US President Barack Obama has decided to share classified information regarding “legal advice” authorising the use of drones to kill American citizens abroad.
an official talking to sources on condition of anonymity on Thursday said that “today, as part of the President’s ongoing commitment to consult with Congress on national security matters, the President directed the Department of Justice to provide the Congressional Intelligence committees access to classified documents which are property of Department of Justice White Paper, as the president not authorised to speak on such sensitive matters”.
Obama is understood to have personally made this decision because he believes that scrutiny and debate are healthy. Obama also wants the US Congress to be a part of his administration’s efforts to build a durable legal framework for the country’s counter-terrorism efforts.
Obama’s move comes following repeated demand by US lawmakers in this regard.
Earlier during his daily press conference, the White House Press Secretary Jay Carney argued that Obama takes a very serious approach to these matters and has one responsibility in mind- his absolute responsibility under the Constitution to protect the United States and its citizens. Jay Carney said that “he (Obama) thinks that it is legitimate to ask questions about how we prosecute the war against Al Qaeda. It is his belief that we need to move forward with more transparency, as well as create, in his words, a legal framework around how these decisions are made, that has led to, unprecedented levels of information provided to the public about how we do this” .
Last year, the US President in an interview had called for putting a legal architecture in place, Carney pointed out.
In an interview on October 18, 2012 Obama had said that “one of the things that we’ve got to do is put a legal architecture in place and we need Congressional help to do that to make sure that not only am I reined in, but any President is reined in, in terms of some of the decisions that we’re making.”
He, however, said that al Qaeda is still active in parts of North Africa and the Middle East, besides maintaining that actions against the terror outfit have to be consistent with international and American laws. Earlier this week, a bipartisan group of 11 influential Senators sought from Obama, “legal justification” for counter-terrorism operations or the armed drones to kill American citizens.
