CIA reverting to corporate assassination: Analyst
The US Central Intelligence Agency’s push for authority to conduct drone attacks in Afghanistan signals its gradual reversion to the “corporate assassins’ guild” it once was, warns an analyst in London.
Citing current and former intelligence and military officials, The New York Times reported on Friday that President Donald Trump favors granting the CIA greater authority to take on a more direct role in fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan.
According to the sources, CIA Director Mike Pompeo has in recent weeks made a forceful case to Trump that the restrictions imposed on the agency during the administration of former President Barack Obama has limited the US’s ability to conduct “counter-terrorism operations.”
“This is an extremely dangerous development,” Ian Williams, a senior analyst with Foreign Policy in Focus, told Press TV on Sunday
“It took years to bring the CIA into line and remind it was intended as an intelligence agency and not… a corporal assassins’ guild,” he added.
“But they seem to be reverting,” the analyst said, referring to allegations that Washington had dramatically expanded its global assassination program with drones under former US President Barack Obama.
During Obama’s two terms in office, the US used unarmed aircraft for airstrikes and spying missions in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and Syria.
“But to put it in the hands of an agency like the CIA, there is yet another move to lawlessness,” Williams said.
The analyst then argued that if Washington decides to authorize such strikes, its allies would also follow suit sooner or later.
“If the CIA can carry out assassinations by proxy, then why cannot other agencies” he said, specifically citing Israel as an example.
Obama administration officials said last year that Washington was planning to expand drone flights by as much as 50 percent over the next few years to meet an increased demand for surveillance, reconnaissance and lethal airstrikes in more areas around the world.
Obama’s successor, Donald Trump, has already taken some steps to increase CIA’s powers in this regard.
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