For CIA chief, Obama taps drone strike defender

John Brennan, nominated today to lead the CIA, is one of the few administration officials who has publicly supported the use of controversial interrogation techniques and drone strikes.

By Tabassum Zakaria and Mark Hosenball,?Reuters / January 7, 2013

President Barack Obama listens in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 7, where he announced that he is nominating Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan, center, as the new CIA director; and former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, right, as the new defense secretary.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP Photo

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In White House councils, John Brennan has been privy to the most secret U.S. intelligence programs. Outwardly, he has been the administration's most public defender of one of President Barack Obama's most controversial practices -- the expanded use of armed drone aircraft to kill terrorism suspects overseas.

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This is the second time that Obama has sought to put Brennan at the helm of the CIA, and his confirmation process is likely to revisit old controversies over U.S. counterterrorism measures undertaken by the administrations of Obama and George W. Bush.

Brennan, a 25-year CIA veteran, withdrew his name from consideration as Obama's first director of the agency in November 2008 following liberals' criticism that he had done too little to condemn the use by the Bush administration of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, widely considered torture.

This time around, Brennan's defense of targeted killing by drones is likely to provide additional fodder for critics, although barring new revelations, he appears likely to be confirmed.

Deprived of the CIA post four years ago, Brennan, 57, became instead one of Obama's closest advisors on counterterrorism and homeland security. That proximity has made him a more powerful figure in the administration than the director of national intelligence - who will become his boss if he is confirmed.

Brennan, who grew up in New Jersey, is described by those who know him as a "straight arrow" and man of high morals.

"The word for John is 'intense'," said A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard, a former top CIA official who was once Brennan's boss there. "John's all about commitment."

His long working hours at the CIA and the White House are legendary. Obama, in announcing Brennan's nomination on Monday, quipped: "I'm not sure he's slept in four years."

Brennan pledged, if confirmed, to "make it my mission to ensure that the CIA has the tools it needs to keep our nation safe and that its work always reflects the liberties, the freedoms, and the values that we hold so dear."

PICTURE OF CLOSENESS

Brennan was at the president's side during some of the most significant security incidents during his first term.

The White House last week released a photograph of him briefing Obama on the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. He is also visible in an iconic photo of top officials at the White House monitoring, in real time, the U.S. commando raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.

Brennan is praised by former CIA officials who have worked with him. "John is a great choice - highly experienced, extremely dedicated, a person of integrity," said John McLaughlin, former acting CIA director.

But, by choosing him, Obama has given both liberals and conservative Republicans an opportunity to re-open the debate over Bush administration interrogation policies.

In a 2007 CBS television interview, while Brennan was out of government, he appeared to assert that enhanced interrogation techniques had produced useful information. "There have been a lot of information that has come out from these interrogation procedures that the agency has in fact used against the real hardcore terrorists. It has saved lives," he said.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/ipYs5gzA55A/For-CIA-chief-Obama-taps-drone-strike-defender

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