US President Donald Trump gave the CIA the green signal to conduct drone strikes against suspected terrorists, according to the Wall Street Journal. This new authority is a shift from a policy under former President Barack Obama that limited the CIA’s ability to engage in paramilitary activity.
As a part of Trump plan’s to ramp up the program to destroy Islamic State terror group, the agency first used its new secret power in late February, against a senior al Qaeda leader in Syria, Abu al-Khayr al-Masri, who was also the son-in-law of deceased al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
According to US officials, Trump gave the CIA this new authority only a day after being inaugurated, before Mike Pompeo had been confirmed as CIA Director. The military will also be able to carry out missions without approval from the Pentagon and White House.