A published report in the United States says President Barack Obama personally oversees a top-secret process for placing al-Qaida suspects on a list of targets to be killed.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that dozens of top U.S. officials and former advisers have confirmed the Obama administration maintains a “kill list” of al-Qaida suspects who can be targeted for attack by unmanned drone aircraft.

The report said Mr. Obama personally approves every drone strike in Yemen and Somalia, and especially risky strikes in Pakistan. It says he is the person who decides whether to launch a strike on a terror suspect when the suspect's family is with him.

The report says some administration officials have expressed reservations about the justification for the “kill list,” as well as the Obama administration's method for counting combatant and civilian casualties. The Times says the method in effect counts all men of military age in a strike zone of a target as militants, unless there is intelligence proving otherwise.

There is no comment yet from the White House on the report.