President's Predator Drone Program

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Feb. 10, 2013
All Rights Reserved.                                         

           Facing tough questions at his confirmation hearing in the Senate Intelligence Committee Feb. 6, President Barack Obama’s pick for CIA Director 57-year-old John Brennan touted the Predator Drone program that sometimes targets U.S. citizens.  Brennan offered no opinion regarding the constitutionality of targeting Americans, focusing on the efficiency of the program.  When a U.S. Predator Drone killed 40-year-old American-born al-Qaeda terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki Sept. 30, 2011, it opened up a can of worms.  Al-Awlaki swore his allegiance to Osama bin Laden, becoming Yemen’s chief al-Qaeda terrorist.  “We will be mindful that if our nation is threatened, our best offense won’t always be deploying large armies abroad, but delivering targeted, surgical pressure to groups that threaten us,” Brennan said in a 2011 speech.  When the U.S. ramped up the Predator Drone Program after Sept. 11, it rapidly became the most effective tool in targeting al-Qaeda terrorists.

            U.S. Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Rand Paul (R-Kt.) threaten to hold up Brennan and Defense Secretary nominee former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), unless both designees explain limits of targeting U.S. citizens.  Graham and Paul have argued that U.S. citizens require habeas corpus or the right to petition a court before the president decides to place them on the Predator Drone kill list.  When former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney implored the Congress to pass the Patriot Act Feb. 2, 2002, it was to give the commander-in-chief more power to wage the war on terror.  While many purists debate the loss of civil liberties, Sept. 11 proved the U.S. was in a state of asymmetric war with al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.  Interrogating Brennan at his confirmation hearing, Graham and Paul questioned the legality of targeting U.S. citizens who may be fighting with or collaborating with the enemy.

            Bush and Cheney’s use of the Patriot Act made it clear that anyone fighting on the terrorist battlefield was fair game.  Now Graham, Paul and other U.S. senators question the president’s right as commander-in-chief to apply the Predator Drone Program on anyone waging war against the U.S.  When engaged in conventional warfare, no one questions the citizenship of battlefield combatants fighting the United States.  Expecting the White House to ferret out American citizens from other enemy combatants is unrealistic and unnecessary.  Extending constitutional rights to Americans engaged in covert or overt war against the U.S. is unrealistic.  When American citizens join terror groups and wage war against the U.S., it’s not up to the White House to determine American citizenship.  Brennan was asked by Graham about the appropriateness of targeting U.S. citizens.  Graham knows that it’s possible for U.S. citizens to join terror groups and wage war against the United States.    

             Objecting to the President’s right as commander-and-chief to order Predator Drone attacks goes to the heart of presidential power.  No one questioned Bush’s use of Predator Drones or even mobilizing the U.S. military to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq following Sept. 11.  “It’s the idea of giving the president unfettered power to kill an American without checks-and-balances that’s so troubling,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (R-Ore.).  “Every American has a right to know when their government believes it’s allowed to kill them,” forgetting that when it comes to combat situations, there’s no requirement for the commander-in-chief to check the citizenship of enemy combatants.   While there are certainly some constitutional issues, the commander-in-chief has wide latitude to conduct military operations to protect U.S. national security.  Predator drone strikes fall within the president’s authority as commander-in-chief, something questioned since the Vietnam War.

            Presidential War Powers authority comes from the executive branch’s more direct decision-making capability.  Waiting for Congress to debate the merits of military action would compromise U.S. national security, paralyzing the president’s capacity as commander-in-chief.  When former President Bill Clinton confronted al-Qaeda in 1998 after attacks on U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, he fired Cruise missiles at Bin Laden’s terrorist training camps over 100 kilometers from Kabul.  Congress criticized Clinton’s attacks as  “throw-away” missile strikes, costing taxpayers millions without results.  “Compared with other options,” said Brennan in 2011,  “a pilot operating this aircraft remotely with the benefits of technology and with the safety of distance might actually have a clearer picture of the target and its surroundings, including the presence of innocent civilians,”  advocating Predator Drones over Cruise missiles.

            Instead of hazing Obama’s picks for Defense Secretary and the CIA, the GOP should make it easier for the president to perform his duties as commander-in-chief.  There’s plenty of precedent for targeting terrorists waging war against the United States.  Today’s Predator Drone Program, operated jointly by the Air Force and CIA, operates in the War on Terror.  There’s no requirement for the White House to check the citizenship of enemy combatants waging war against the United States.  Putting Predator Drone attacks into hands of the federal courts would handicap the president from performing his duties as commander-in-chief.  “It’s the only game in town, in terms of confronting or trying to disrupt the al-Qaeda leadership,” said CIA Director Leon Panetta in 2009.  There’s no citizenship test when it comes to enemy combatants waging war against the U.S.  Whatever the nationality of enemy combatants, it’s  not the White House’s job to figure it out.

 John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.