Nearly two years ago, President Barack Obama called for moving the drone war from the CIA to the Defense Department to give the controversial counterterrorism program greater oversight.
But it hasn’t happened.
Then-Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein expressed concerns, and intelligence sources say she inserted a classified amendment in a spending bill last year requiring that the administration certify that giving the Pentagon a greater role would not have negative impacts on the war on terrorism.
Feinstein’s office declined to comment on the classified amendment, but the White House, in response to the amendment, has been slow to make any changes. While the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command has been given purview over some of the drone operations aimed at killing terrorists, the CIA still maintains control over the drone war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where it’s been targeting Al Qaeda leaders.
Now, in the wake of the announcement Thursday that an American and an Italian being held hostage were killed in January strikes in the Afghan-Pakistan border region, the fact that the CIA, and not the Defense Department, apparently oversaw the mission could explain the secrecy that kept the information from the families and public for two months.
“Having separate programs hurts oversight,” said Rachel Stohl, a senior associate at The Stimson Center, a Washington think tank that sponsored a task force of retired generals and counterterrorism officials who studied the issue last year. “Who do you look to to get information from? It makes it far more challenging for a congressional committee, or the Justice Department or the public to know what is happening and where.”
“I don’t think the CIA should be in the business of carrying out wars,” she added. “The military should be well-equipped and well-positioned to do these kinds of strikes. This could be the tragic event that forces a reassessment of this policy.”
But congressional leaders have previously sought to slow the handover.
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/drone-strikes-cia-pentagon-war-defense-117294.htmlInteresting where the blame is landing. Is Politico committing a random act of journalism?
