'Mockery' of Transparency Continues as White House Releases Additional 'Kill List' Memos to Senate Committee
Critics call for greater transparency and full disclosure of memos to Congress and American public
The White House has reportedly released additional top-secret legal memos claiming to justify the use of lethal drone strikes against US citizens to the Senate Intelligence Committee in a bid to appease lawmakers over the expected confirmation of 'kill list' architect John Brennan to CIA Chief.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the Obama administration has provided "an additional but undisclosed number of Office of Legal Counsel memos justifying the [killing] program to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees," though it continues to withhold a number of the opinions from the Committees and have not yet provided any to greater Congress or the American public.
The legal justification for the targeted assassination of non-citizens remains undisclosed.
Calling the move an "important baby step," ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel Christopher Anders said the release still wasn't enough.
Rather than keeping the memos holed up with just a few dozen committee members, he said, they "should be available to all members of Congress and minimally redacted copies should be made public. It makes a mockery of the rule of law when the government hides the rules, or makes them up as they go along," stated Anders.
"We welcome any and all disclosures to the Intelligence Committee, but would also note that the president promised to be more publicly transparent," said Raha Wala, advocacy counsel at Human Rights First.
Previously, only four of eleven total legal opinions were shown briefly to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees and a briefing of one of the memos was leaked to the press.
Making the case that they can't perform adequate oversight without reviewing the opinions, both Democrats and Republicans have been pressuring the administration to release the classified Justice Department documents before they admit Obama's pick to his position at the spy agency. A vote on Brennan's confirmation is expected on Tuesday afternoon.
According to critics, Brennan's early February confirmation hearing was "pure show," during which it was clear that "both sides [were] operating under a tacit agreement that there are things that the American people must not, and should not, know about what it being done in their name."
Of his anticipated confirmation, the Guardian writes:
Brennan so far has escaped the harsh treatment that former senator Chuck Hagel, the president's choice to lead the Defense Department, received from Senate Republicans, even though Brennan is one of Obama's most important national security aides and the White House official who oversees the drone program.
Brennan also served as a senior CIA official during President George W Bush's administration, when waterboarding and other forms of "enhanced interrogation" and detention practices were adopted. Brennan has publicly denounced the use of these tactics, but the cloud has not gone completely away.
Brennan's stance on waterboarding and torture is inconsistent, senator John McCain, a Republican, has said. Although Brennan has decried these methods, he also has said they saved lives, according to McCain.
"All we want is the answers," McCain said Monday. "I'm not threatening anything. I just think we deserve the answers."
_____________________
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
The White House has reportedly released additional top-secret legal memos claiming to justify the use of lethal drone strikes against US citizens to the Senate Intelligence Committee in a bid to appease lawmakers over the expected confirmation of 'kill list' architect John Brennan to CIA Chief.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the Obama administration has provided "an additional but undisclosed number of Office of Legal Counsel memos justifying the [killing] program to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees," though it continues to withhold a number of the opinions from the Committees and have not yet provided any to greater Congress or the American public.
The legal justification for the targeted assassination of non-citizens remains undisclosed.
Calling the move an "important baby step," ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel Christopher Anders said the release still wasn't enough.
Rather than keeping the memos holed up with just a few dozen committee members, he said, they "should be available to all members of Congress and minimally redacted copies should be made public. It makes a mockery of the rule of law when the government hides the rules, or makes them up as they go along," stated Anders.
"We welcome any and all disclosures to the Intelligence Committee, but would also note that the president promised to be more publicly transparent," said Raha Wala, advocacy counsel at Human Rights First.
Previously, only four of eleven total legal opinions were shown briefly to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees and a briefing of one of the memos was leaked to the press.
Making the case that they can't perform adequate oversight without reviewing the opinions, both Democrats and Republicans have been pressuring the administration to release the classified Justice Department documents before they admit Obama's pick to his position at the spy agency. A vote on Brennan's confirmation is expected on Tuesday afternoon.
According to critics, Brennan's early February confirmation hearing was "pure show," during which it was clear that "both sides [were] operating under a tacit agreement that there are things that the American people must not, and should not, know about what it being done in their name."
Of his anticipated confirmation, the Guardian writes:
Brennan so far has escaped the harsh treatment that former senator Chuck Hagel, the president's choice to lead the Defense Department, received from Senate Republicans, even though Brennan is one of Obama's most important national security aides and the White House official who oversees the drone program.
Brennan also served as a senior CIA official during President George W Bush's administration, when waterboarding and other forms of "enhanced interrogation" and detention practices were adopted. Brennan has publicly denounced the use of these tactics, but the cloud has not gone completely away.
Brennan's stance on waterboarding and torture is inconsistent, senator John McCain, a Republican, has said. Although Brennan has decried these methods, he also has said they saved lives, according to McCain.
"All we want is the answers," McCain said Monday. "I'm not threatening anything. I just think we deserve the answers."
_____________________
The White House has reportedly released additional top-secret legal memos claiming to justify the use of lethal drone strikes against US citizens to the Senate Intelligence Committee in a bid to appease lawmakers over the expected confirmation of 'kill list' architect John Brennan to CIA Chief.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the Obama administration has provided "an additional but undisclosed number of Office of Legal Counsel memos justifying the [killing] program to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees," though it continues to withhold a number of the opinions from the Committees and have not yet provided any to greater Congress or the American public.
The legal justification for the targeted assassination of non-citizens remains undisclosed.
Calling the move an "important baby step," ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel Christopher Anders said the release still wasn't enough.
Rather than keeping the memos holed up with just a few dozen committee members, he said, they "should be available to all members of Congress and minimally redacted copies should be made public. It makes a mockery of the rule of law when the government hides the rules, or makes them up as they go along," stated Anders.
"We welcome any and all disclosures to the Intelligence Committee, but would also note that the president promised to be more publicly transparent," said Raha Wala, advocacy counsel at Human Rights First.
Previously, only four of eleven total legal opinions were shown briefly to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees and a briefing of one of the memos was leaked to the press.
Making the case that they can't perform adequate oversight without reviewing the opinions, both Democrats and Republicans have been pressuring the administration to release the classified Justice Department documents before they admit Obama's pick to his position at the spy agency. A vote on Brennan's confirmation is expected on Tuesday afternoon.
According to critics, Brennan's early February confirmation hearing was "pure show," during which it was clear that "both sides [were] operating under a tacit agreement that there are things that the American people must not, and should not, know about what it being done in their name."
Of his anticipated confirmation, the Guardian writes:
Brennan so far has escaped the harsh treatment that former senator Chuck Hagel, the president's choice to lead the Defense Department, received from Senate Republicans, even though Brennan is one of Obama's most important national security aides and the White House official who oversees the drone program.
Brennan also served as a senior CIA official during President George W Bush's administration, when waterboarding and other forms of "enhanced interrogation" and detention practices were adopted. Brennan has publicly denounced the use of these tactics, but the cloud has not gone completely away.
Brennan's stance on waterboarding and torture is inconsistent, senator John McCain, a Republican, has said. Although Brennan has decried these methods, he also has said they saved lives, according to McCain.
"All we want is the answers," McCain said Monday. "I'm not threatening anything. I just think we deserve the answers."
_____________________