| USA TODAY | - |
WASHINGTON
-- President Obama's choice to head the CIA told lawmakers Thursday
that the administration's drone strike program is legal, carefully
managed, and important to national security.
Brennan defends intelligence and drone policies
WASHINGTON -- President
Obama's choice to head the CIA told lawmakers Thursday that the
administration's drone strike program is legal, carefully managed, and
important to national security.
"We only take such actions as a last resort to save lives," John Brennan told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
When Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., suggested Brennan would rather kill terrorists that put them in prison, the CIA nominee replied: "I have never believed it is better to kill a terrorist rather than detain him."
The confirmation hearing was delayed by protesters against drone strikes and other counter-terrorism polices. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who chairs intelligence committee, ordered the hearing room cleared before the nominee could complete his opening statement.
Brennan, who helped manage the drone program as Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser, said the protesters are believing false information. Brennan told the committee that critics are unaware of "the care that we take and the agony that we could go through" to try and avoid civilian casualties.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the Obama administration has "stonewalled" the committee and others on information about the drone program.
Brennan, a CIA official during the George W. Bush administration, also found himself answering questions about "enhanced interrogation techniques" begun during those years against terrorist suspects. Brennan said he registered "personal objections" to water boarding, a practice that critics have called torture, but had no authority to stop it.
"Water boarding is reprehensible and should not be used," Brennan said, though he declined to say whether he personally regards it as torture. "I am not a lawyer and cannot address that question," he said.
The nominee also also said he did not know whether enhanced interrogation techniques led to the raid that killed 9/11 architect Osama bin Laden. "I do not know what the truth is," Brennan said.
A veteran employee of the CIA, Brennan also identified a number of challenges currently facing the agency: Upheaval in the Middle East; continued struggles against al-Qaeda terrorists; cyber attacks from other countries, criminals and terror groups; and efforts by Iran and North Korea to pursue nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them.
Brennan pledged to keep intelligence committee members in the loop on CIA operations, saying there would be no "trust deficit."
While defending the CIA's work, Brennan also criticized news leaks of classified information. "These leaks damage our national security, sometimes gravely, putting these CIA employees at risk and making their missions more difficult," Brennan said.
The choice of Brennan to head the CIA has brought increased scrutiny to the use of armed drones to kill al-Qaeda leaders around the world, a key part of the administration's counter-terrorism strategy.
In an eleventh-hour attempt to boost Brennan's nomination and quell congressional critics, President Obama directed the Justice Department to provide the Senate and House intelligence committees with Office of Legal Counsel advice related to the administration's drone policy.
The release came hours before the confirmation hearing. Despite concerns from members of both parties, Brennan is expected to be confirmed in the post.
James Carafano, a foreign policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said there is much to criticize with Obama and Brennan's counter-terrorism policies, but he doesn't see "enough heat to stop confirmation" in a Democratic-controlled Senate.
Brennan would replace David Petraeus, who resigned from the CIA in November after revelation of an extra-marital affair.
Feinstein, the committee chair, praised the nominee and said that "John Brennan by all accounts will be a strong leader" of the CIA. She also cited concerned about oversight of targeted drone strikes.
News about drone strikes has dominated the run-up to his hearing.
"These strikes are conducted in full compliance with the law," Brennan wrote in written replies to the committee's questions. He said "rigorous standards" were applied to the program.
Brennan wrote that civilian casualties caused by the strikes are "exceedingly rare, and much rarer, than many allege."
The killing of U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011 raised concerns among civil rights advocates and lawmakers about the precedent of targeting an American citizen.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the armed drone program an "abandonment of the rule of law."
The administration has relied on the drone strikes to keep the pressure on al-Qaeda even as it has withdrawn forces from Iraq and is reducing troop numbers in Afghanistan.
The Long War Journal, an independent website that chronicles the war on terror,reports that there have been at least 322 U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan since January 2008.
Brennan was nominated to head the CIA in 2008 but withdrew amid questions about his views toward harsh interrogation techniques.
end quote from:
"We only take such actions as a last resort to save lives," John Brennan told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
When Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., suggested Brennan would rather kill terrorists that put them in prison, the CIA nominee replied: "I have never believed it is better to kill a terrorist rather than detain him."
The confirmation hearing was delayed by protesters against drone strikes and other counter-terrorism polices. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who chairs intelligence committee, ordered the hearing room cleared before the nominee could complete his opening statement.
Brennan, who helped manage the drone program as Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser, said the protesters are believing false information. Brennan told the committee that critics are unaware of "the care that we take and the agony that we could go through" to try and avoid civilian casualties.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the Obama administration has "stonewalled" the committee and others on information about the drone program.
Brennan, a CIA official during the George W. Bush administration, also found himself answering questions about "enhanced interrogation techniques" begun during those years against terrorist suspects. Brennan said he registered "personal objections" to water boarding, a practice that critics have called torture, but had no authority to stop it.
"Water boarding is reprehensible and should not be used," Brennan said, though he declined to say whether he personally regards it as torture. "I am not a lawyer and cannot address that question," he said.
The nominee also also said he did not know whether enhanced interrogation techniques led to the raid that killed 9/11 architect Osama bin Laden. "I do not know what the truth is," Brennan said.
A veteran employee of the CIA, Brennan also identified a number of challenges currently facing the agency: Upheaval in the Middle East; continued struggles against al-Qaeda terrorists; cyber attacks from other countries, criminals and terror groups; and efforts by Iran and North Korea to pursue nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them.
Brennan pledged to keep intelligence committee members in the loop on CIA operations, saying there would be no "trust deficit."
While defending the CIA's work, Brennan also criticized news leaks of classified information. "These leaks damage our national security, sometimes gravely, putting these CIA employees at risk and making their missions more difficult," Brennan said.
The choice of Brennan to head the CIA has brought increased scrutiny to the use of armed drones to kill al-Qaeda leaders around the world, a key part of the administration's counter-terrorism strategy.
In an eleventh-hour attempt to boost Brennan's nomination and quell congressional critics, President Obama directed the Justice Department to provide the Senate and House intelligence committees with Office of Legal Counsel advice related to the administration's drone policy.
The release came hours before the confirmation hearing. Despite concerns from members of both parties, Brennan is expected to be confirmed in the post.
James Carafano, a foreign policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said there is much to criticize with Obama and Brennan's counter-terrorism policies, but he doesn't see "enough heat to stop confirmation" in a Democratic-controlled Senate.
Brennan would replace David Petraeus, who resigned from the CIA in November after revelation of an extra-marital affair.
Feinstein, the committee chair, praised the nominee and said that "John Brennan by all accounts will be a strong leader" of the CIA. She also cited concerned about oversight of targeted drone strikes.
News about drone strikes has dominated the run-up to his hearing.
"These strikes are conducted in full compliance with the law," Brennan wrote in written replies to the committee's questions. He said "rigorous standards" were applied to the program.
Brennan wrote that civilian casualties caused by the strikes are "exceedingly rare, and much rarer, than many allege."
The killing of U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011 raised concerns among civil rights advocates and lawmakers about the precedent of targeting an American citizen.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the armed drone program an "abandonment of the rule of law."
The administration has relied on the drone strikes to keep the pressure on al-Qaeda even as it has withdrawn forces from Iraq and is reducing troop numbers in Afghanistan.
The Long War Journal, an independent website that chronicles the war on terror,reports that there have been at least 322 U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan since January 2008.
Brennan was nominated to head the CIA in 2008 but withdrew amid questions about his views toward harsh interrogation techniques.
end quote from:
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