Panetta Jokes On The Not-So-Secret CIA Drone Program

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta talks with staff members in a closed-door session after meeting with NATO defense ministers and representatives from non-NATO nations that contribute to the International Security Assistance Force to discuss Afghanistan operations during a summit at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Oct. 6, 2011. DOD photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jacob N. Bailey

Panetta Makes Cracks About Not-So-Secret CIA Drone Program -- Wall Street Journal

SIGONELLA NAVAL AIR STATION, Italy–The CIA’s unofficial, undeclared campaign of airstrikes by remotely piloted drones may be the single worst kept secret in the U.S. government.

The CIA does not publicly acknowledge the drone campaign, and nearly every federal official who discusses it adds the obligatory proviso that they are not discussing or disclosing classified information. But there is little doubt that drones are hovering over Pakistan, regularly attacking insurgents.

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Update #1: Panetta spills a little on secret CIA drones -- AP
Update #2: Panetta: loose lips on CIA’s not-so-secret secret -- Washington Post

My Comment: Something must have happened to him to make him feel giddy. This is something that is not a "joking" manner.

CIA Drone Attacks Raise Questions

WNU Editor: The Washington Post's Anqoinette Crosby talks with reporter Greg Miller about the Central Intelligence Agency's increasing role in counter-terrorism efforts.(Kristen Boghosian and Anqoinette Crosby/The Washington Post)

Does The U.S. Have The Legal Authority To Assassinate Americans?

US Says It Has Legal Authority To Kill American-Born Anwar al-Awlaki -- Christian Science Monitor

An ACLU lawsuit is challenging the legality of including Anwar al-Awlaki on a secret 'kill list.' The US says killing the cleric, an Al Qaeda member, would safeguard national security.

Responding to a lawsuit challenging the legality of including an American citizen on a secret government “kill list,” a Justice Department lawyer argued in federal court on Monday that the US government has the legal authority to target and kill a US-born Islamic cleric believed to be hiding in Yemen.

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Update: Court Hears Challenge to U.S. Right to Try to Kill al Qaeda Leader -- ABC News

My Comment: If this was being debated in any other administration .... the Democrats, main stream media, anti-war activists, academics, civil libertarian groups, etc., etc., etc. .... they would be apoplectic in their response and opposition to this legal authority. But instead .... with this administration .... President Obama is getting a pass, and no one is saying anything about it.

How Many American Citizens Are On A CIA Assassination List?

How Many Americans Are Targeted For Assassination? -- Salon

When The Washington Post's Dana Priest first revealed (in passing) back in January that the Obama administration had compiled a hit list of American citizens targeted for assassination, she wrote that "as of several months ago, the CIA list included three U.S. citizens." In April, both the Post and the NYT confirmed that the administration had specifically authorized the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki. Today, The Washington Times' Eli Lake has an interview with Obama's top Terrorism adviser John Brennan in which Brennan strongly suggests that the number of U.S. citizens targeted for assassination could actually be "dozens":

Dozens of Americans have joined terrorist groups and are posing a threat to the United States and its interests abroad, the president's most senior adviser on counterterrorism and homeland security said Thursday. . . . "There are, in my mind, dozens of U.S. persons who are in different parts of the world, and they are very concerning to us," said John O. Brennan, deputy White House national security adviser for homeland security and counterterrorism. . . .

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My Comment: If officials in the previous Bush administration were talking about assassinating U.S. citizens abroad, the uproar in the main stream media, Congress, and God only knows what else .... the uproar would be so loud and demanding that I am sure it would be covered 24/7.

A different administration .... and one favored by most journalists and pundits .... the reaction is mute at best, supportive and understanding at worse. And Congress .... who were so eager and demanding in the past to investigate the CIA when it become known that they had plans to assassinate Fidel Castro and other officials .... this Congress has put it's head into the sand.

3 American Citizens Are On A CIA Hit/Capture List

Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair and President Obama

CIA Must Get Permission To 'Hit' US Citizens Working With Terrorist Groups Overseas -- The Australian

US counter-terrorism officials may try to kill American citizens embroiled in extremist groups overseas with "specific permission" from higher up, the top US intelligence chief said.

“We take direct action against terrorists in the intelligence community,” Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told the House Intelligence Committee in a rare admission that Washington sometimes targets US citizens.

If “we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that,” Mr Blair said in response to questions from the panel's top Republican, Representative Pete Hoekstra.

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My Comment: I can only assume that President Obama has signed off on this .... I would just like to know who are the three Americans on the list, and what legal precedent/justification is being used to justify these killings and/or capture.

Will The U.S. Now Target American Citizens For Assassination?

Photo: Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair

Intelligence Chief Acknowledges U.S. May Target Americans Involved In Terrorism -- Washington Post

Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair acknowledged Wednesday that government agencies may kill U.S. citizens abroad who are involved in terrorist activities if they are "taking action that threatens Americans."

Blair told members of the House intelligence committee that he was speaking publicly about the issue to reassure Americans that intelligence agencies and the Department of Defense "follow a set of defined policy and legal procedures that are very carefully observed" in the use of lethal force against U.S. citizens.

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My Comment: If this was said under the Bush administration .... the outcry will be deafening with calls for investigations and criminal indictments be levied ASAP.

But .... different administration .... different reaction.

Expect this story to now be buried until someone like U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi is found and killed by a US drone strike .... which will then be classified as collateral damage.

Targeted Assassinations Is Curbing al-Qaida's Expansion

Osama Bin Laden and bodyguards

From AP:

LONDON — Recent targeted attacks that killed militants in Somalia, Indonesia and Pakistan have chipped away at al-Qaida's power base, sapping the terror network of key leaders and experienced operatives who train recruits and wage attacks.

Intelligence officials said Friday that the military strikes have reduced al-Qaida's core leadership to only a handful of men and diminished its ability to train fighters. This, they said, has forced al-Qaida to turn to its global affiliates for survival.

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My Comment: What a difference a few years and a different administration makes. I recall the Senate Church Committee that investigated CIA assassinations in the 1970s .... and the passing of laws to prevent and/or stop such practices. But today .... assassinations of foreigners does not even pique the interest of many who were opposed to such actions only a few years ago .... in fact they completely support such actions.

Throw in the persecution of those who water boarded Al Qaeda operatives .... this situation becomes even more absurd.

A double standard .... you be the judge of that.