Former Obama Officials Call for More Targeted Killing Oversight

Keep an eye out for drones

Two former top Obama administration officials have added their voices to those calling for some form of judicial oversight over the use of targeted killing.

In the New York Times, former Obama acting solicitor general Neal Katyal suggests that a panel of national security staffers could form "a 'national security court' housed within the executive branch itself" that would evaluate targeting decisions, which "would later be given to the Congressional intelligence committees for review."

Among Katyal's key points is that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the secret court that approves surveillance on suspected foreign agents, often cited as a model for a potential targeted killing court, rarely refuses the government's requests. "[T]he odds of getting a request rejected, around 1 in 3,000, approximately the same as those of being struck by lightning in one's lifetime," Katyal writes. That of course, hasn't stopped presidents from doing end-runs around it.