Brennan: US drone strikes only for major threats

WASHINGTON -- Nominated to head the CIA, John Brennan told a protest-disrupted Senate confirmation hearing Thursday the United States employs drone strikes only as a deterrent against imminent terrorist threats, not as punishment for previous attacks, firmly defending the controversial attacks that have targeted Americans as well as foreigners overseas.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," he said of the idea that the U.S. uses the strikes by unmanned aircraft as retaliation.

On another thorny topic, under sometimes-combative questioning from senators, he conceded that after years of intelligence work he is uncertain whether the use of waterboarding in interrogations has yielded valuable information.

He declined several times to say whether waterboarding is torture, but he did say it is "something that is reprehensible and should never be done again."

Brennan, 57 and President Barack Obama's top anti-terrorism aide, won praise from several members of the committee as the day's proceedings drew to a close, a clear indication that barring an unexpected development, his confirmation as the nation's next head of the CIA is on track. The panel will meet in closed session next week to permit discussion of classified material.

In hours of questioning from the Senate Intelligence Committee, Brennan made repeated general pledges to increase the flow of information to members of the panel, but he was less specific when it came to individual cases. Asked at one point whether he would provide a list of countries where the Central Intelligence Agency has used lethal authority, he replied, "It would be my intention to do everything possible" to comply.

At another point, he said he had no second thoughts about having opposed a planned strike against Osama bin Laden in 1998, a few months before the bombings of two U.S. embassies. The plan was not "well-grounded," he said, adding that other intelligence officials also recommended against proceeding. Brennan was at the CIA at the time.

Brennan is a veteran of more than three decades in intelligence work, and is currently serving as Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser in the White House. Any thought he had of becoming CIA director four years ago vanished amid questions about the role he played at the CIA when the Bush administration approved waterboarding and other forms of "enhanced interrogation" of suspected terrorists.

In a statement at the beginning of Thursday's session, Brennan said the United States remains at war with al-Qaida and other terrorists and is under "daily cyberattack" by foreign countries and others.

He said historic transformations continue sweeping through the Middle East and North Africa, with "major implications for our interests, Israel's security, our Arab partners and the prospects for peace and stability throughout the region." Additionally, he said that Iran and North Korea "remain bent on pursuing nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile delivery systems."

The hearing was interrupted repeatedly — once before it began and then several times before Brennan had completed his preliminary remarks. At one point, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat and the panel's chairman, briefly ordered the proceedings halted and the room cleared so those re-entering could be screened to block obvious protesters.

The shouted protests centered on CIA drone strikes that have killed three American citizens and an unknown number of foreigners overseas.

It was a topic very much on the mind of the committee members who eventually will vote on Brennan's confirmation.

Feinstein told reporters after the hearing that she thinks it may be time to lift the secrecy off the program so that U.S. officials can acknowledge the strikes and correct what she said were exaggerated reports of civilian casualties.

Feinstein said she and a number of other senators are considering writing legislation to set up a special court system to regulate drone strikes, similar to the one that signs off on government surveillance in espionage and terror cases.

Speaking with uncharacteristic openness about the classified program, Feinstein said the CIA had allowed her staff to make more than 30 visits to the CIA's headquarters to monitor strikes, but that the transparency needed to be widened.

"I think the process set up internally is a solid process," Feinstein said, but added: "I think there's an absence of knowing exactly who is responsible for what decision. So I think we need to look at this whole process and figure a way to make it transparent and identifiable."

In the hours before the hearing began, President Barack Obama ordered that a classified paper outlining the legal rationale for striking at U.S. citizens abroad be made available for members of the House and Senate intelligence panels to read.

It was an attempt to clear the way for Brennan's approval, given hints from some lawmakers that they might hold up confirmation unless they had access to the material.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday the White House is making "extraordinary accommodation" in allowing lawmakers to view classified Justice Department legal advice on drone strikes against Americans. Carney said the White House does not plan to send the Justice memos to lawmakers beyond those on the House and Senate intelligence committees.

Responding to the assurances from the administration, Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, said he was encouraged when Obama called him on the telephone to inform him of his decision.

However, Wyden said that after he went to read the material he became concerned the Department of Justice "is not following through" on the commitment. He asked Brennan to look into the matter, and the CIA nomine said he would.

Despite the sometimes-combative questioning, Brennan's confirmation seemed a foregone conclusion as he appeared before the committee. "I look forward to working with you," said Democratic Sen. Mark Udall.

Wyden made the drone strikes the main focus of his time to question Brennan, asking at one point what could be done "so that the American people are brought into this debate and have a full understanding of what rules" are for their use.

Brennan said the day's hearings were part of that effort, and said he backs speeches by officials as a way to explain counter-terrorism programs. He said there is a "misimpression by the American people' who believe drone strikes are aimed at suspects in past attacks. Instead, he said, "we only take such actions as a last resort to save lives" when there is no other alternative in what officials believe is an imminent threat.

Aides have portrayed Brennan as cautious in the use of drones, restraining others at the CIA or military who seek to use them more often. At the same time, as the White House's counterterror adviser, he has presided over an explosion of drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

Fewer than 50 strikes took place during the Bush administration, while more than 360 strikes have been launched under Obama, according to the website The Long War Journal, which tracks the operations.

Administration officials say Brennan would further limit the use of drones by the CIA and leave the majority of strikes to the military. Brennan signaled in his written answers that he would not seek to expand the CIA's paramilitary operations. In written responses to questions from the committee in advance of the hearing, Brennan wrote, "While the CIA needs to maintain a paramilitary capability ... the CIA should not be used, in my view, to carry out traditional military activities."

The CIA's drone strikes primarily focus on al-Qaida and Taliban targets in the tribal regions of Pakistan. The agency also carries out strikes in Yemen, where three American citizens with al-Qaida connections have been killed: Anwar al-Awlaki, his 16-year-old-son and Samir Khan.

On the question of waterboarding, Brennan said that while serving as a deputy manager at the CIA during the Bush administration, he was told such interrogation methods produced "valuable information." Now, after reading a 300-page summary of a 6,000-page report on CIA interrogation and detention policies, he said he does "not know what the truth is."

In his opening statement, he said U.S. computer systems are under daily attack by "nation states, international criminal organizations, subnational groups and individual hackers." (AP)