public conversation about drones so that the american people are brought in to this debate and have a full understanding of what rules the government's going to observe when it conducts targeting killing? >> i think this hearing is one of the things that can be done because i think this type of discourse is critically important. i believe there need to be continued speeches that are going to be given by the executive branch to explain the counterterrorism programs. i think there's a misimpression on some american people who believe we take strikes to punish terroristses for past transgressi transgressions. nothing could be fourther from the truth. we only take actions as a last resort to save lives when there's no other alternative to taking a ast to mitigate that threat so we need to make sure there's an understanding and the people that were standing up here today, i think they really have a misunderstanding of what we do as a government and the