Live: John Brennan Senate Confirmation Hearing For CIA Director 02/07/13
U.S. News & World Report covers the confirmation hearing for CIA Director Nominee John Brennan
-
Brennan's confirmation hearing Thursday afternoon will set the stage for a public airing of some of the most controversial programs in the covert war on al-Qaida, from deadly drone strikes to the CIA's use of interrogation techniques like waterboarding during President George W. Bush's administration. -
You can read more about the lead-up to the hearing here.
-
Before the hearing even began, protesters bomb the committee room shouting slogans and holding up signs reading “John Brennan is a National Security Risk.” -
California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, welcomes John Brennan. “As you can see, it’s going to be lively.”
-
ICYMI, check out John Brennan's written responses to the boilerplate questionnaire here and specific questions here.
Be sure to check out the section for gifts over $100. The general director of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces gave Brennan a 8-piece serving bar utensil set in 2010. The cost is undisclosed. -
Feinstein plans to question Brennan on the use of lethal force against insurgents. You can be sure drones will play a big part in that line of questioning, including the content of the now-infamous white paper outlining the Department of Justice's legal framework for targeting American citizens.
-
A busy day for Georgia Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss, vice chair of the committee. He spent the morning hounding Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. More on that here.
-
Confirmation hearing on Brennan for CIA underway now. See our polling on the #drones issue http://pewrsr.ch/XOeTlZ
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) February 7, 2013 -
Code Pink seems to be packed into the committee hearing today. Here is the group protesting about the Brennan nomination in January. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
-
More protesters interrupt Brennan before he can begin his remarks. Feinstein orders police to remove her. Feinstein: "We expect no clapping, we expect no hissing, we expect no demonstrations in this room."
-
Yet another protester interrupts Brennan, shouting "we have to stand up against drones!"
-
A third protester stands up "[The Obama administration] won't even tell Congress what countries we are killing children in."
-
Feinstein warns: "The next time, we're going to clear the room."
-
A fourth protester stands up. Feinstein halts the hearing and asks the room be cleared and that Code Pink associates not be allowed back in. "We will recess for a few minutes." Sporadic clapping from the chamber.
-
Code Pink has been one of the most outspoken critics of the Obama administration's use of drones for targeted killings. During a protest in Pakistan last October a spokeswoman said the administration shows a, "total disregard for international law" when authorizing these strikes. Asked if Obama had authorized "murder," she said, "Yes, as far as we know - and we know very little, since the drone program in Pakistan is operated by the CIA, and therefore cloaked in secrecy."
-
CIA Director nominee John Brennan, flanked by security, arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington Thursday, to testify at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
-
Brennan thanks Michael Morell, deputy director, for his service as interim CIA director. Morell has been acting director since David Petraeus was ousted amid a sex scandal last fall. Morell also served in that role between Petraeus and Leon Panetta.
-
My Qs for CIA Director nominee John Brennan on torture, targeted-killing, Benghazi and national security leaks: mccain.senate.gov/public/index.c…
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) February 7, 2013 -
Brennan retired from the CIA in 2005 to become president and CEO of the private security firm, The Analysis Corporation, where he says he learned "very important lessons about fiduciary responsibility."
He left in 2009 to work for the Obama administration as national security adviser. -
Protesters from CODEPINK, a social justice group opposed to U.S. funded wars, disrupt the start of a Senate Intelligence Committee's confirmation hearing for John Brennan, the top White House adviser on counterterrorism and nominee to lead the Central Intelligence Agency Thursday on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
-
Brennan answered a number of pre-hearing questions from the Intelligence Committee. You can view the questions and answers here.
-
Feinstein asks Brennan if the 6,000 page report on CIA's use of enhanced interrogation indicates that those techniques, which some say amounts to torture, were key in the takedown of Osama bin Laden.
"The report remains classified," Brennan says. "There were many things I read in that report that were disturbing."
"I do not yet have, nor has the CIA finished, its review of the information." -
Chambliss says it appears Brennan would prefer to kill a terrorist than capture them.
"I never said it's better to kill a terrorist than detain him," Brennan says. "I am a strong proponent of doing everything possible, short of killing terrorists, to bring them to justice." -
Brennan hearing offers senators a chance to address questions they have about administration policies in addition to scrutinizing the man's credentials. Focus so far has been on drones and enhanced interrogation tactics. -
West Virginia Democratic Sen. John Rockefeller asks Brennan about CIA accountability with its drone program, which Rockkefeller says is "going to grow. There's going to be more and more of that warfare."
"I would need to get my arms around that, and that would be one of my highest priorities," Brennan says. "If this report is accurate as stated, what went wrong in this report that lead to systemic mismanagement?" -
Brennan on questioning from N.C. Republican Sen. Richard Burr:
“I have never provided classified information to reporters. I engage in discussion with reporters to classified information they may have access to because of unfortunate leaks of classified information…but after working in the intelligence profession for 30 years…I know the importance of keeping those secrets secret.” -
Burr pushes Brennan on whether he participated in leaking information about the Abbottabad raid that allowed Navy SEALs to kill bin Laden in 2011. That information made headlines in recent weeks after the creators of Zero Dark Thirty said they received classified information from the Department of Defense. An Inspector General investigation is ongoing.
-
Brennan flatly denies leaking any information about that raid.
-
"Every American has the right to know when thegovernment thinks it has the right to kill them," Wyden says.
— Lauren Michelle Fox(@FoxReports) February 7, 2013 -
Brennan takes an indirect jab at Code Pink, saying "The people who stand up here today, I think they have a misunderstanding of what we do as a government."
The U.S. government does not conduct drone strikes as a method of punishment, he says, but rather makes painstaking decisions to stop terrorist attacks from taking place. -
This hearing is an example of true bipartisan scrutiny for intelligence policies - and there's been far less grandstanding than occurred during last week's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on former Sen. Chuck Hagel for Defense Secretary.
-
John Brennan's words on the importance of transparency ring very hollow, given his role in withholding docs from Congress/public.
— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) February 7, 2013 -
This is the terrorist they were just discussing: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahim_a…
— Josh Greenman (@joshgreenman) February 7, 2013 -
Learn more about the background between Idaho Republican Sen. James Risch and Brennan here. It is in regard to a conference call Brennan held on an Yemeni underwear bomber plot he maintains was never a threat to the U.S. public.
-
Maryland Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski is asking Brennan about supposed "mission creep" with the CIA extending beyond its traditional role of intelligence gathering.
“I will take a look at allocations of CIA," Brennan says. “The CIA should not be doing traditional military missions and operations”
Check out his responses to questions 6 and 7 in his written responses to the committee, where he talks about the long tradition in the CIA (and its predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services) for para-military operations. -
Brennan stops short of responding to Michigan Democratic Sen. Carl Levin's question on if waterboarding is torture. He says the attorney general refers to it as torture, and vows "it should never have been employed" and "would never be brought back" if he is confirmed as director.
-
honesty is the best policy-#Brennan Did Not Raise Waterboarding Objections After Abu Zubaydah Capture huff.to/11UP5Wr via @huffpostpol
— War Costs (@WarCosts) February 7, 2013 -
DNI James Clapper provided a statement on Jan 7th supporting the nomination of John Brennan to lead the CIA. #Brennan 1.usa.gov/14VSNDx
— Office of the DNI (@ODNIgov) February 7, 2013 -
Brennan during one of his testier exchanges Thursday. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
-
Brennan tells Colorado Democratic Sen. Mark Udall he has no intentions of running for governor of New Jersey. You're off the hook, Chris Christie.
-
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio asks Brennan who should take over terrorist detention, if not the CIA.
Brennan: The U.S. military, which retains an active interrogation program, the FBI, and our international partners -- that's where most of the interrogations are taking place from terrorists taken off the battlefield. -
Rubio presses Brennan on where these detainees should be held.
"There are many separate options, including foreign partners' detention facilities, or "put them on a naval vessel and interrogate them for an extended period of time."
"Each case requires a very unique and tailored response," including taking them to facilities such as Guantanamo Bay.
Priority one is taking them off the battlefield. Priority two is garnering intelligence. Priority three is preserving information to prosecute them, Brennan says. -
What Brennan is discussing will come up next week in Guantanamo Bay for the hearings for Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, et al.
Defense attorneys are trying to establish if these enemy combatants, some of whom have been held for years, were captured as war criminals while the U.S. was at war. If this is the case, when did this war begin? Among these detainees are those related to the USS Cole bombing in 2000, and for incidents from even earlier. -
A mysterious government body -- yet unnamed -- gave itself away at the hearing last week by blacking out the live feed when the attorneys began discussing classified material.
It appears today's confirmation hearing, so far, has been in the clear... -
Brennan echoes lawmakers sentiments that sequestration is dangerous. With less than a month until $1.2 trillion in automatic budget cuts hit, Brennan says that he is not going to "slice" the budget across the board. "It is going to have a devastating impact," Brennan warns. -
This exchange between Feinstein & Brennan is a perfect example of a trampling of due process in the US.
— jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) February 7, 2013 -
"What people forget, is that they will kill us if they can," Feinstein says during #Brennan hearing
— Lauren Michelle Fox(@FoxReports) February 7, 2013 -
US Capitol Police arrest 8 demonstrators who disrupted opening statement of DCI director nominee John Brennan at his confirmation hearing.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) February 7, 2013 -
Burr says he will be brief in his remarks toward the end of the hearing. "I notice you're on your fourth glass of water and I don't want to be accused of waterboarding you."
-
Wyden presses Brennan on the white paper, and whether these targeted Americans should be allowed to surrender.
Americans who join al Qaeda know “full well” they are taking on the mantle of an enemy against the United States, Brennan said.
“The United States will do whatever possible to destroy that enemy to save American lives,” he said. “They have the ability to surrender at any time, anywhere throughout the world.” -
"The CIA would get a John Brennan who is neither a Democrat or a Republican, nor has ever been." -#Brennan, on if he's confirmed
— David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) February 7, 2013 -
Maine Democratic Sen. Susan Collins: Will you be the CIA representative to the White House, or the White House's representative to the CIA?
"The CIA would get a John Brennan who is neither a Democrat or a Republican, or even has been," he says. The role is "not to tell the president, not to tell the committee what it wants to hear, but to tell the policymakers, the congressional overseers, what it needs to hear."
