Updated

The man who is seeking to run the CIA says the Obama administration has never killed terror suspects when officials had the opportunity to capture them instead.

White House nominee John Brennan denied Thursday there's any link between a surge in lethal drone attacks on militants overseas and the Obama administration's reluctance to hold suspects in U.S. detention centers.

President Barack Obama has pledged to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and no terror suspects have been sent there since he took office in 2009.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine noted at Brennan's confirmation hearing that targeted killings of suspects have more than increased sixfold during the Obama administration.

Brennan cited a growth of al-Qaida in Yemen as the reason for the increase.