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Panetta: Drones to be 'continuing tool' of U.S.

Armed, unmanned drones will be a feature of U.S. counter-terrorism efforts abroad for years to come, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in an interview Monday.

"The reality is its going to be a continuing tool of national defense in the future," Panetta told ABC's Martha Raddatz on Capitol Hill on Monday just after President Barack Obama was sworn in to a second term.

In his speech, Obama spoke of an end to America's military campaigns abroad.

"A decade of war is now ending," he declared, alluding to the completed U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and the drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. American troop levels there are down by about a third from their peak of 100,000 (which came under Obama) but still roughly double what they were when Obama took office.

Asked by Raddatz if the scaled-down U.S. role in Afghanistan meant more reliance on drones, Panetta referred obliquely to the imperative to use "what operational skills we have to go after those that would attack our country."

"I think that's reality," said Panetta. "We've done that in Pakistan. We're doing it in Yemen and elsewhere. And I think the reality is its going to be a continuing tool of national defense in the future."

In the conversation, Panetta does not appear to have referred explicitly to drone operations, the details of which are almost always classified. Civil liberties and human rights groups seeking more information about U.S. drone programs have tried, without success, to use Panetta's past comments on the issue to leverage out more details about the operations.

Panetta is expected to leave his post in the coming weeks. On Monday, Obama formally nominated former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) to replace Panetta at the Pentagon.