Who Is John Brennan? (Updated)

John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, talks with President Obama in the White House dining room, February, 2010. Photo: White House/Pete Souza

John Brennan, Obama's Drone Warrior -- Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst, and Jennifer Rowland, Special to CNN 

President Barack Obama has nominated his top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, to be the next director of the CIA. 

If there is an emerging Obama doctrine to deal with the threat from al Qaeda and its allies, it is clearly a rejection of the use of conventional military forces and a growing reliance instead on the use of drones and U.S. Special Operations Forces -- and Brennan has been central to Obama's policy.

In an April 30 speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, Brennan laid out the rationale for the drone policy in more detail than any administration official had done publicly hitherto. He asserted that the drone strikes are legal both under the Authorization for Use of Military Force passed by Congress after the September 11 attacks and because, "There is nothing in international law that bans the use of remotely piloted aircraft for this purpose or that prohibits us from using lethal force against our enemies outside of an active battlefield, at least when the country involved consents or is unable or unwilling to take action against the threat."

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More News On CIA Nominee John Brennan

Brennan Critics Zero In on CIA's Interrogations -- Wall Street Journal
Future of the CIA drone war may rest on Brennan -- Jane C. Timm, MSNBC
Graham threatens to hold up CIA director confirmation -- CNN
Talk Of Delaying Brennan Nomination 'Unfortunate,' White House Says -- NPR
How John Brennan transformed counterterrorism policy -- Rachel Weiner, Washington Post
Wait, so John Brennan is soft on terror now? -- Joshua Keating, Foreign Policy
Muslim group concerned about Brennan -- Politico
CIA nominee John Brennan no stranger to spycraft, politics -- L.A. Times
If You Thought Obama’s Drone Godfather Was Powerful, Wait ‘Til He’s at the CIA -- Danger Room
Leaks! Torture! Drones! Obama’s CIA Pick Faces Skeptical Senators -- Danger Room
John Brennan's 2011 Claim About Civilian Drone Casualties Is Increasingly Inexplicable -- Michael Kelley, Business Insider
Brennan Needs to Correct the Record on Drones -- Daphne Eviatar, Huffington Post
That Brennan Pick -- Michael Walsh, NPR
Why the Left Should Embrace John Brennan -- Michael Cohen, Foreign Policy

My Comment: John Brennan has a long history in the CIA .... while he has made some mistakes I still do expect him to be approved by the Senate.