Feinstein asks how Brennan sees his role as CIA director in the approval process for drone strikes. Brennan says that President Obama has stressed the need for legal justification and intelligence, thorough evaluation before the use of lethal force.

Brennan says he expressed his "personal objections" to EITs to colleagues, but he's not clear about his superiors.

Brennan says Senate report raises "serious questions" about info produce by EIT. Promises to investigate.

Kudos to Rockefeller for airing how secretive the CIA has been about EITs under Bush & Obama.

Brennan pledges to find out "what went wrong" with EITs & make it "one of my highest priorities"

Pre-hearing questions and answers are available online here, including:

Q: What do you consider to be the appropriate role for the CIA in all-source analysis of foreign intelligence information, given that all-source analysis also is conducted by the Department of Defense and other parts of the Intelligence Community?

A: The CIA's analytic mission is to provide objective, all-source analysis to those who make and execute policy, including the President and his national security team. The Directorate of Intelligence (DI) also provides all-source analysis that informs and helps drive CIA operations. DI analysts serve in all of CIA's Centers, including the Counterproliferation Center, the Counterterrorism Center, and the Information Operations Center. The DI is the U.S. Government's only all-source analytic unit that does not reside in a policy department, and it is one of only a handful of analytic units that are all-source (many others focus on a single discipline of intelligence.) This unique role is vital to U.S. national security.

Sen. Burr (R-NC) asks if Brennan was ever permitted to release classified info to the media. Brennan says he knows the importance of keeping secrets secret and has worked with reporters and editors to keep sensitive information out of the public eye. Burr asks if Brennan disclosed any info to media on the Abbottabad raid (that killed Bin Laden) in particular, and he says no.

Sen. Widen, who has promised to aggressively question the administration's secrecy, accuses admin of "stonewalling."

Brennan: protesters don't know the "agony we go through" to avoid civilian casualties. So why not make the drone program public?

Brennan: we need to "publicly acknowledge" civilian drone casualties.

Brennan is emerging as the figure admin officials claim: an advocate of transparency. Who, then, is embracing secrecy? The president?

Brennan: "I go to bed at night worrying that I didn't do enough to protect the American people." Says he is "focused as a laser" on the IED threat and al-Asiri, had no involvement in leak report Risch is referencing.

Sen. Mikulski (D-MD) says she sees the CIA transitioning from being America's top spy agency into an organization doing an increasing number of paramilitary operations. Characterizes this as "mission creep," asks if Brennan agrees. He says that since 9/11 there have been more "aberration" operations in the CIA.

Mikulski: "I feel I've been jerked around by every CIA director." Asks for Brennan's word that he will speak "truth to power" and "truth about power."

Brennan says he hopes to make the CIA Mikulski's favorite intelligence agency, push Keith Alexander (head of the National Security Agency aside).

Brennan: "Water boarding is reprehensible and something that should not be done." Won't say whether it's torture but vows it won't happen.

Here's the release from Feinstein's office on her joint statement with Levin (PDF) about the effectiveness of EIT, in particular during the bin Laden operation.