Dear Friends,

Please write to your Members of Congress and ask them to include provisions in the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) banning the CIA from using armed drones and placing the use of all armed drones under the command of the Department of Defense.

The NDAA is required legislation covering defense and national security that Congress passes each year. In the past, we have worked with Congress to use the NDAA to ban the CIA from using torture.

The U.S. has been using armed drones to target suspected terrorists in communities across North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Many of those killed have been innocent civilians. The Department of Defense provides some accountability by releasing public information on its policies for using armed drones, and DoD often reports, when pressured, when its drone strikes kill civilians. On the other hand, the CIA has never even officially confirmed its use of armed drones. By refusing to provide details on its drone attacks, including how many people (civilian or combatant) it has killed or is planning to kill, the CIA has freely ordered hundreds of drones strikes wherever and whenever it wants.