After weeks of delays, the U.S. Senate confirmed John Brennan as the next head of the Central Intelligence Agency on Thursday morning. Many lawmakers blocked Brennan’s nomination, as Republicans fought for access to classified documents related to the attack on U.S. diplomats in Libya last September, but Brennan was ultimately approved by a 63 - 34 vote. source
Why it didn’t go down: ”The White House stalled the proposal because of lingering questions about which rebels could be trusted with the arms, whether the transfers would make a difference in the campaign to remove Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and whether the weapons would add to the suffering,” according to the WSJ’s sources. The proposal’s existence was made public yesterday for the first time at John Brennan’s Senate confirmation hearing. source [paywall]
We conduct those strikes because they are necessary to mitigate ongoing actual threats, to stop plots, prevent future attacks and, again, save American lives. These strikes are legal, they are ethical and they are wise.White House Press Secretary Jay Carney • Speaking on a recent Justice Department memo made public, asserting the government’s right to target citizens for drone strikes if it’s deemed they’ve been involved in attacks against the United States, circumventing the due process of law that Americans are traditionally Constitutionally entitled to. The memo itself seems to strive for a standard under which the U.S. drone killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, for example, a U.S. citizen suspected of terrorist activity when he was slain in Yemen, would be considered legal. This is an interesting policy area for the odd political bedfellows it draws together, as both left and right wing criticisms of the targeted killing program are prevalent, and President Obama’s nominee to head the CIA, his 1st term counterterrorism chief John Brennan, has a Senate confirmation ahead of him. Brennan in his old job was a central figure in the U.S. drone program, and as such we’d anticipate even some bipartisan congressional grilling on this topic during his hearing. source
We’re going to try to take advantage of this opportunity we have now with the death of al Qaeda’s leader, bin Laden, to ensure that we’re able to destroy that organization. We’re determined to do so and we believe we can.White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan • Sounding a little boasty by saying that the next plan, post-Bin Laden, is to basically take down all of al-Qaeda. “We believe that we have damaged the organization, degraded its capability and made it much more difficult for it to operate inside of Pakistan as well as beyond,” he continued. Do you guys think he’s right, or just on a bit of a high right now? source (via • follow)
Insider insight into bin Laden mission: As stated by Obama administration counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan, the U.S. would have claimed bin Laden alive if possible, but the al-Qaeda leader and his allies started a firefight that led to his death. He also said that President Obama and his aides were watching the operation in real time in the White House Situation Room, which he called “clearly very intense.” No kidding! Brennan also revealed that there are, in fact, photos of bin Laden’s corpse, but the White House has not yet decided whether to release them — a sensitive decision to be sure. source
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