Anti-Drone Activists To Protest Obama Killing Program

Opponents of President Barack Obama's drone policy are planning a month of protests in April, seeking to intensify attention on the administration's controversial targeted killing program.

Anti-drone activists will go after the military, universities and companies that play a role in Obama's drone program in a month dubbed "April's Day of Action," the Guardian reported:

The protests will begin on April 3 with a rally in New York, followed by three days of protest outside the facilities of companies that make drones, including at San Diego-based General Atomics which makes Predator and Reaper drones.

Later in the month, protests will take place at universities and other institutions that conduct research into drones or help train drone pilots and operators. At the end of the month, rallies and demonstrations will target military bases in the US from where drones operate, including Hancock air base near Syracuse, New York.

Civil liberties and human rights activists have criticized the Obama administration's use of unmanned drones to target suspected terrorists overseas. Congressional lawmakers, too, have sought greater transparency on the drone strikes. The issue garnered national attention earlier this month when Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) maintained in a 13-hour talking filibuster that Obama's drone policy abuses executive power.

The secrecy around the program prompted a discussion between Obama and Senate Democrats during a meeting on Capitol Hill this month, in which the president reiterated his intention to keep "privileged information" confidential.

"This is not Dick Cheney we’re talking about here," Obama told the more skeptical senators.

The comment came just one month after the president pledged greater transparency on drones in his 2013 State of the Union address.