“Talking about Capturing bin Laden”: The Clinton Administration and the Legal Architecture of Lethal Force in Counterterrorism, 1993–2000
This chapter addresses the notion that the CIA's drone campaign lacks appropriate congressional oversight and domestic legal authorization, instead revealing that the agency sought extensive legal cover from both the executive branch and Congress before undertaking its role as aerial executioner. Introducing the concept of the covert action pendulum, the chapter argues that a historic cycle of agency excess followed by a backlash of congressional investigation and subsequently increased oversight became established. It also examines how the hard-learned lessons from these pendulum swings prompted Langley's cautious managers to insist upon the creation of the complex legal architecture that now underwrites the United States' drone campaign.