Are drone strikes too risky?
The death of two innocent al Qaeda hostages by a U.S. drone strike is renewing the debate over the military's use of the aerial weapons. American Warren Weinstein and an Italian Giovanni Lo Porto were killed in January during a strike on an al Qaeda compound but their deaths were only made public on Thursday.
Michael Morell, the former deputy director of the CIA, says before strikes are conducted two things have to be true.
"You have to have near certainty that the people that you're shooting at are planning attacks against the United States and you have to have near certainty that there is no collateral damage," said Morell.
Morell says there's no way to be "100 percent sure" that civilians or hostages won't be killed but adds that collateral damage in drone strikes is low.
Morell believes the benefits of drone strikes outweigh the risks. Watch the video above to hear him explain why.