Trump gives CIA authority to conduct
drone strikes: WSJ
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[March 14, 2017]
(Reuters) - President Donald Trump
has given the Central Intelligence Agency new authority to conduct drone
attacks against suspected militants, the Wall Street Journal reported on
Monday, citing U.S. officials.
The move would be a change from the policy of former President Barack
Obama's administration of limiting the CIA's paramilitary role, the
newspaper reported. (http://on.wsj.com/2mlgyS9)
The White House, the U.S. Department of Defense and the CIA did not
immediately respond to requests for comment.
Obama had sought to influence global guidelines for the use of drone
strikes as other nations began pursuing their own drone programs.
(http://reut.rs/2nnaA51)
The United States was the first to use unmanned aircraft fitted with
missiles to kill militant suspects in the years after the September 11,
2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
Strikes by missile-armed Predator and Reaper drones against oversea
targets began under former President George W. Bush and were expanded by
Obama.
Critics of the targeted killing program question whether the strikes
create more militants than they kill. They cite the spread of jihadist
organizations and militant attacks throughout the world as evidence that
targeted killings may be exacerbating the problem.
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![](../images/031417pics/news_n21.jpg)
The lobby of the CIA Headquarters Building in McLean, Virginia,
August 14, 2008. REUTERS/Larry Downing
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In July, the U.S. government accepted responsibility for inadvertently
killing up to 116 civilians in strikes in countries where America is not
at war.
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(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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