Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, Blair said the CIA's unmanned aircraft operation aimed at Al-Qaeda is backfiring by damaging the US-Pakistan relationship. The former director of national intelligence suggests giving Pakistan more say in what gets hit by drone strikes and when, despite Pakistan's record of tipping off militants when it gets advance word of US action.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who previously headed the CIA, has lauded the drone campaign as a key tool to take out Al-Qaeda and other militants in Pakistan's tribal areas.

Blair said the continuing drone strikes are more of a nuisance than a real threat to Al-Qaeda, and that only a ground campaign by Pakistan would truly threaten it and other militant organizations. "It can sustain its level of resistance to an air-only campaign," he said.