The Trump administration is eyeing changes to its policy on drone strikes that would give the Central Intelligence Agency broader authority to conduct strikes in several countries, according to a report.
The possibility of additional policy changes comes after the White House gave the CIA more independence to decide when and if it should launch drone strikes, including in Yemen. There, the U.S. military oversees most airstrikes, four U.S. officials told NBC News.
President Trump’s push to let the CIA have more autonomy on drone strikes began after the president visited the CIA’s headquarters in January, NBC News reported. During the tour of the agency, Trump was shown the floor where officers direct drone strikes targeting those suspected of terrorism. Afterward, the president told CIA Director Mike Pompeo and other intelligence officers he wanted the CIA to be more aggressive in its drone strikes.
Since then, the CIA has been conducting drone strikes that may not have been given the go-ahead under former President Barack Obama. Some of those strikes were carried out in Syria, where the military has conducted most of them.
The change in policy under the Trump administration represents a departure from the Obama administration, which worked to shift drone strikes from the CIA to the military.
In 2010, for example, the CIA conducted as many as two drone strikes each week in Pakistan, but there’s been a significant decline in drone strikes carried out by the agency in part because of new rules implemented by the Obama administration.
The Trump administration is also working on a new written policy to remove two Obama-era restrictions on drone strikes included in Obama’s drone playbook. One measure prohibits a strike from being conducted unless intelligence analysts find there is a “near-certainty” no civilians will be hurt. The other says there cannot be any additional detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
According to NBC News, it’s unclear how much of an impact the White House’s changes to the drone playbook would have, as it doesn’t currently apply to Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan.
