The white paper defines "imminent" correctly. Now what?

It's been widely noted that the Justice Dept. white paper purporting to set forth a legal framework "for considering when the US government could use lethal force in a foreign country" to kill a U.S. citizen vastly expands the killing zone in space and time. "The battlefield" is potentially everywhere, and the "imminence" of the threat of violent attack to be legitimately defended against is continuous.

Regarding physical space, the paper pretty much gives the government carte blanche to target anyone deemed a "senior operational leader of al-Qa'ida" in any country in the world, since an attack is deemed "consistent with international legal principles if it were conducted, for example, with the consent of the host nation's government or after a determination that the host nation is unable or unwilling to suppress the threat posted by the individual targeted" (p.5). For example indeed. That "example" covers every imaginable circumstance. I'm no expert in international law, but I doubt it sanctions governments to kill perceived enemies as defined herein wherever they find them.

The white paper has been most widely excoriated for its definition, or alleged defining away, of "imminent." One of three conditions that must be fulfilled for a lethal attack on a U.S. citizen to be justified is "the condition that an operational leader present an "imminent" threat of violent attack against the United States" -- which, according to the paper, "does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future" (p.7).