On Wednesday, the New York Times and The Washington Post reported that the C.I.A. has used a secret drone base located in Saudi Arabia to launch strikes in Yemen. The news came a day before John Brennan’s Senate confirmation hearing. Brennan is President Obama’s nominee for C.I.A. director and the “chief architect” of the administration’s counter-terrorism policy, which includes the use of drones to carry out targeted killings. News organizations had known about the location of the base but had not reported it at the request of the Obama administration, claiming it could undermine our relationship with the Saudis. Middle East scholar Joseph Kéchichian, a non-resident fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute and author of Legal and Political Reforms in Saudi Arabia, examines the controversial White House policy. Kéchichian is currently writing a book on the Gulf Cooperation Council.