Brennan defends drone strikes, even on Americans

Protesters from CODEPINK, a group opposed to U.S. militarism, including co-founder Medea Benjamin, center, disrupt the start of the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing for John Brennan, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) — CIA Director-designate John Brennanstrongly defended anti-terror attacks by unmanned drones Thursday under close questioning at a protest-disrupted confirmation hearing. On a second controversial topic, he said that after reading a classified intelligence report on harsh interrogation techniques, he does not know if waterboarding has yielded useful information.

Despite what he called a public misimpression, Brennan told theSenate Intelligence Committee that drone strikes are used only against targets planning to carry out attacks against the United States, never as retribution for an earlier one. "Nothing could be further from the truth," he declared.

Referring to one American citizen killed by a drone in Yemen in 2011, he said the man, Anwar al-Awlaki, had ties to at least three attacks planned or carried out on U.S. soil. They included the Fort Hood, Texas, shooting that claimed 13 lives in 2009, a failed attempt to down a Detroit-bound airliner the same year and a thwarted plot to bomb cargo planes in 2010.

"He was intimately involved in activities to kill innocent men women and children, mostly Americans," Brennan said.

In a sign that the hearing had focused intense scrutiny on the drone program, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told reporters after the hearing that she thinks it may be time to lift the secrecy off the program so that U.S. officials can acknowledge the strikes and correct what she said were exaggerated reports of civilian casualties.

Feinstein said she and a number of other senators are considering writing legislation to set up a special court system to regulate drone strikes, similar to the one that signs off on government surveillance in espionage and terror cases.

Speaking with uncharacteristic openness about the classified program, Feinstein said the CIA had allowed her staff to make more than 30 visits to the CIA's Langley, Va., headquarters to monitor strikes, but that the transparency needed to be widened.

"I think the process set up internally is a solid process," Feinstein said, but added: "I think there's an absence of knowing exactly who is responsible for what decision. So I think we need to look at this whole process and figure a way to make it transparent and identifiable."

In a long afternoon in the witness chair, Brennan declined to say if he believes waterboarding amounts to torture, but he said firmly it is "something that is reprehensible and should never be done again."

Brennan, 57 and President Barack Obama's top anti-terrorism aide, won praise from several members of the committee as the day's proceedings drew to a close, a clear indication that barring an unexpected development, his confirmation as the nation's next head of the CIA is on track.

"I think you're the guy for the job, and the only guy for the job," said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.

The panel will meet in closed session next week to permit discussion of classified material.

Brennan bristled once during the day, when Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, accused him of having leaked classified information in a telephone call with former government officials who were preparing to make television appearances.

"I disagree with that vehemently," the nominee shot back.

Brennan made repeated general pledges to increase the flow of information to members of the Senate panel, but he was less specific when it came to individual cases. Asked at one point whether he would provide a list of countries where the CIA has used lethal authority, he replied, "It would be my intention to do everything possible" to comply.

He said he had no second thoughts about having opposed a planned strike against Osama bin Laden in 1998, a few months before the bombings of two U.S. embassies. The plan was not "well-grounded," he said, adding that other intelligence officials also recommended against proceeding. Brennan was at the CIA at the time.

Brennan was questioned extensively about leaks to the media about an al-Qaida plot to detonate a new type of underwear bomb on a Western airline. He acknowledged trying to limit the damage to national security from the disclosures.

On May 7 of last year, The Associated Press reported that the CIA thwarted an ambitious plot by al-Qaida's affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner, using a bomb with a sophisticated new design around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden. The next day, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times reported that the would-be bomber was cooperating with U.S. authorities.

During Thursday's hearing, Risch and Sen. Dan Coats of Indiana were among those who contended Brennan had inadvertently revealed that the U.S. had a spy inside Yemen's al-Qaida branch when, hours after the first AP report appeared, he told a group of media consultants that "there was no active threat during the bin Laden anniversary because ... we had inside control of the plot."

The hearing was interrupted repeatedly at its outset, including once before it had begun. Eventually, Feinstein briefly ordered the proceedings halted and the room cleared of anyone except staffers and credentialed media.

Brennan is a veteran of more than three decades in intelligence work, and is currently serving as Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser in the White House. Any thought he had of becoming CIA director four years ago vanished amid questions about the role he played at the CIA when the Bush administration approved waterboarding and other forms of "enhanced interrogation" of suspected terrorists.

On the question of waterboarding, Brennan said that while serving as a deputy manager at the CIA during the Bush administration, he was told such interrogation methods produced "valuable information." Now, after reading a 300-page summary of a 6,000-page report on CIA interrogation and detention policies, he said he does "not know what the truth is."

The shouted protests centered on CIA drone strikes that have killed three American citizens and an unknown number of foreigners overseas.

It was a topic very much on the mind of the committee members who eventually will vote on Brennan's confirmation.

In the hours before the hearing began, Obama ordered that a classified paper outlining the legal rationale for striking at U.S. citizens abroad be made available for members of the House and Senate intelligence panels to read.

It was an attempt to clear the way for Brennan's approval, given hints from some lawmakers that they might hold up confirmation unless they had access to the material.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said he was encouraged when Obama called him on the telephone to inform him of his decision. But he said that when he went to read the material he became concerned the Department of Justice "is not following through" on the presidential commitment. Prodded to look into the matter, Brennan said he would.

Wyden made the drone strikes the main focus of his time to question Brennan, asking at one point what could be done "so that the American people are brought into this debate and have a full understanding of what rules" are for their use.

Brennan said the day's hearings were part of that effort, and he said he backs speeches by officials as a way to explain counter-terrorism programs. He said there is a "misimpression by the American people" who believe drone strikes are aimed at suspects in past attacks. Instead, he said, "we only take such actions as a last resort to save lives" when there is no other alternative in what officials believe is an imminent threat.

Fewer than 50 strikes took place during the Bush administration, while more than 360 strikes have been launched under Obama, according to the website The Long War Journal, which tracks the operations.

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Associated Press writers Julie Pace, Lara Jakes, Donna Cassata and David Espo contributed to this report.

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Follow Kimberly Dozier on Twitter: http://twitter.com/KimberlyDozier

Yemen calls for Iran to stop sending arms

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — The president of Yemen has sent a message to his Iranian counterpart calling on him to stop sending arms to Yemen and quit supporting the southern separatist movement.

An official in the office of President Abed Rabbu Mansour Hadi said Thursday that the message toIranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went through diplomatic channels earlier this week.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

Yemen's Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Yemeni authorities last month seized a ship carrying a wide variety of Iranian-made weapons.

Yemen recently has witnessed several cases of illegal arms shipments through its porous shores and also is home to an active branch of al-Qaida, which staged several failed or foiled attacks on U.S. territory.

Life-Threatening Blizzard Poised to Strike New England

• Published: February 7th, 2013
  
  

By Andrew Freedman

A life-threatening and historic blizzard that could rank among the top 10 snowstorms on record in southern New England is poised to plaster the region this weekend with snow that will be measured in feet rather than inches. The storm could also cause major coastal flooding and produce hurricane-force wind gusts, forecasters said.

Graphic depicting the anticipated storm impacts in southern New England.
Click to enlarge the image. Credit: NOAA/NWS.

Beginning on Friday, snow and mixed precipitation is being forecast to move into the heavily populated I-95 corridor between New York City and Boston, and from overnight Friday into Saturday, blizzard conditions are likely across a wide swath of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. There is an outside chance that blizzard conditions could even make it into New York City, according to the National Weather Service.

The storm will take shape as separate pieces of atmospheric energy join forces off the Mid-Atlantic coast on Friday — a process meteorologists refer to as “phasing” — creating one rapidly intensifying storm center that is expected to move northeastward and park itself for many hours just offshore of Cape Cod. The storm, known in this region as a nor’easter because of its fierce northeasterly winds, is expected to dump anywhere from 1 to more than 2 feet of snow from southern Connecticut to Maine. The highest amounts, perhaps 30 inches or more, are expected to fall in the Boston to Providence corridor, with another bullseye across western Massachusetts and Connecticut. Depending on the ultimate track and intensity of the storm, the areas of maximum snowfall may shift, however.

A wide array of severe weather watches and warnings have been posted for New England, from blizzard watches to hurricane-force wind warnings, all of which highlight the likelihood for a damaging winter storm. While the impacts of the storm are clear for southern New England, the storm is posing a forecasting nightmare for New York, since the city will be right on the line between receiving a moderate snowfall of 4-to-8 inches or getting hit with more than a foot of snow.Cities from Portland, Maine to New York were girding for expected impacts, calling in snow plow drivers and getting cars off streets in anticipation of deep snow drifts.

One unusual characteristic of the storm is how much moisture it is expected to draw in from the Atlantic Ocean, with many computer-model simulations showing that it will produce upwards of 3 inches of liquid precipitation equivalent in the Boston area. If that were all snow, it could exceed 30 inches, which would set a record for the city.

Boston’s all-time heaviest snowstorm dumped 27.5 inches on the city. This storm almost comes 35 years to the day after the infamous 1978 blizzard paralyzed New England under more than 2 feet of snow. At times, this storm is expected to deliver snow at rates of 2-to-3 inches per hour, with thundersnow a distinct possibility, the NWS said.

Sea surface temperature anomalies off the East Coast.
Click to enlarge the image. Credit: Wunderground/NOAA.

As was the case when Hurricane Sandy struck in late October, sea-surface temperatures are running several degrees above average off the East Coast, which according to climate scientists may reflect both natural climate variability and the effects of manmade global warming.

The presence of unusually warm waters could aid in the rapid development of the storm system, and infuse it with additional moisture, thereby increasing snowfall totals.

Heavy precipitation events in the Northeast, including both rain and snowstorms, have been increasing in the past few decades, in a trend that a new federal climate report links to manmade global climate change. As the world has warmed, more moisture has been added to the atmosphere, giving storms additional energy to work with, and makingprecipitation extremes more common in many places. The last major snowstorm to strike southern New England was the unusual Halloween snowstorm in 2011.

One of the nor'easter's multiple hazards is coastal flooding from the combination of strong onshore winds, high waves, and astronomical high tides. Coastal flood warnings are in effect for parts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York, with major flooding expected in eastern Massachusetts during the Saturday morning high tide. A storm surge of between 2-to-4, and up to 5 feet in some areas, is anticipated on Saturday morning in parts of eastern Massachusetts. The surge will combine with high astronomical high tides and building seas to cause moderate to major flooding, particularly between Boston and Cape Cod Bay.

Sea level pressure and precipitable water forecast valid on Friday afternoon, with an arrow showing the feed of tropical moisture northward into the storm system.
Click to enlarge the image. Credit: Weatherbell.com

According to the NWS, major coastal flooding means that “at least scattered structural damage,” and widespread flooding of vulnerable shoreline areas is anticipated.

Coastal flooding is also a concern in southeastern New York, where strong winds may funnel waters from Long Island Sound into flood-prone areas of northern Long Island and New York City. Up to a 3-to-5 foot storm surge is possible during the times of high tide Friday evening along western Long Island Sound and the Twin Forks of Long Island, which, along with high waves, could cause moderate coastal flooding. Minor to potentially moderate coastal flooding is expected in New York Harbor, but the impacts will depend on the wind direction at the time of high tide.

Seas of greater than 30 feet are expected off the New England coast, prompting the NWS to warn mariners that this “will become a life-threatening storm for anyone caught in its path."

The coastal flooding threat for this storm in New York pales in comparison to what it was during Hurricane Sandy, when large parts of the city’s iconic subway system flooded in the face of a record storm surge, and many New Yorkers drowned in flood waters.

Rising sea levels due to warming seas and melting ice caps are already making typical nor’easters such as the upcoming event more damaging, since they provide the storms with a higher launching pad for causing coastal flooding. According to the draft National Climate Assessment report released in January, even without any changes in storms, the chance of what is now a 1-in-10-year coastal flood event in the Northeast could triple by 2100, occurring once every 3 years, due to rising sea levels.

According to research by Climate Central scientists, the sea level trend in Boston Harbor from 1959 to 2008 in Boston Harbor has been 2.31 milimeters per year, which is slightly below the global average over the same period. In the past 50 years, the water level has risen by about 4.5 inches at that location, although it has increased much more in other spots along the northeastern coast.

On Nantucket Island, where coastal flooding is anticipated from this storm along with hurricane-force winds, the sea level has risen by about half a foot during the past 50 years.

For the northern hemisphere as a whole, winter storms have become more common and intense during the past 50 years, according to the draft federal report. Observed changes in winter air circulation in the northern hemisphere, possibly related to Arctic sea ice loss, has been linked to large swings in seasonal snowfall from one winter to the next in the Northeast. Other studies indicate that as global warming continues, nor’easters such as the one about to hit New England may become more frequent in this region, and less common in the Mid-Atlantic states, as storm tracks shift closer to the poles.

Related Content
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Sea Level Rising Faster Than Average in the U.S. Northeast

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• Posted in Impacts, Climate, Extremes, Snow & Ice, Oceans & Coasts, Sea Level, Weather, Extreme Weather, States of Change, United States, New England, Mid-Atlantic
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UK: Lasagna products 60 percent horsemeat

LONDON (AP) — Some beef lasagna products recalled from British stores contained more than 60 percent horsemeat, U.K. food safety authorities said Thursday. It was the latest revelation in a growing scandal surrounding the use of horsemeat and the mislabeling of meat products in Europe.

Frozen-food company Findus recalled the beef lasagna meals earlier this week after French supplier Comigel raised concerns that the products didn't "conform to specification." The U.K. Food Standards Agency said the lasagnas were tested as part of an ongoing investigation into mislabeled meat.

Already this month, millions of burgers have been taken off shop shelves as it emerged that beef products from three companies in Ireland and Britain contained horse DNA.

Eighteen beef lasagna products were tested by Findus, which found that 11 contained horsemeat in the 60 to 100 percent range, the Food Standards Agency said. It would not say if any of the meals were 100 percent horsemeat.

The agency said there's no evidence yet of a food safety risk, but added that tests have been ordered on the lasagna to see if it contains the veterinary drug phenylbutazone. Animals treated with phenylbutazone are not allowed to enter the food chain because it may pose a risk to human health, the agency added.

People who had purchased the meals were advised not to eat them but to return the products to the shops they were bought from.

Eating horsemeat is not generally a health risk, but the recent incidents have triggered disgust inBritain and Ireland, where horsemeat is not traditionally eaten. They also have raised fears over food security and labeling along the supply chain.

The revelations have shaken Ireland in particular, because beef exports are a key industry. Irish government officials and an Irish meat company have blamed meat imported from Poland, but Polish authorities say they have found no evidence backing those claims.

Findus UK apologized to customers and said it was confident it has "full resolved" the supply-chain issue. "We understand this it is a very sensitive subject for consumers and we would like to reassure you we have reacted immediately," the company said.

Catherine Brown, chief executive of the U.K. Food Standards Agency, said that following its investigations into Findus, the agency is demanding more comprehensive meat testing from the food business "in order to demonstrate that the food it sells and serves is what it says it is on the label."

"We are demanding that food businesses conduct authenticity tests on all beef products, such as beef burgers, meatballs and lasagna, and provide the results to the FSA. The tests will be for the presence of significant levels of horsemeat," she said in a statement.

Comigel earlier this week had advised Findus — and the store chain Aldi — to remove frozen beef lasagna from store shelves. Supermarket chain Tesco also decided to withdraw its spaghetti bolognese, which was produced by Comigel.

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Group says 54 died in Syria military factory blast

In this Thursday, Feb. 6, 2013 photo, a Syrian woman sits on the ruins of her house, which was destroyed in an airstrike by government warplanes a few days earlier, killing 11 members of her family, in the neighborhood of Ansari, Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Abdullah al-Yassin)

BEIRUT (AP) — A bombing at a bus stop near a military factory in central Syria this week killed 54 people, all civilian workers at the plant, an activist group said Friday.

Rami Abdul-Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the explosion took place on Wednesday in the village of al-Buraq, near the central city of Hama.

The area is government-controlled, which is why reports on the blast were slow to emerge, he said.

A mini-bus packed with explosives blew up near a bus stop wherefactory workers were waiting to go home after work, said Abdul-Rahman. The dead included 11 women. He said the factory makes military supplies, but not weapons.

"These people work for the Ministry of Defense, but they are all civilians," he said "There was no one from the military" killed in the blast.

Syria's state news agency reported the explosion on Wednesday evening, saying "terrorists" detonated a car bomb near a factory. It did not say what the factory produced or specify the number of dead and wounded. The regime refers to rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad'sgovernment as terrorists.

No one has claimed responsibility for the blast, which resembled others in recent months that appeared to target buildings associated with Syria's military and security services.

Some of the bombings have been claimed by an al-Qaida-linked group fighting alongside the rebels, Jabhat al-Nusra, which the U.S. had designated as a terrorist organization.

In violence Friday, the Observatory reported clashes and regime shelling in the southern and eastern sectors of the Syrian capital, Damascus, including in the restive suburb of Moadamiyeh, where six people were killed by government shelling overnight.

Syria's crisis began with peaceful protests in March 2011 and evolved into a civil war as the opposition took up arms to fight a government crackdown on dissent. The U.N. said last month that more than 60,000 people have been killed in the conflict.