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Tell the Top Talk Shows to Follow Up on Monday Night's Drone Question

Just Foreign Policy supporters urged Bob Schieffer to ask a question on drones—and he did!

During Monday night's presidential debate, moderator Bob Schieffer asked a direct question on a candidate's drone strike policy, which is more than had been raised in any previous debate this election season. Unfortunately, Schieffer only asked Mitt Romney the question—and let President Obama completely off the hook.

But that doesn't mean that the question was a failure. Simply raising the issue during the debate has led to a wave of media interest in US drone strike policy. Perhaps the most notable discussion occurred on MSNBC's Morning Joe when Joe Scarborough, the host and a former Republican congressman, challenged Joe Klein's defense of US drone strike policy with a passionate and well-reasoned argument against drone strikes. And that's a true victory.

If Morning Joe can have a substantive debate about drone strikes, then other top news talk programs ought to be able to do so as well.

Tell Bob Schieffer and other top talk show hosts to follow up on Monday night's drone question by facilitating a real discussion about drone strike policy. You can also tweet these and other hosts here.

Email Bob Schieffer at Face the Nation

Subject:

Your Letter:

Thank you for asking a question on drones during the foreign policy presidential debate. However, I am curious as to why you didn't ask President Obama a question on his drone strike policy. As a follow-up, I urge you to facilitate a substantive debate on drone policy by pressing administration officials on drones and by having drone experts, such as the authors of the recent Stanford/NYU report, on Face the Nation.

Contrary to your statement that “we know President Obama’s position on this,” there are far more questions about Obama's drone strike policy than there are answers. Here are just a few:

1. What is President Obama's definition of "militant"? Does current policy count all military-age males killed in a U.S. drone strike as “militants”, as detailed in a recent report by the New York Times?

2. Does the U.S. have a count of how many civilians have been killed in U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan? If so, why can't this be made public?

3. Don't "signature strikes" that target unknown people based on intelligence of suspicious behavior increase the risk of civilian casualties? How does the use of signature strikes square with the President's claim that drone strikes are narrowly targeted against high level terrorist targets on a list?

4. Does the U.S. have a policy of conducting "secondary" or "follow-up" strikes targeting rescuers?

5. How many civilian deaths is considered acceptable when choosing to strike a target?

Please follow up on your drone question during the debate by pressing administration officials on drone strike policy and by having drone experts, such as the authors of the recent Stanford/NYU report, on Face the Nation.

Bob Schieffer

Face the Nation

Email Other TV Talk Show Hosts

Subject:

Your Letter:

As the New York Times Public Editor, Margaret Sullivan, recently wrote, the US media hasn't done enough to press officials on issues pertaining to US drone strike policy. I urge you to facilitate a substantive debate on drone policy by pressing administration officials on drones and by having drone experts, such as the authors of the recent Stanford/NYU report, on your show.

During the final presidential debate, Bob Schieffer asked Mitt Romney a question on drones. However, he failed to ask President Obama a question on the issue. Contrary to Schieffer's statement that “we know President Obama’s position on this,” there are far more questions about Obama's drone strike policy than there are answers. Here are just a few:

2. Does the U.S. have a count of how many civilians have been killed in U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan? If so, why can't this be made public?

4. Does the U.S. have a policy of conducting "secondary" or "follow-up" strikes targeting rescuers?

5. How many civilian deaths is considered acceptable when choosing to strike a target?

Please follow up on Schieffer's drone question by pressing administration officials on drone strike policy and by having drone experts, such as the authors of the recent Stanford/NYU report, on your show.