John Brennan: Under Surveillance

The nomination of Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel sparked considerable controversy and media attention. Amid the political maelstrom, the hearings for John O. Brennan, Obama’s pick to head the CIA, could have been lost in the thunder.
Thanks to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and a live feed from C-SPAN, however, the hearing garnered attention and provoked debate over the CIA’s role and America’s authority within its own borders. Though John Brennan was confirmed as CIA director, the real legacy of the confirmation process may be a turning point in the agency’s use of power.
Brennan himself is a CIA veteran, having worked with the Agency for 25 years. Beginning as an analyst, he rose to chief of staff under then-director George Tenet in 1999 and deputy executive director in 2001. He delivered the daily briefing to President Clinton and spearheaded post-9/11 counterterrorism intelligence efforts during the Bush presidency. Later, he left government service and worked as a private security consultant from 2005-2008.
Brennan is also a veteran of the Obama administration, having served as head counterterrorism adviser to the President. He was Obama’s first choice for CIA director in 2008 and can be seen in the iconic picture from the night of the raid on Osama bin Laden’s hideout (standing, second from right).
Extensive track record, bipartisan credentials, experience with the President: why the difficulty over Brennan’s nomination? At first, the controversy stemmed from the nominee’s actions and remarks during the Bush administration. Though an opponentof waterboarding, Brennan was an advocate of many of the CIA’s controversial interrogation techniques. His withdrawal in 2009 from consideration for the post he holds today was a result of the pushback on this issue. Obama ultimately appointed Brennan as counterterrorism advisor, a position that does not require Senate confirmation.
This time around, the debate centered on a more recent issue. The confirmation fight intensified as the discussion shifted to CIA drone policy. The American Civil Liberties Union sharply criticized Brennan, describing him as “the architect of [Obama’s] vast killing program.” The ACLU demanded accountability for America’s drone strikes abroad and called for limits on their domestic use.
The star of the hour, according to rights and transparency activists, was Sen. Paul. In a dramatic 13-hour speaking filibuster—not close to Strom Thurmond’s record 24-hour marathon speech but impressive nonetheless—the Republican senator strongly condemned not only the nominee but the process of drone strikes in general. Calling the practice “against everything that we fundamentally believe in our country,” Paul opposed the use of drones abroad for targeted killing.
Next, Paul demanded an answer from the President on a specific domestic question: does the United States government have the power to use drones to kill an American citizen within American borders? According to Paul, the Obama administration never satisfactorily addressed this question. A U.S. citizen has already been assassinated by a drone strike: Anwar al-Aulaqi, killed in Yemen in September 2011.  Meanwhile, surveillance drones already patrol some American skies. For Paul and the ACLU, unsupervised drone use has gone too far, and the program needs to be reined in and subject to congressional oversight.
The Obama administration responded. The day after Paul’s filibuster, Attorney General Eric Holder sent a concise letter to Paul, affirming that the U.S. government does not have the authority to domestically target a citizen not involved in combat. In the end, Brennan was confirmed as Director of the CIA.  Ironically, he chose to be sworn in on a historic copy of the Constitution—without the Bill of Rights.
Brennan’s counterterrorism credentials are strong. Despite the debate on drone use, he will continue the CIA’s powerful and largely successful role abroad. The public legacy of his confirmation, however, may be shaped more by the drone debate it occasioned than by his future operational decisions, classified as they are.
Instead of being drowned out by the difficulties in approving a Secretary of Defense, the confirmation of the CIA Director got its own spotlight. As a result, drone use—in many ways the signature development of Obama’s counterterrorism policy—will likely be subject to heightened congressional oversight and public scrutiny.
Photo Credit: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque.