Military should conduct drone strikes: Powell
U.S.
drone strikes should be conducted by the military, rather than the CIA,
and limited to targets that present a real immediate threat to the
U.S., former Secretary of State Colin Powell said, according ...
MarketWatch
Reuters/file 2011
A U.S. military Global Hawk drone aircraft taking off from Sicily in 2011 on a flight to take battlefield images over Libya.
Reuters/file 2012
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell
Military should conduct drone strikes: Powell
new
By Ronald D. Orol, MarketWatch
Reuters/file 2011
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — U.S. drone strikes should be conducted by the
military, not the Central Intelligence Agency, and limited to targets
that present a real immediate threat to the U.S., former Secretary of
State Colin Powell said, according to a report Saturday.
Reuters/file 2012
According to an interview on
Bloomberg TV, Powell, a retried U.S. Army general, said the unmanned,
remotely controlled airplanes are a very effective weapon, but they need
to be used in a more “circumscribed” manner to make sure the U.S. is
focusing on the most high-value targets that represent a real immediate
threat to Americans.
Powell, 76, was secretary of state for President George W. Bush from
2001-2005. The retired four-star Army general was chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff from 1989-1993 during the first Persian Gulf War and
earlier was, while serving in the Army, President Reagan’s national
security adviser from 1987-1989.
Obama’s counterterrorism policy
President Obama outlines tighter rules for drone strikes and renewed efforts to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Photo: Getty Images
Powell’s comments come after President Obama in a major national
security speech on Thursday defended the use of drones but said he would
work with Congress to increase scrutiny of them. Read about how Obama was heckled by a co-founder of the anti-war group Code Pink during his national security speech.
The Obama administration has drawn criticism for its use of drones and
for allowing the CIA as well as the military to use the drones. Critics
also have claimed that drone attacks have killed innocent bystanders and
have been used to kill U.S. citizens.
Powell added that authority for drone use should be transferred to the Defense Department. Read about how the Obama administration plans to shift control of drones away from the CIA to the military.
Ronald D. Orol is a MarketWatch reporter based in Washington. Follow him on Twitter @rorol
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