ACLU sues Obama administration over ‘kill list’ documents
The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the US government in an effort to compel a court to release documents detailing the Obama administration’s use of a secret, so-called “kill list” containing potential drone strike targets.
Filed Monday in US District Court in Manhattan, the lawsuit asks the Southern District of New York to order four government agencies, including the Departments of Justice, Defense and State, to heed Freedom of Information Act requests filed by the ACLU in 2013 concerning the administration’s “targeted killing” program.
Although the US has relied on unmanned weaponized aircraft, or drones, to conduct strikes in counterterrorism and military operations for over a decade, the ACLU says the Obama administration has been far from forthcoming when it comes to releasing details on to how those operations are carried out.
“Despite the public promises of openness, the government has continued to fight tooth-and-nail against releasing documents,” ACLU legal fellow Matthew Spurlock said in a statement Monday.
The ACLU began filing requests in October 2013 for records containing any legal justification for the lethal drone strikes and the process by which those targets are designated, “before-the-fact assessments” concerning potential civilian or bystander casualties and the names and numbers of individuals killed or hurt as a result of these “targeted killings.” Nearly a year and a half later, however, the ACLU says that none of the agencies served with FOIA requests have followed through and released documents, despite assurances given by Obama.
This week’s lawsuit asks the District Court to order the Justice Department, the Pentagon, the State Dept. and the CIA – as well as the Dept. of Defense’s Office of Legal Counsel and Office of Information Policy – to “immediately produce all records” on the drone strikes.
