The US Senate Intelligence Committee endorsed President Barack Obama’s choice for CIA Director, John Brennan, with a 12-3 vote after the White House agreed to provide lawmakers more information on the legal basis for targeted killings of suspected terrorism-linked Americans abroad.
Serving as Obama’s counterterrorism advisor, Brennan, 57, has crafted the US drone policy over the years but lawmakers have questioned the basis for killing Americans in targeted operations and sought legal documents justifying such actions.
The vote on Tuesday showed substantial bipartisan support for Brennan, a 25-year CIA veteran who has overseen the expansion of strikes by the CIA and the military in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.
According to the US media commentaries, Brennan is likely to get votes required for his confirmation in the Senate.
The Senate committee’s Democratic chairwoman, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, said on Tuesday that the White House had agreed to give the committee access to all Justice Department legal opinions on the targeted killing of Americans. Two such opinions were briefly shared with senators at the time of Brennan’s confirmation hearing last month and officials said the remaining two were made available on Tuesday.
But the administration withheld the opinions governing strikes targeting non-Americans that the committee has also sought, arguing that they are confidential legal advice to the president.
“As a result, the detailed legal rules for a vast majority of drone strikes, including so-called signature strikes aimed at suspected militants whose names are unknown to the people targeting them, remain secret even from the Congressional intelligence committees,” commented the New York Times.
