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Shown Here: Introduced in House (05/23/2013)
113th CONGRESS 1st Session
H. R. 2183
To direct the Director of the CIA to cease
lethal drone operations, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 23, 2013
Ms. Lee of California
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Armed
Services, and in addition to the
Committees on Intelligence (Permanent
Select) and the
Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the
jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To direct the Director of the CIA to cease
lethal drone operations, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1.Short title.
This Act may be cited as the “Drones Accountability Act”.
SEC. 2. Drones out of
CIA.
(a) The Central
Intelligence Agency shall not own, operate, command, or control any armed
unmanned aerial vehicle or any combat aircraft.
(b) No member of the
Armed Forces, and no other employee or contractor of the Department of Defense,
may carry out any order or authorization from any employee or contractor of the
Central Intelligence Agency to use lethal force.
SEC. 3. Report
requirement and legal opinion disclosure.
(a) The Department of
Defense shall report to Congress on:
(1) The existence and
sufficiency of civilian protection mechanisms in accordance with international
law binding to the United States via treaty including the 1949 Geneva
Conventions for armed operations using unmanned aerial vehicle operations,
including civilian casualty mitigation processes and post-strike investigatory
procedures.
(2) The methodology
used to distinguish combatants from civilians prior to armed operations and
after a strike has occurred.
(3) The existence and
sufficiency of standards for the identification of targets, including the
reliability of “signatures”, and the sufficiency of intelligence
sources and analysis where there is limited U.S. ground presence.
(4) The existence and
sufficiency of processes for recognizing the immediate and long-term effects of
drones strikes on the organization being targeted and on the country or region
in which the strike takes place.
(b) Legal opinions
provide to Congress: Not later than thirty days after the date of the enactment
of this Act, and once every three months thereafter, the Department of Defense,
the Department of Justice, and the Central Intelligence Agency shall provide
all legal opinions providing advice regarding the authority to use lethal force
to justify operations.
SEC. 4. Sense of
Congress regarding moratorium on lethal drones until safeguards in place and
limitation on use of funds used to target individuals not involved in imminent
attack against U.S.
(a) It is the sense
of Congress that a moratorium must be enforced against the lethal use of armed
unmanned aerial vehicles until the Administration has presented and Congress
has approved sufficient safeguards and sufficient oversight addressing
highlighted in section 3(a)(i).
(b) Until such
safeguards are in place, no funds available for the United States Armed Forces
or the Central Intelligence Agency may be obligated or expended for the purpose
of using lethal force against an individual unless the individual presents an
imminent threat to the United States, lethal force is the last resort, and the
harm caused to civilians or civilian property is proportional and does not
violate international humanitarian law adopted by the United States via treaty
including the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
