Justice Department: Drone program? What drone program?
Apparently, the Obama administration is refusing to confirm or deny that a drone program even exists, on the same day he told a Google+ hangout that his is "the most transparent administration in history".
Information gathered from the ACLU, via Glenn Greenwald:
There's been a lot of debate here and elsewhere about the CIA drone program and whether the president should have the power to order airstrikes against US citizens abroad. Much of this was sparked by the release of an administration white paper outlining some legal justifications for these strikes. While we debated the legality of the drone program, however, I don't think anybody denied that the government is indeed flying drones and launching strikes.
Except apparently the Justice Department. In a court filing this week in a lawsuit related to an ACLU Freedom of Information Act request about the drone program, the Justice Department stuck to its position that because the drone program has not been officially acknowledged to exist, the government does not have to confirm the existence of any documents the ACLU might want, or to provide such documents, if they exist, which they do not.
Does this seem bizarre to anyone else? Administration officials from President Obama on down have talked about the drone program and its successes repeatedly. Obama even joked about using them on the Jonas Brothers if they got too close to his daughters. Just this week, Obama's nominee for the head of the CIA, John Brennan, spent a large part of his confirmation hearing defending the idea of targeted killings. The Senate Intelligence Committee members talked about it openly. And of course, there was the white paper justifying a drone program.
And yet, the Justice Department continues to say the government has not yet disclosed the program. (Maybe al-Awlaki spontaneously combusted.) Why so much secrecy?
DOJ court filing
ACLU press release on initial FOIA request
Greenwald column
