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 McCain made his remarks on CNN's "State of the Union" broadcast
just days after it was disclosed that a drone strike in Pakistan in
January mistakenly killed two Western hostages: an American and an
Italian.
"I think it was probably preventable, in that there was an obvious
breakdown in intelligence. They didn't know that they were there,"
McCain said of the January drone strike.
The Republican senator and 2008 failed presidential candidate
predicted the incident will renew a debate within the Obama
administration on how the drone program is run.
However, there still appeared to be strong support in Congress for
employing the unmanned drones against enemy targets, which has
expanded during the Obama administration. Critics have long
complained about civilians being killed in the air strikes.
 It is an "integral part of the conflict and a very essential one,"
McCain told CNN.
McCain acknowledged "some bias" on which federal agency should
operate the drone program, given that shifting it to the Pentagon
from the CIA would put it under his purview as chairman of the
Senate committee overseeing the military.
Nevertheless, McCain said the Pentagon had the expertise and, "I
think it should be conducted and oversight and administered by the
Department of Defense."
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The United States was targeting an al Qaeda compound in Pakistan
when a drone strike killed American hostage Warren Weinstein, who
had been held since 2011, and Italian hostage Giovanni Lo Porto, as
well as an al Qaeda leader who also was an American.
Obama last week publicly apologized for the hostage deaths and took
"full responsibility" for all counter terrorism operations.
Several investigations, including by the CIA and Congress, are
anticipated.
(Reporting By Richard Cowan)
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