Rep. Lee Demands Administration’s Full Response on Drones
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2013
Contact: Carrie Adams (202) 225-2661
Washington, D.C.— Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, along with several members of Congress, sent a letter to White House requesting the full, unclassified release of information surrounding the Administration’s drone policy.
Signed by Reps. Conyers, Ellison, Grijalva, Edwards, Honda, Holt, and McGovern, the letter seeks a full response and formal report to Congress outlining the architecture of the drone program going forward and reads, “The executive branch’s claim of authority to deprive citizens of life, and to do so without explaining the legal bases for doing so, sets a dangerous precedent and is a model of behavior that the United States would not want other nations to emulate.”
Rep. Lee, Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Peace and Security Task Force said of the letter, “It is far past time that the White House openly discuss the drones program. The President has full reign to protect the United States as Commander in Chief, but Congress has a vital oversight role in this issue, and we cannot shy away from those responsibilities. We have to protect the checks and balances that are at the heart of our democracy.”
The letter cites several concerning factors of the Administration’s drone policy including, “An unbounded geographic scope; unidentified ‘high-level; officials with authority to approve kill-lists; a vaguely defined definition of whether a capture is “feasible,” an overly broad definition of the phrase “imminent threat,” which re-defines the word in a way that strays significantly from its traditional and legal meaning.”
Full text of the letter can be found here.
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Congresswoman Barbara Lee is a former Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) and currently serves as CPC Whip and Chair of the Taskforce on Global Peace and Security.