As Salon noted in March, a D.C. federal appeals court sided with the ACLU in ruling that the CIA could no longer refuse to respond to FOIA requests about its drone programs on secrecy grounds, as the existence of the "targeted" killing program had already been publicly discussed by officials.

Despite this ruling, and a full three years since the ACLU originally filed a FOIA request for basic information on the CIA's drone program, the agency continues to push back on making information public.

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The ACLU told Salon Monday that late last week the CIA filed a brief contending that the agency can't provide a list of documents (or even say how many there are) because doing so would disclose not just the agency's “interest” in the targeted killing program, but whether the CIA actually carries out targeted killings.

The Aug. 9 filing notes that "the CIA has now acknowledged that it has a general intelligence interest in this topic and possesses records responsive to the ACLU request. However, the CIA has determined that it cannot provide additional information about its responsive records without revealing classified material or statutorily-protected information related to intelligence activities, sources and methods and/or Agency functions."

The ACLU has responded to the brief with a strong statement, highlighting once again the hypocrisy of the Obama administration's promises of transparency all the while operating shadow wars around the world about which the public is offered little to no information:

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ACLU attorney Jameel Jaffer commented on the CIA's latest push for opacity: