Obama Stripping CIA Of Drone Powers: Report

[Purveyor]

President Barack Obama is putting the finishing touches on a deal to strip the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of its control over the nation’s drone aircraft, putting that offensive military capability in the hands of the Department of Defense, The Daily Beast reported Wednesday.

Citing three unnamed senior officials as his source, reporter Daniel Klaidman explained that the transition would take place over the course of a year, during which time the CIA would still be involved in marking targets for drone strikes and working alongside their Department of Defense counterparts.

The move has long been supported by Obama’s new CIA chief, John Brennan, one of the drone program’s architects. Klaidman noted that the move is a part of Brennan’s plans to establish a more rigid legal framework for carrying out targeted killings overseas and shrink the CIA’s purview to gathering and analyzing intelligence, leaving the military work to the actual military.

It’s not clear whether this move will endow the drone program with greater transparency, which Obama promised in his 2012 State of the Union address. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates once proposed the establishment of secret courts to oversee requests to authorize targeted killing operations, but that has yet to materialize.

MORE...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/20/obama-stripping-cia-of-drone-powers-report/

[Ian David]

1. I've heard they're turning the program over to the producers of a reality series...

... and that the American public will get to vote by text message on each target.

[MicaelS]

2. Good. That type of crap started when the CIA

Started flying the U-2.

[Poll_Blind]

3. We'll see. Trial balloons and empty promises go hand in hand in this administration. nt

PB

[KoKo]

7. agree....A year can be a long time politically...and then there's the

Repug backlash. Also a lot of targeted strikes can take place in that time frame. More killing...collateral damage.

we shall see....

[geek tragedy]

4. Great news if it happens. Not holding my breath. nt

[BlueStreak]

5. Things are put under the CIA not for "national security" but to conceal

them from oversight.

[mfasta]

6. drones

Why is it OK for this administration to execute American citizens, overseas, without any trial or due process, when it was wrong for the last administration to water board foreign terrorists captured on the battlefield and being held and interrogated at Quantanamo. Osama Bin Laden was executed in his bedroom and not given the opportunity to be confined at Quantanamo, and everyone cheered. Hmmm...

[denverbill]

9. It's not ok in my book.

As for Bin Laden, I don't share your, concern. He was armed. He was killed and his body properly disposed of in my book.

[zipplewrath]

20. You might wanna check the story

"The SEALs encountered bin Laden on the third floor of the main building.[60][87] Bin Laden was "wearing the local loose-fitting tunic and pants known as a kurta paijama", which were later found to have €500 and two phone numbers sewn into the fabric.[51][77][82]

Bin Laden peered over the third floor ledge at the Americans advancing up the stairs, and then retreated into his room. As the SEALs approached, bin Laden placed one his wives between himself and the commandos, pushing her towards them. A SEAL fired several shots at bin Laden's head, and he fell back into his room. Inside the bedroom, bin Laden lay on the floor with a head wound as two of his wives stood over him.[88] One of them, Amal Ahmed Abdul Fatah, screamed at the SEALs in Arabic and motioned as if she were about to charge. One of the SEALs shot her in the leg, then grabbed both women and shoved them aside. A second SEAL entered the room and two SEALs shot bin Laden in the chest with a H&K 416 using Navy M855 5.56 mm rounds.[52][89] The SEAL team leader radioed, "For God and country, I pass Geronimo, Geronimo E.K.I.A." (enemy killed in action) confirmation that Bin Laden was dead to Admiral McCraven. Watching the operation in the White House Situation Room, President Obama said, "We got him."[3][49][52]

There were two weapons near bin Laden in his room, including an AKSU rifle and a Russian-made Makarov pistol, but according to his wife Amal, he was shot before he could reach his AKSU.[90][91] According to the Associated Press, the guns were on a shelf next to the door and the SEALs did not see them until they were photographing the body."

Only one person was armed. They didn't even notice the arms to which Bin Laden had access, and he saw them coming, he made no move for the weapons, but instead tried to shield himself. He was assassinated plain and simple. They made no attempt to arrest him.

Personally I think it is long past time for us to start "waging" some law enforcement instead of killing people without trial.

[cyberswede]

11. What do you think should have been done with Bin Laden?

Or weren't you that concerned about him?

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/oct/14/nation/na-osama14

[uppityperson]

12. He shoulda been captured and taken to Gitmo to play on that new tennis court they're building.

see? Not just killed! I mean, really!!11111 I'm series!!!111111111 omg omg omg omg omg omg

[alcibiades_mystery]

13. Welcome (Back) to DU

Don't worry...plenty of dumbasses to fall for your OET bullshit.

[SidDithers]

16. Poor, poor Osama...

Welcome to DU.

Sid

[madokie]

8. So many here was cussing Brennen when he was first nominated

like he was the devil incarnate. this pretty much takes some of the air out of that argument, wouldn't you think.

[bigtree]

10. still a lot of questions about how the Pentagon will manage them

. . . remember, the pentagon has an array of its own spy agencies with their own levels of secrecy. The hope is that Congress will weigh in and present a set of guidelines and triggers, but, it's likely that they'll refuse to take responsibility, leaving the bulk of the decision-making to the military.

If they succeed at 'institutionalizing' the program, it'll be as the poster expressed to me earlier, more of a codification of the program than an unraveling. That can't be a settling prospect for opponents.

. . . maybe not a particular 'evil,' but still an insidious future for drones and their 'targeted killings,' nonetheless.

[SidDithers]

17. Yup...

Code Pink and #StandwithRand come to mind.

Sid

[TwilightGardener]

18. Well, now they won't have one specific guy to blame anymore.

He was the face of the program.

[Taverner]

14. The CIA will still have drones. They'll just put them in their black budget.

[bigtree]

15. I think they'll be fine with taking them off their budget

. . . looks like they'll still have a big role in their targeting.

The most important part of this change is that it gives Congress greater opportunity for oversight under the current provisions of law and regulations. Whether they take on that responsibility, or continue to cede that authority to the Pentagon and the Executive remains to be seen.

[Comrade Grumpy]

19. This would be a good thing. We don't need secret CIA military programs.

They're supposed to be an intelligence agency, not a cowboy army.

[msongs]

21. the germans made sure everything they did was according to law in the 1930's...they just

changed the laws to make what they did "legal"