Powell says military should run drone strikes

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. drone strikes should be limited to targets that present a “real, immediate threat to us” and conducted by the military rather than the CIA, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said, according to The Jerusalem Post.

“Drones are a very, very effective weapon and we will continue to use them, but in a more circumscribed manner to make sure that we are going after the high-value targets that present a real, immediate threat to us,” Powell said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing this weekend.

The comments by Powell, also a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are the first time he has spoken publicly about the unmanned aircraft known as drones. His remarks went further than the steps U.S. President Barack Obama outlined in a May 23 speech to tighten the rules governing how drone strikes will be conducted.

Powell, 76, said the Pentagon should be responsible for operating drone strikes after a period in which the Central Intelligence Agency directed many such attacks. The CIA has targeted alleged terrorists in places that aren’t overt war zones, such as Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

“The CIA didn’t do this kind of targeted assassination just a few years ago,” Powell said. “And then because of 9/11 and what we were going through for the last years, they took more and more responsibility.”

Along with giving the military full authority, Obama should work with Congress to revise the rules, Powell said.