Congress keeps quiet on U.S. drone policy - and that's a big problem

Sarah Kreps, associate professor of government, writes in this Washington Post op-ed that U.S. drone strikes raise legal questions about international and domestic law, and suggests without Congressional intervention, the “drone war on terrorism may become a war without end”.

Kreps searched through Congressional records to determine how often "drone" or "unmanned aerial vehicle" was mentioned in a policy context in Congressional debate, and determined that with the exception of Sen. Rand Paul’s 2013 13-hour drone filibuster, fewer than 70 statements on drones were made by Congress each year, dating to the beginning of Obama administration in 2009.  

“Despite the recent spike in strikes, Congress has become almost entirely silent,” Kreps writes. “It has thereby abdicated an essential feature of legislative oversight, which is to 'refine and enlarge the public view' of how, why and when the government carries out policy."

Read the full op-ed in the Washington Post