About the interrogation methods used by the CIA to extract information, Brennan said he is not in favour of the use of waterboarding techniques.

"As far as I'm concerned, waterboarding is something that never should have been employed and as far as I'm concerned, never will be, if I have anything to do with it," he said. Brennan further said any death by mistake during any operation against terrorists should be publicly acknowledged. "I believe we need to acknowledge that. We need to (tell about) it to our foreign partners. We need to acknowledge it publicly," he said. Brennan said although there are certain circumstances when some considerations need to be taken into account, he believes the US government should acknowledge such happenings in the interest of transparency. The principal mission of the agency is to collect intelligence, uncover secrets to prevent strategic surprises and to be the best analytic component within the US government, he said. "At times, the President asks and directs the CIA to do covert action. That covert action can take any number of forms, to include paramilitary." As we've discussed here today on the counter-terrorism front, there are things that the agency has been involved in since 9/11 that, in fact, have been a bit of an aberration from its traditional role," he said. Brennan said if confirmed as the CIA Director, he will look into the mission allocated along with the resources provided for the purpose, besides ensuring best intelligence collection and analytical capabilities for the agency. Brennan asserted that the CIA should not be doing traditional military activities and operations. He said the US faces one of the most insidious cyber threats, and the country needs to do everything required to prevent them. CIA's traditional information collection techniques can help determine the plans and intentions of various groups, which, in turn, can help the agency fight with cyber threats, he noted. Earlier, the hearing was marred by anti-drone protests, with activists trying to highlight the US official's alleged atrocious record in terror operations. CODEPINK, an anti-drone group which also protested outside the Senate, claimed the police arrested eight of its members. The demonstrators blamed Brennan for the "death of many innocent people", noting he should not be "awarded for that."