Obama shares more drone memos with Congress

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By JOSH GERSTEIN |

3/5/13 2:27 PM EST

In an effort to get John Brennan confirmed as Central Intelligence Agency director, President Barack Obama has agreed to a longstanding request from Congress to see highly-classified legal opinions on targeted killing of terrorism suspects who are U.S. citizens.
In addition, the administration agreed to say publicly whether such powers could be used on U.S. soil, several senators said.
"We have worked with the [Senate Intelligence] committee to provide information about advice—legal advice on issues of concern to committee members and have done that recognizing that this is a unique and exceptional situation," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said at Tuesday's briefing for reporters.
Just after stating how unusual, rare, and presumably not-to-be-repeated the sharing of the memos was, Carney said it should be considered part of Obama's effort to be more forthcoming about counterterrorism policies, like deadly drone strikes. "It is in keeping with the president's commitment, which he reiterated in his state of the union address, to work with Congress to be as transparent as possible about these actions," Carney said.
"We simply look forward to speedy confirmation of John Brennan," Carney added.
Obama disclosed a few legal memos on the issue to Senate Intelligence Committee members last month on the day of Brennan's confirmation hearing. However, a bipartisan group of senators continued to demand access to all legal memos on the subject, believed to number about eight.
Several senators issued statements Tuesday morning hailing Obama's decision to disclose the additional memos to the intelligence panel.
"I have reached an agreement with the White House to provide the committee access to all [Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel] opinions related to the targeted killing of Americans in a way that allows members to fulfill their oversight responsibilities," Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said in a statement. "I am pleased the administration has made this information available. It is important for the committee to do its work and will pave the way for the confirmation of John Brennan to be CIA director.”
"We are pleased that we now have the access that we have long sought and need to conduct the vigilant oversight with which the committee has been charged," Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) wrote. "We believe that this sets an important precedent for applying our American system of checks and balances to the challenges of 21st century warfare. We look forward to reviewing and discussing these documents in the days ahead."
The trio of senators also said the administration had agreed to say whether targeted killing could be used in the U.S.
"In our view, the appropriate next step should be to bring the American people into this debate and for Congress to consider ways to ensure that the President’s sweeping authorities are subject to appropriate limitations, oversight, and safeguards," Wyden, Udall and Collins said.
A number of human rights and civil liberties groups welcome the White House's move, but asked that the memos or redacted versions of them be made public.