It has been alleged that President Obama secretly gave the CIA extended authority when it came to conducting drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen. Had the CIA been obliged to follow the same rules as the Pentagon, perhaps the American and Italian hostages would not have been killed.

In 2013, President Obama passed legislation that would restrict the use of drones in order to reduce the number of civilian casualties. The death of countless innocents is widely held to be a powerful recruiting tool for terrorist organizations.

However, according to a recent report, Obama approved a waiver that allowed the CIA more freedom in tracking down and killing suspected militants with drones.

The CIA conducts two different types of drone strike. The first targets specific individuals whose names appear on a ‘kill list’. These are usually high-ranking officials within terrorist cells. President Obama must personally approve a strike on such a person.

The second type targets a suspected group of militants. These operations are known as ‘signature strikes’ and do not need Presidential approval.

It is the ‘signature strike’ style of attack that is responsible for many civilian deaths. The new rules in 2013 were supposed to curb the use of these operations.

On January 15, the CIA conducted a signature strike attack in Pakistan that resulted in the deaths of two hostages- Dr. Warren Weinstein, American, and Giovanni Lo Porto, Italian.

The question must be asked: had the CIA not been allowed special privilege, would these two men have been killed?