Top House Democrat Wants Administration to Disclose Drone Strike Info

Make the actual case for them

The White House should acknowledge and justify the drone strikes it launches against terrorist targets in the Middle East, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee said Thursday.

Ranking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said the Obama administration would be able to make a better case to the public — and rebut criticisms in the Muslim world — about the necessity of its drone program if it laid out why people were targeted.

"Unfortunately far too often, we don't make it clear why we're doing this," Smith said at a discussion on drones and counterterrorism at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Thursday. "If an attack happens, I think there has to be at least a one paragraph justification."