U.S. airmen prepare a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone as it leaves on a mission at Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan March 9, 2016. Picture taken March 9, 2016. REUTERS/Josh Smith
Wall Street Journal: Trump Gave CIA Power to Launch Drone Strikes
New authority departs from Obama-era policy under which only the Pentagon conducted the operations
WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump has given the Central Intelligence Agency secret new authority to conduct drone strikes against suspected terrorists, U.S. officials said, changing the Obama administration’s policy of limiting the spy agency’s paramilitary role and reopening a turf war between the agency and the Pentagon.
The new authority, which hadn’t been previously disclosed, represents a significant departure from a cooperative approach that had become standard practice by the end of former President Barack Obama’s tenure: The CIA used drones and other intelligence resources to locate suspected terrorists and then the military conducted the actual strike. The U.S. drone strike that killed Taliban leader Mullah Mansour in May 2016 in Pakistan was the best example of that hybrid approach, U.S. officials said.
The Obama administration put the military in charge of pulling the trigger to promote transparency and accountability. The CIA, which operates under covert authorities, wasn’t required to disclose the number of suspected terrorists or civilian bystanders it killed in drone strikes. The Pentagon, however, must publicly report most airstrikes.
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More News On President Trump Giving The CIA The Authority To Launch Drone Strikes
Trump gives CIA authority to conduct drone strikes: WSJ -- Reuters
Trump gives CIA power to launch drone strikes: report -- The Hill
Trump Administration Is Said to Be Working to Loosen Counterterrorism Rules -- New York Times
Trump administration reviewing ways to make it easier to launch drone strikes -- Washington Post
Trump Allows CIA Drone Strikes, Reversing Obama Policy: Report -- International Business Times
Trump is letting the CIA launch drone strikes -- Axios
President Trump secretly gave CIA authority to carry out drone strikes against suspected terrorists: report -- New York Daily News
Trump gave CIA power to authorize drone strikes – report -- RT
Trump Gives CIA Power to Use Drones to Bomb Suspected Terrorists -- Sputnik
1 comment:
If you scan the headlines of the papers reporting this item, only the Daily News notes that the president gave secret orders for this change in policy...why was it to be secret¿ CIA can and does do illegal stuff, ie, rendition, that leaves them unaccountable. The White House seems not to want this issue known.
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