The Obama administration Wednesday directed the Justice Department to release classified documents discussing the legal justification for the use of drones in targeting U.S. citizens abroad who are considered terrorists to the two congressional intelligence committees.
The announcement appears to refer to 2010 memos from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel justifying the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born cleric who had joined al-Qaida in Yemen. He was killed in a CIA drone strike in September 2011. Members of Congress have long demanded access to the memorandum.
The decision to release the legal memos to the intelligence committees came under pressure, two days after a bipartisan group of 11 senators joined a growing chorus asking for more information about the legal justification for targeted killings, especially of Americans. The announcement also came on the eve of the confirmation hearing scheduled for Thursday for John Brennan, President Obama’s choice to be director of the CIA. Brennan was the chief architect of the drone program as Obama’s counterterrorism adviser.
Until Wednesday night, the administration had refused to even officially acknowledge the existence of the documents, which have been reported about in the media. This week, NBC News obtained an unclassified, shorter legal memo, described as a “white paper,” that officials said described the legal framework that officials follow in using the drones.
Administration officials said Obama had decided to take the action — which they described as extraordinary — out of a desire to involve Congress in the development of the legal framework for the use of drones. Aides noted that Obama had made a pledge to do that during an appearance on “The Daily Show” last year.
This is big news and I am hoping it will give Congress, and hopefully the American people, some idea as to how it is determined that an individual is considered dangerous enough to justify raining death down on him from the skies.
Personally I don't think this will provide much solace for those of us who find this kind of death dealing abhorrent but at least it indicates more transparency from this administration and it is certainly a hell of a lot more than we EVER got from the Bush administration.
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