U.S. Acknowledges Its Drone Strikes (Good first step, but more is needed)
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama, in a letter to Congress on Friday, publicly acknowledged what may be one of his administration's worst-kept national-security secrets: that the U.S. military conducts strikes in Yemen and Somalia against wanted militants allegedly linked to al Qaeda.
The move effectively declassifies the existence of the military's targeted-killing campaigns against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen and certain al Qaeda and al Shabaab militants in Somalia, though without providing any details about the operations themselves.
Officials said the disclosure was an important, if incremental, step toward publicly acknowledging a key component of the administration's national-security strategy. The Central Intelligence Agency's covert drone campaigns in Yemen and Pakistan haven't been similarly declassified, officials said. The CIA doesn't conduct strikes in Somalia.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which has sued the government to obtain information about the CIA's targeted killing program, said Friday's disclosure was a step in the right direction, but insufficient on its own.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303410404577468981916011456.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
