Despite the CIA’s reluctance to enter the drone assassination business prior to 9/11, former CIA head David Petraeus once said, “We can’t get enough drones.”53 In 2010 former defense secretary Robert Gates said, “We are buying as many Reapers as we possibly can.”54 That same year the commander of the 147th Reconnaissance Wing, Col. Ken Wisian, said of drones, “The demand for this kind of capacity is insatiable.”55
With little discussion, the United States (along with as many as fifty other nations) has inaugurated what amounts to a drone revolution. Although the CIA is the only intelligence agency in the world that currently flies killer drones beyond its borders to hunt terrorists and insurgents, it is perhaps only a matter of time before Russia, China, Israel, and other countries deploy drone fleets abroad in search of their foes.56 David Cortright of Notre Dame has fretted, “What kind of a future are we creating for our children? We face the prospect of a world in which every nation will have drone warfare capability, in which terror can rain down from the sky at any moment without warning.”57
As Cortright and others ponder the future of remote-control aerial killers and their impact on war and counterterrorism, drones are increasingly coming to shape the way the United States and other countries hunt and kill those they deem to be enemies. Peter Singer, author of Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century, best sums up the new drone reality: “The [drone] technology is here. And it isn’t going away. It will increasingly play a role in our lives. … The real question is: How do we deal with it?”58
APPENDIX: DRONE SPECIFICATIONS
MQ-1 PREDATOR
Primary Function:
Armed reconnaissance, airborne surveillance, and target acquisition
Contractor:
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.
Power Plant:
Rotax 914F four-cylinder engine
Thrust:
115 horsepower
Wingspan:
55 feet (16.8 meters)
Length:
27 feet (8.22 meters)
Height:
6.9 feet (2.1 meters)
Weight:
1,130 pounds (512 kilograms) empty
Fuel Capacity:
665 pounds (100 gallons)
Speed:
Cruise speed around 84 miles per hour (70 knots), up to 135 miles per hour
Range:
Up to 770 miles (675 nautical miles)
Ceiling:
Up to 25,000 feet (7,620 meters)
Armament:
Two laser-guided AGM-114 Hellfire missiles
Crew:
Two (pilot and sensor operator)
Unit Cost:
$20 million (fiscal 2009 dollars; includes four aircraft, a ground control station, and a Predator primary satellite link)1
MQ-9 REAPER
Primary Function:
Remotely piloted hunter-killer weapon system
Contractor:
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.
Power Plant:
Honeywell TPE331-10GD turboprop engine
Thrust:
900 shaft horsepower maximum
Wingspan:
66 feet (20.1 meters)
Length:
36 feet (11 meters)
Height:
12.5 feet (3.8 meters)
Weight:
4,900 pounds (2,223 kilograms) empty
Maximum takeoff weight:
10,500 pounds (4,760 kilograms)
Fuel Capacity:
4,000 pounds (602 gallons)
Payload:
3,750 pounds (1,701 kilograms)
Speed:
Cruise speed around 230 miles per hour (200 knots)
Range:
1,150 miles (1,000 nautical miles)
Ceiling:
Up to 50,000 feet (15,240 meters)
Armament:
Combination of AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, GBU-12 Paveway II, and GBU-38 JDAMs
Crew:
Two (pilot and sensor operator)
Unit Cost:
$53.5 million (fiscal 2006 dollars, includes four aircraft with sensors)
Initial Operating Capability:
October 20072
NOTES
1. THE DEATH OF A TERRORIST
1. Declan Walsh, “Is Baitullah Mehsud Now Public Enemy No 1 for the US?” Guardian, April 5, 2009.
2. “41 Dead in Pakistan Suicide Bombing: Officials,” Agence-France Presse, December 25, 2010, http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/afp/41-dead-in-pakistan-suicide-bombing-officials/413540; “Pakistan Assessment 2012,” South Asia Terrorism Portal, http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/pakistan/ (accessed on February 19, 2013); Shahan Mufti, “Suicide Attacks a Growing Threat in Pakistan,” Christian Science Monitor, October 10, 2008.
3. Sabrina Tavernise, “Deaths at Hands of Militants Rise in Pakistan,” New York Times, January 14, 2009.
4. “Pro-Taliban Commander Threatens Benazir with Suicide Attacks,” AndhraNews, October 5, 2007, http://www.andhranews.net/Intl/2007/October/5/Taliban-commander-18068.asp; Bill Roggio, “Pakistan Implicates Baitullah Mehsud in Bhutto Assassination,” Long War Journal, December 28, 2007, http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007/12/pakistan_implicates.php. See also Philip Reeves, “Did Baitullah Mehsud Kill Benazir Bhutto?” All Things Considered, National Public Radio, January 16, 2008, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18159635.
5. “Taliban Commander Baitullah Mehsud,” Newsweek, April 3, 2009.
6. Bill Roggio, “Taliban Capture over 100 Pakistani Soldiers in South Waziristan,” Long War Journal, August 31, 2007, http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007/08/taliban_capture_over.php.
7. Imtiaz Ali and Craig Whitlock, “Taliban Commander Emerges as Pakistan’s ‘Biggest Problem,’” Washington Post, January 10, 2008.
8. White House, “Remarks by the President on a New Strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan,” press release, March 27, 2009, http://m.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-on-a-New-Strategy-for-Afghanistan-and-Pakistan/.
9. “Scenic Pakistani Valley Falls to Taliban Militants,” Associated Press, December 29, 2008.
10. Salman Masood, “Video of Flogging Rattles Pakistan,” New York Times, April 4, 2009. For the unbearably gruesome videos of the beheadings see “Video: Taliban Slaughter Pakistani Police and Residents Like Animals,” Islamization Watch (blog), April 22, 2009, http://islamizationwatch.blogspot.com/2009/04/video-taliban-slaughter-pakistani.html.
11. “High-Profile Victories in the Battle against Terror,” Sunday Times (London), August 9, 2009.
12. “Profile: Hakimullah Mehsud,” BBC News, May 3, 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8219223.stm.
13. Imtiaz Gul, The Most Dangerous Place: Pakistan’s Lawless Frontier (New York: Viking, 2010), 15.
14. “Taleban, We Will Launch an Attack in Washington That Will Amaze Everyone in the World,” Sunday Times, April 1, 2009.
15. Bill Roggio and Alexander Mayer, “Charting the Data for US Airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004–2011,” Long War Journal, http://www.longwarjournal.org/pakistan-strikes.php (accessed in December 2011).
16. Bill Roggio, “Scores of Taliban Killed in Second US Strike in South Waziristan,” Long War Journal, June 23, 2009, http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/06/seventeen_taliban_ki.php.
17. Nick Schifrin, “Near Miss: CIA Drone Almost Hits Taliban Chief in Pakistan,” ABC News, June 26, 2009, http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/International/story?id=7939317.
18. “Taliban Leader Baitullah Mehsud Escapes U.S Missile Strike,” Trends Updates, June 24, 2009.
19. “US Drone Kills Scores of People in Tribal Zone,” Times (London), June 25, 2009.
20. “Missile Attack Kills Fifty in South Waziristan,” Dawn, June 24, 2009.
21. Nick Schifrin, “CIA Drone Strike Kills Wife of Pakistani Taliban Chief,” ABC News, August 5, 2009, http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=8258637&page=1.<
br />
22. Ismail Khan, “Good Riddance, Killer Baitullah,” Dawn, August 8, 2009.
23. Ibid.
24. “Baitullah Mehsud Dead,” Paklinks.com, August 6, 2009, http://www.paklinks.com/gs/pakistan-affairs/339128-baitullah-mehsud-dead.html.
25. “Taleban Commander Baitullah Mehsud Killed in US Missile Strike,” Times, August 8, 2009.
26. Jane Mayer, “The Predator War: What Are the Risks of the C.I.A.’s Covert Drone Program?” New Yorker, October 26, 2009.
27. Ishtiaq Mahsud, “New Pakistani Taliban Leader Vows Revenge,” SFGate, October 6, 2009, http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/New-Pakistani-Taliban-leader-vows-revenge-3284609.php.
28. “New Taliban Leader Vows to Carry on War,” Sky News, September 18, 2009, http://news.sky.com/story/725368/new-taliban-leader-vows-to-carry-on-war.
29. “Pakistan Taliban Says Leader Injured in Attack,” CNN, January 15, 2010, http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/01/15/pakistan.taliban/index.html.
2. A HISTORY OF THE PASHTUN TRIBAL LANDS OF PAKISTAN
1. Mary Anne Weaver, Pakistan: Deep Inside the World’s Most Frightening State (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010), 69.
2. “Pakistan Air Force/Pakistan Fiza’ya,” http://www.f-16.net/f-16_users_article14.html (accessed on January 27, 2011).
3. “The Pakistani US Relationship,” Defense Journal, April 1998.
4. “Frenemies,” Newsweek, May 23, 2011.
5. Peter Bergen, Holy War Inc. (New York: Touchstone, 2001), 73.
6. The Pashtuns make up about 40 percent of Afghanistan.
7. “CIA Tried to Have Bin Laden Killed,” New York Times, September 30, 2001.
8. “Officials: U.S. Missed Chance to Kill Bin Laden,” Associated Press, June 23, 2003.
9. Daniel Schorr, “Reviewing the Presidential Ban on Assassinations,” National Public Radio, September 17, 2001, http://www.npr.org/news/specials/americatransformed/essays/010917.schorrcommentary.html.
3. ENTER THE PREDATOR
1. Bill Yenne, Birds of Prey: Predators, Reapers and America’s Newest UAVs in Combat (North Branch, MN: Specialty Books, 2010), 15.
2. Linda D. Kozaryn, “Predators Bound for Bosnia,” American Forces Press Service, U.S. Department of Defense, February 8, 1996, http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=40516.
3. Michael R. Thirtle, Robert Johnson, and John Birkler, The Predator ACTD: A Case Study for Transition Planning to the Formal Acquisition Process (Washington, DC: Rand, 1997), 24–25.
4. Steve Coll, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (New York: Penguin, 2005), 529.
5. Ibid.
6. Norman Polmar, The Naval Institute Guide to the Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2005), 479.
7. Yenne, Birds of Prey, 43.
8. Peter Singer, Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century (New York: Penguin Books, 2009), 33.
9. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2004), 189–90.
10. David Ensor, “Drone May Have Spotted Bin Laden in 2000,” CNN, March 17, 2004, http://articles.cnn.com/2004-03-17/world/predator.video_1_bin-senior-al-predator-drone-aircraft; George Tenet, Written Statement for the Record of the Director of Central Intelligence before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, March 24, 2004, 15, http://www.9-11commission.gov/hearings/hearing8/tenet_statement.pdf.
11. Klaus Brinkbaumer and John Goetz, “Obama’s Shadowy Drone War,” Der Spiegel, October 12, 2010.
12. Ibid.
13. Walter Boyne, “How the Predator Grew Teeth,” Air Force Magazine 92, no. 7 (July 2009): 2–17.
14. Yenne, Birds of Prey, 45.
15. Ted Bridis, “Officials: U.S. Slow on Bin Laden Drones,” Associated Press, June 24, 2003.
16. Barton Gellman, “A Strategy’s Cautious Evolution,” Washington Post, January 20, 2002.
17. “Officials: U.S. Missed Chance to Kill Bin Laden,” Associated Press, June 23, 2003.
18. Ibid.
19. Scott Shane, “CIA to Expand Use of Drones in Pakistan,” New York Times, December 3, 2009.
20. Coll, Ghost Wars, 581.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
23. See National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, 9/11 Commission Report, chap. 6, 210–14, for a discussion of this debate.
24. George Tenet, At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 143.
25. Mayer, “Predator War.”
26. Avery Plaw, Targeting Terrorists: A License to Kill? (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2008), 2, 117, 119–20, 210.
27. “Officials: U.S. Missed Chance.”
28. Singer, Wired for War, 35.
4. OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM
1. Richard Clarke, Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror (New York: Free Press, 2004), 23.
2. Bob Woodward and Dan Baltz, “Combating Terrorism: ‘It Starts Today,’” Washington Post, February 1, 2002.
3. “Bring Me the Head of Bin Laden,” BBC News, May 4, 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4511943.stm.
4. “The Yemen Strike: The War on Terror Goes Global,” Chicago Tribune, November 24, 2002.
5. Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker, Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America’s Secret Campaign against Al Qaeda (New York: Times Books, 2011), 4.
6. “CIA Gets New Powers to Eliminate Bin Laden as UAVs Get Armed,” Agence France-Presse, October 21, 2001.
7. Barton Gellman, “CIA Weighs ‘Targeted Killing’ Missions: Administration Believes Restraints Do Not Bar Singling Out Individual Terrorists,” Washington Post, October 28, 2001.
8. Ibid.
9. Michael Warren, “Biden Insinuates He Didn’t Vote for Afghanistan, Iraq Wars,” Weekly Standard, October 11, 2012.
10. Morris Davis, “Combatant Immunity and the Death of Anwar al Awlaqi,” Jurist, October 17, 2011, http://jurist.org/forum/2011/10/morris-davis-anwar-al-awlaqi.php.
11. Hassan Abbas, Pakistan’s Drift into Extremism (London: M. E. Sharpe, 2009), 217.
12. Ibid., 218.
13. For an overview of this war see Brian Glyn Williams, Afghanistan Declassified: A Guide to America’s Longest War (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012).
14. “CIA Sent Drone to Save Rebel Leader,” Associated Press, October 29, 2001.
15. Brian Glyn Williams, The Last Warlord: The Life and Legend of the Afghan Warrior Who Led US Special Forces in Toppling the Taliban Regime (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2013).
16. Brian Glyn Williams, “Report from the Field: General Dostum and the Mazar i Sharif Campaign: New Light on the Role of Northern Alliance Warlords in Operation Enduring Freedom,” Small Wars and Insurgencies 21, no. 4 (December 2010): 610–32.
17. Terry Anderson, Bush’s Wars (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 87.
18. “Tribal Leader: Bin Laden in Pakistan,” United Press International, April 21, 2004.
19. Tenet, Written Statement for the Record, 16.
20. Yenne, Birds of Prey, 45.
21. Carlota Gall, “War-Weary Commanders Admit Rift with Leaders,” New York Times, February 22, 2011.
22. Thomas E. Ricks, “Target Approval Delays Irk Air Force Officers,” Washington Post, November 18, 2001.
23. Yenne, Birds of Prey, 45.
24. Stephen Grey, “Death of Bin Laden’s Deputy: How the US Killed Al Qaeda Leaders by Remote Control,” Times, November 18, 2001.
25. Ricks, “Target Approval Delays.”
26. “Predator and Prey,” Newsweek, January 16, 2006. Among others, the military’s drones are flown by the 11th, 15th, 17th, 46th, and 64th Reconnaissance Squadrons and the Air National Guard’s 163rd Reconnaissance Wing, 119th and
214th Reconnaissance Groups, 19th and 42nd Attack Squadrons, 53rd Wing, 56th Test and Evaluation Squadron, 27th, 33rd, and 58th Special Operations Wings, 551st Special Operations Squadron, and 174th Fighter Wing,
27. Operation Anaconda: The Battle of Robert’s Ridge, Part 4 of 5, Military Channel documentary, LiveLeak.com, posted by “bravo61,” October 12, 2008, http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=151_1223869362.
28. Doug Struck, “Casualties of U.S. Miscalculations: Afghan Victims of CIA Missile Strike Described as Peasants, Not Al Qaeda,” Washington Post, February 11, 2002.
29. Doug Struck, “Men Hit in U.S. Missile Strike Were Scavengers, Relatives Say Afghans Were at Al Qaeda Site for Scrap Metal to Sell,” Washington Post, February 12, 2002.
30. Department of Defense, “DoD News Briefing: Secretary Rumsfeld and Gen. Myers,” news transcript, February 12, 2002, http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=2636.
31. Struck, “Men Hit in U.S. Missile Strike.”
5. MANHUNT
1. U.S. Department of Defense, “Secretary Rumsfeld Interview with CNN Live Today,” news transcript, March 8, 2002.
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