John Brennan’s nomination as CIA director advanced to the Senate floor after the Obama administration sealed support in committee by letting lawmakers see legal opinions justifying drone strikes against U.S. citizens suspected of al-Qaeda ties.
The Senate intelligence committee voted 12-3 behind closed doors yesterday to recommend that Brennan take over the helm of the Central Intelligence Agency, where he worked as an analyst and clandestine officer for 25 years. The panel’s eight Democrats and four of its seven Republicans favored Brennan’s appointment, according to Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who heads the committee.
Feinstein said a full Senate vote could be delayed by Republican senators demanding more disclosures from the administration, including information about the September attack at the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead. She predicted Brennan will get the 60 votes needed to cut off any tactics delaying the vote, and that he may take over at the intelligence agency within days.
“John was straightforward with the committee, answering all of our questions, and I believe he will be a candid partner at CIA and a strong leader of that critically important agency,” Feinstein said.
Brennan currently serves as President Barack Obama’s counterterrorism adviser and is an architect of the administration’s policy of using drones for targeted strikes against suspected terrorists. The committee acted hours after the administration agreed to let members of the panel see classified Justice Department documents on drone attacks.
[h=2]Killing Americans[/h]Some committee members, led by Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, had threatened to hold up Brennan’s nomination until they could see all of the legal opinions on the matter. Wyden has said he questioned “the president’s authority to kill Americans.”
The radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen, and his 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, who was born in Denver, were killed in suspected drone strikes in Yemen in 2011.
The additional information brought a statement of support for Brennan’s confirmation from Wyden, Democrat Mark Udall of Colorado and Republican Susan Collins of Maine.
“In our view, the appropriate next step should be to bring the American people into this debate” on drones “and for Congress to consider ways to ensure that the president’s sweeping authorities are subject to appropriate limitations, oversight, and safeguards,” the senators said in a statement.
[h=2]Obama’s Team[/h]Senate confirmation of Brennan’s nomination would round out Obama’s second-term national security team. John Kerry was confirmed as secretary of state on a 94-3 vote on Jan. 29. Chuck Hagel was approved as defense secretary on a 58-41 vote on Feb. 26. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, has said he hopes the full Senate will vote on Brennan’s confirmation this week.
Brennan’s nomination has attracted more controversy than Kerry’s and far less than Hagel’s bruising confirmation fight.
If confirmed, Brennan would take over from Michael Morell, the CIA’s deputy director, who has been leading the agency on an acting basis since David Petraeus resigned in November after admitting to an affair with his biographer.
Brennan, 57, joined the CIA in 1980. He performed clandestine and analytical work with the agency, including several years in Saudi Arabia, and was director of the National Counterterrorism Center in 2004 and 2005. He left the government in 2005 and joined the Analysis Corp., a national security contractor based in McLean, Virginia, as president and chief executive officer.
[h=2]Waterboarding ‘Reprehensible’[/h]When Obama was elected in 2008, Brennan was considered as a potential nominee to head the CIA. He withdrew from consideration after human-rights groups and some Democrats raised concerns that he had supported, or at least acquiesced in, the use of harsh interrogation techniques in the fight against terrorism that critics consider torture -- including waterboarding, which simulates drowning and was banned by Obama.
Brennan was named assistant to Obama for homeland security and counterterrorism, a post not requiring Senate confirmation.
At Brennan’s confirmation hearing on Feb. 7, senators challenged him about administration leaks of classified information to journalists, the interrogation issue and the drone policies. The White House has pursued the drone program with limited oversight by Congress or the courts.
[h=2]Brennan’s Priority[/h]Brennan called waterboarding “reprehensible,” and said he now has “serious questions” about its effectiveness. He said a review of the interrogation program would be his “highest priority” if confirmed.
He defended the administration’s decision-making process about the use of drones, and pledged to ensure that all actions are legal and “that we do everything possible before we need to resort to lethal force.”
Brennan also called cyber attacks “one of the most insidious, one of the most consequential” threats to U.S. national security.
One potential obstacle to confirmation is the continuing demand by Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, for more information about the administration’s handling of the Benghazi attack, in which Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, was among those killed.
Graham said March 3 on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that information produced so far by the administration is inadequate. Feinstein said today that the administration is providing more. Tate Zeigler, a Graham aide, didn’t respond to phone and e- mailed requests for comment.
Feinstein also said that Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, has told her that he hasn’t received answers he wants from the administration about whether Brennan believes that drone strikes could legally be used against U.S. citizens in U.S. territory.
“He’s indicated to me” that the information he’s received “is not to his satisfaction,” Feinstein said.
Moira Bagley, Paul’s spokeswoman, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Walcott at [email protected]
The Senate intelligence committee voted 12-3 behind closed doors yesterday to recommend that Brennan take over the helm of the Central Intelligence Agency, where he worked as an analyst and clandestine officer for 25 years. The panel’s eight Democrats and four of its seven Republicans favored Brennan’s appointment, according to Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who heads the committee.
Feinstein said a full Senate vote could be delayed by Republican senators demanding more disclosures from the administration, including information about the September attack at the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead. She predicted Brennan will get the 60 votes needed to cut off any tactics delaying the vote, and that he may take over at the intelligence agency within days.
“John was straightforward with the committee, answering all of our questions, and I believe he will be a candid partner at CIA and a strong leader of that critically important agency,” Feinstein said.
Brennan currently serves as President Barack Obama’s counterterrorism adviser and is an architect of the administration’s policy of using drones for targeted strikes against suspected terrorists. The committee acted hours after the administration agreed to let members of the panel see classified Justice Department documents on drone attacks.
[h=2]Killing Americans[/h]Some committee members, led by Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, had threatened to hold up Brennan’s nomination until they could see all of the legal opinions on the matter. Wyden has said he questioned “the president’s authority to kill Americans.”
The radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen, and his 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, who was born in Denver, were killed in suspected drone strikes in Yemen in 2011.
The additional information brought a statement of support for Brennan’s confirmation from Wyden, Democrat Mark Udall of Colorado and Republican Susan Collins of Maine.
“In our view, the appropriate next step should be to bring the American people into this debate” on drones “and for Congress to consider ways to ensure that the president’s sweeping authorities are subject to appropriate limitations, oversight, and safeguards,” the senators said in a statement.
[h=2]Obama’s Team[/h]Senate confirmation of Brennan’s nomination would round out Obama’s second-term national security team. John Kerry was confirmed as secretary of state on a 94-3 vote on Jan. 29. Chuck Hagel was approved as defense secretary on a 58-41 vote on Feb. 26. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, has said he hopes the full Senate will vote on Brennan’s confirmation this week.
Brennan’s nomination has attracted more controversy than Kerry’s and far less than Hagel’s bruising confirmation fight.
If confirmed, Brennan would take over from Michael Morell, the CIA’s deputy director, who has been leading the agency on an acting basis since David Petraeus resigned in November after admitting to an affair with his biographer.
Brennan, 57, joined the CIA in 1980. He performed clandestine and analytical work with the agency, including several years in Saudi Arabia, and was director of the National Counterterrorism Center in 2004 and 2005. He left the government in 2005 and joined the Analysis Corp., a national security contractor based in McLean, Virginia, as president and chief executive officer.
[h=2]Waterboarding ‘Reprehensible’[/h]When Obama was elected in 2008, Brennan was considered as a potential nominee to head the CIA. He withdrew from consideration after human-rights groups and some Democrats raised concerns that he had supported, or at least acquiesced in, the use of harsh interrogation techniques in the fight against terrorism that critics consider torture -- including waterboarding, which simulates drowning and was banned by Obama.
Brennan was named assistant to Obama for homeland security and counterterrorism, a post not requiring Senate confirmation.
At Brennan’s confirmation hearing on Feb. 7, senators challenged him about administration leaks of classified information to journalists, the interrogation issue and the drone policies. The White House has pursued the drone program with limited oversight by Congress or the courts.
[h=2]Brennan’s Priority[/h]Brennan called waterboarding “reprehensible,” and said he now has “serious questions” about its effectiveness. He said a review of the interrogation program would be his “highest priority” if confirmed.
He defended the administration’s decision-making process about the use of drones, and pledged to ensure that all actions are legal and “that we do everything possible before we need to resort to lethal force.”
Brennan also called cyber attacks “one of the most insidious, one of the most consequential” threats to U.S. national security.
One potential obstacle to confirmation is the continuing demand by Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, for more information about the administration’s handling of the Benghazi attack, in which Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, was among those killed.
Graham said March 3 on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that information produced so far by the administration is inadequate. Feinstein said today that the administration is providing more. Tate Zeigler, a Graham aide, didn’t respond to phone and e- mailed requests for comment.
Feinstein also said that Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, has told her that he hasn’t received answers he wants from the administration about whether Brennan believes that drone strikes could legally be used against U.S. citizens in U.S. territory.
“He’s indicated to me” that the information he’s received “is not to his satisfaction,” Feinstein said.
Moira Bagley, Paul’s spokeswoman, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Walcott at [email protected]