“Without discussing or confirming any specific action, [CIA] operations are, of course, designed from the very start to be lawful and are subject to close oversight within our government,“ CIA spokeswoman Paula Weiss told the Daily Report Friday. She was responding to the newly released report by Philip Alston, the UN’s point man on extrajudicial executions, which was highly critical of CIA Predator and Reaper drone attacks on suspected terrorists in Pakistan. “Those are facts,” Weiss added, “the accountability is real, and so is the fidelity to American policy.” (For more on the controversy, see Friday’s column, with an entry on Alston’s claims that “targeted killings” undermine international law and can lack accountability if abused.)
The Air Force kicked off one of its biggest exercises this week with the latest edition of Bamboo Eagle, featuring combined virtual and live training scenarios focused on test the command-and-control “nervous system” leaders need to operate on a complex joint battlefield spread over vast distances.
