the new drone policy, how he can make the policy more transparent and ensure compliance with international laws, and human rights.

Amnesty International also urged lawmakers to ask Mr Brennan if he believed that international human rights law applied to all US counter-terrorism operations, including those outside US territory.