Senate Approves Brennan As CIA Chief

New CIA Director John Brennan

The U.S. Senate has voted to confirm John Brennan to be the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The vote March 7 was 63-34.

The vote came after a senator ended his filibuster delay of the nomination over questions about the Obama administration’s drone program.

Rand Paul (Republican-Kentucky) spent nearly 13 hours speaking on the Senate floor March 6 in a bid to pressure the administration to give more details about whether American citizens could be targeted by drones.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a letter March 7 that Obama would not order a drone strike to kill an American who was "not engaged in combat" on U.S. soil.

Brennan, the former White House counterterrorism adviser, takes over the CIA following last November's resignation of David Petraeus.

Based on reports from AP, dpa and Reuters