To: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (CA-1)
Senator Feinstein: Hold a Public Hearing on CIA Drone Strikes
Just Foreign Policy
The Senate Intelligence Committee should hold a public hearing on drone strikes. This hearing should try to establish the truth about conflicting claims between CIA officials and mainstream U.S. press reports about civilian casualties from drone strikes.
Why is this important?
The Senate Intelligence Committee has never held a public hearing on CIA drone strikes. There are basic facts about the policy the public needs to know to make an informed judgment. Is it true, as the New York Times has reported based on interviews with U.S. officials, that the CIA is counting every "military-age male" killed by a drone strikes as a "militant"? What does this mean for the claim that civilian casualties have been "rare"? If civilian casualties have not been "rare," the public needs to know that. A recent UNC study indicated that public support for military action depends as much on the risk of harm to innocent civilians as it does on the risk of harm to U.S. soldiers.