Is Now The Time To Shift The CIA Away From Drone Strikes?

C.I.A. to Focus More on Spying, a Difficult Shift -- New York Times

WASHINGTON — For more than seven years, Mike — a lean, chain-smoking officer at the Central Intelligence Agency’s headquarters in Virginia — has managed the agency’s deadly campaign of armed drone strikes. As the head of the C.I.A.’s Counterterrorism Center, Mike wielded tremendous power in hundreds of decisions over who lived and died in far-off lands.

But under a new plan outlined by the Obama administration on Thursday, the Counterterrorism Center over time would cease to be the hub of America’s targeted killing operations in Pakistan, Yemen and other places where presidents might choose to wage war in the future. Already, the C.I.A.’s director, John O. Brennan, has passed over Mike, an undercover officer whose full name is being withheld, for a promotion to run the agency’s clandestine service.

It is a sign that Mr. Brennan is trying to shift the C.I.A.’s focus back toward traditional spying and strategic analysis, but that is not an easy task.

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Update: Obama to bring US drone programme out from 'legal shadows' of the CIA -- The Guardian

My Comment: The CIA became responsible for drone strikes because they became very good at it .... and they had the legal right to conduct this type of warfare that the Pentagon does not have. Is now the right time to make this shift .... I am not sure. I will defer to President Obama because he has intel that I do not have .... but if he is wrong .... he better be ready to suffer the consequences because Al Qaeda has proven in the past to be a very deadly organization .... and (hint hint) some of their key leaders are still around.