Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama on Thursday extended U.S. assistance to Colombia in combating civilian aircraft involved in drug trafficking.

A White House statement said Obama issued a memo to the State Department and Defense Department authorizing the continuation of what is called U.S. Drug Interdiction Assistance to Colombia.

It is the seventh straight year that the interdiction assistance has been extended.

The memo said Colombia has appropriate procedures in place to protect against innocent loss of life from interdiction against civil aircraft "reasonably suspected" of illicit drug trafficking.