WASHINGTON -- Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said Monday that the "assassination" of American citizens under President Barack Obama's drone warfare program is unacceptable, and called the scope of surveillance activities carried out by the National Security Agency "disturbing."

"Assassination, we shouldn't do it," Ellison told HuffPost Live's Zach Carter. "If there is somebody violating the law, we should arrest them and try them in a court of law. The problem is that the technological ability to carry out war and assassination has far surpassed the rules that we govern our society by."

WATCH Ellison's comments in the video above.

Ellison, who co-chairs the House Progressive Caucus, said, "I think this binary thing -- either you have to have drones, or you have to have boots on the ground -- is a false choice, and I resist it."

Ellison also took issue with the NSA's surveillance activities, saying the programs need to be subjected to greater Congressional oversight.

"Right now, I'm a little concerned about the fact that theres a lot of things going on that members of Congress don't know about that are not subject to any accountability," Ellison said.