美国参议院批准布伦南出任中央情报局局长

The U.S. Senate has confirmed John Brennan as the new head of the Central Intelligence Agency after one senator threatened to hold up the vote indefinitely over the White House drone policy.

Thursday's vote was 63 to 34. It came after the Senate held a separate vote to cut off any more debate and and proceed with the confirmation.

Kentucky Republican Rand Paul filibustered against the Brennan confirmation, talking on the Senate floor non-stop for 13 hours. He demanded the Obama administration specify limits on using drone strikes to attack U.S. terror suspects on U.S. soil.

Attorney General Eric Holder sent Paul a brief letter stating that the president does not have the authority to kill a U.S. citizen not engaged in combat on U.S. soil.

Holder said earlier this week that while the president has no intention of ordering a drone strike within the United States, he could do so under an "extraordinary circumstance."

The Obama administration has used drones to kill terror suspects overseas, including U.S. citizens.

Brennnan is a long-time CIA official who had been Pendent Obama's top counterterrorism advisor. He has said he supported the drone policy.