Court Rules for ACLU Against the CIA

Apparently a federal court of appeals didn't think that the Department of Justice's argument that the CIA had no "intelligence interest" in drone strikes carried out by the United States government and the refusal to even admit in court that the program exists, was either believable or plausable. That nonsense ended today. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled today in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union request for information about the CIA's drone program.

CIA Drone Strikes Case: Court Finds It Not 'Plausible' That Agency Has No Role
by Ryan J. Reilly, Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court has reversed a lower court's decision (pdf) that dismissed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the CIA, ruling on Friday that it was neither "logical nor plausible" for the government to contend the agency had no interest in drone strikes.

"It is hard to see how the CIA Director could have made his Agency's knowledge of -- and therefore 'interest' in -- drone strikes any clearer," the ruling states. "And given these statements by the Director, the President, and the President's counterterrorism advisor, the Agency's declaration that 'no authorized CIA or Executive Branch official has disclosed whether or not the CIA ... has an interest in drone strikes,' ... is at this point neither logical nor plausible."

The ruling by the United States District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia came in a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to force the release of government records on the use of drones for targeted killings. The ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for records in January 2010. The CIA issued a Glomar response, which means they refused to confirm or deny that the agency had any records. A district court affirmed the response and granted summary judgment in September 2011. The ACLU submitted an appeal in March 2012.

Judge Merrick B. Garland wrote in the decision the question before the court was whether it was “logical or plausible” for the “CIA to contend that it would reveal something not already officially acknowledged to say that the Agency ‘at least has an intelligence interest’ in” drone strikes.

“Given the extent of the official statements on the subject, we conclude that the answer to that question is no.”

DC Appeals Court Rejects CIA's Secrecy Claims in ACLU's Targeted Killing FOIA Lawsuit

Court Rules that CIA Cannot Deny "Interest" in Drone Program

March 15, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org

WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court ruled today that the Central Intelligence Agency cannot deny its "intelligence interest" in the targeted killing program and refuse to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests about the program while officials continue to make public statements about it.

"This is an important victory. It requires the government to retire the absurd claim that the CIA's interest in the targeted killing program is a secret, and it will make it more difficult for the government to deflect questions about the program's scope and legal basis," said ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer, who argued the case before a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Appeals Court in September. "It also means that the CIA will have to explain what records it is withholding, and on what grounds it is withholding them."

The ACLU's FOIA request, filed in January 2010, seeks to learn when, where, and against whom drone strikes can be authorized, and how and whether the U.S. ensures compliance with international law restricting extrajudicial killings. In September 2011, the district court granted the government's request to dismiss the case, accepting the CIA's argument that it could not release any documents because even acknowledging the existence of the program would harm national security. The ACLU filed its appeal brief in the case exactly one year ago, and today the appeals court reversed the lower court's ruling in a 3-0 vote.

"We hope that this ruling will encourage the Obama administration to fundamentally reconsider the secrecy surrounding the targeted killing program," Jaffer said. "The program has already been responsible for the deaths of more than 4,000 people in an unknown number of countries. The public surely has a right to know who the government is killing, and why, and in which countries, and on whose orders. The Obama administration, which has repeatedly acknowledged the importance of government transparency, should give the public the information it needs in order to fully evaluate the wisdom and lawfulness of the government's policies."

Today's ruling is at: aclu.org/national-security/drone-foia-appeals-court-ruling