Dunetz: Personal words about Warren Weinstein, American hostage killed in drone-strike gone bad

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Thursday released the news that a January 2014 CIA drone strike on al Qaeda terrorists killed two hostages that the US didn't know were there. One of the killed innocents was my freshman college adviser who was being held by al Qaeda for the past four years (since August 2011), Dr. Warren Weinstein.

The President directed that the information being shared today, which was properly classified until now, be declassified and shared with the American people. He takes full responsibility for these operations and believes it is important to provide the American people with as much information as possible about our counterterrorism operations, particularly when they take the lives of fellow citizens. The uniquely tragic nature of the operation that resulted in the deaths of two innocent hostages is something we will do our utmost to ensure is not repeated. To this end, although the operation was lawful and conducted consistent with our counterterrorism policies, we are conducting a thorough independent review to understand fully what happened and how we can prevent this type of tragic incident in the future.