Kill Chain: The Rise of the High-Tech Assassins (45 page)

“We’re not thinking about bloodthirsty butchers”: Interview with former CIA official, Washington, DC, April 16, 2014.

“They were coming at us”: Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker,
Counterstrike
(New York: Times Books, 2012), p. 101.

Interestingly, these bellicose remarks were guided by Richard Clarke: Klaidman, op. cit., p. 18.

“We did nothing”: Columbia School of Law, Human Rights Clinic and Center for Civilians in Conflict,
The Civilian Impact of Drones—Unexamined Costs, Unanswered Questions,
p. 21.

Afterward, when Hayden and Kappes explained the concept of a signature strike: Daniel Klaidman, “Drones: The Silent Killers,”
Newsweek
, May 28, 2012.

According to a rare outside observer: David Rhode, “The Drone War,”
Reuters
magazine, January 26, 2012.

“We do not come out of our villages”: NYU and Stanford Schools of Law, op. cit., p. 96.

The sole survivor of Obama’s first strike: Ibid., p. 74ff.

“We got played all the time”: Interview with former CIA official, Washington, DC, April 16, 2014.

Naturally, the Pakistani government was happy: Ahmed, op. cit., p. 73.

As related in Joby Warrick’s gripping account: Joby Warrick,
The Triple Agent: The al-Qaeda Mole Who Infiltrated the CIA
(New York: Doubleday, 2011).

In reality the driver of the car: Ibid., p. 86.

In fact, given reports that the rival Mehsud and Wazir tribes: Azhar Masood, “Pakistani Tribesmen Settle Scores Through US Drones,”
Arab News
, May 24, 2011.

ISI … were supplying the targeting information: Patrick Cockburn, “Revenger’s Tragedy: The Forgotten Conflict in Pakistan,”
Independent
, May 10, 2010.

Ahmed Wali Karzai: Wikileaks, “Ahmed Wali Karzai Seeking to Define Himself as US Partner,” February 25, 2010.
https://wikileaks.org/cable/2010/02/10KABUL693.html
.

“very precise precision strikes”: David Jackson, “Obama Defends Drone Strikes,” State Department Cable,
USA Today
, January 31, 2012.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta echoed the sentiment: U.S. Department of Defense, Press Operations, “Remarks by Secretary Panetta at the Center for a New American Security,” November 20, 2012.

John Brennan insisted: Scott Shane, “C.I.A. Is Disputed on Civilian Toll in Drone Strikes,”
New York Times
, August 11, 2011.

“Drones were a cheap, politically painless way of dealing with that”: Interview with Cameron Munter, ambassador to Pakistan from 2010 to 2012, Washington, DC, April 24, 2012.

John Brennan did like to put a “strategic” gloss on the undertaking: Interview with former White House official, Washington, DC, April 22, 2014.

Despite Brennan’s theorizing about table legs: Jonathan Landay, “Obama’s Drone War Kills ‘Others,’ Not Just al-Qaida Leaders,”
McClatchy Newspapers
, April 9, 2013.

By 2012, for example, the CIA had clearance: Greg Miller, “White House approves broader Yemen Drone Campaign,”
Washington Post
, April 25, 2012.

So near neighbors might not know: NYU and Stanford Schools of Law, op. cit., p. 5.

“The drone campaign only makes sense”: Interview, Washington, DC, April 12, 2014.

“truly disturbing”: Bureau of Investigative Journalism, “Reported U.S. covert actions 2001–2011,”
Yemen Times
, March 29, 2012.

Edmund Hull: Wikileaks, U.S. State Department Cable, “Ambassador’s 4/10 Meeting with Amnesty.”
https://wikileaks.org/cable/2004/04/04SANAA860.html
.

He has also laid claims:
Yemen Times
, April 13, 2008.

Saleh, who was distrustful of banks: Interview with Sana’a former government official, January 2011.

When he had first seized power in a 1978 coup: The winning ticket was claimed by the late Selma al-Radi, whose knowledge of Yemen was unmatched.

Well-informed political sources in Sana’a: Interview with Sana’a former government official, January 2011.

“They were supposed to have used forks”: Interview with Sana’a former government official, January 2011.

CIA built a special base in Saudi Arabia:
Foxnews.com
, “Obama Administration Building New Drone Bases in Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia,” September 21, 2011.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/21/obama-administration-building-new-drone-bases-in-horn-africa-saudi/#ixzz38jrJi5Gw
.

Jaber was also a business partnership of a Saleh relative: Interview Sana’a former government official, January 2011.

“How could this happen?” Klaidman,
Kill Capture
, op. cit., p. 255.

Brennan, meanwhile, was “pissed”: Adam Enthous, “U.S. Doubts Intelligence That Led to Yemen Strike,”
Wall Street Journal
, December 29, 2011.

This mistargeted killing had more far-reaching consequences: Jeb Bone, “Drone Wars, Attacks Fuel Anger in Yemen,”
Global Post
, October 10, 2011.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/111007/drone-warsyemen-unrest-protests-aqap-al-qaeda
.

“no one has asked us”: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, “Shabwa: Blood Feuds and Hospitality in al-Qaida’s Yemen Outpost,”
The Guardian
, August 23, 2010.

“slapdash pastiche”: The Editorial Board, “A Thin Rationale for Drone Killings,”
New York Times,
June 23, 2014.

Israeli Supreme Court:
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel
v.
The Government of Israel
, HCJ 769/02, December 13, 2006.

However, as revealed by Anat Kamm: Noa Yachot, “Timeline—The Anat Kamm Affair,”
+
972 Magazine
, October 29, 2011.

“The regime decided to hand over this territory”: Interview with Abdul-Ghani al-Iryani, “Yemenis Celebrate as Saleh Flees,”
Democracy Now
, June 6, 2011.

Al-Qaeda member Hamid al-Radmi, for example: Human Rights Watch, “Between a Drone and Al-Qaeda, Pt. 2, Wessab, Strike on Alleged Local AQAP Leader,” October 22, 2013, p. 7.
http://www.hrw.org/node/119909/section/7
.

Adnan al-Qadhi, a colonel: Ibid.

“They could have picked him up any time”: Telephone interview, January 25, 2014.

Inevitably, collateral victims accumulated: Human Rights Watch, op. cit.

This document stated clearly and unequivocally: Office of the Press Secretary, “Fact Sheet: U.S. Policy Standards and Procedures for the Use of Force in Counterterrorism Operations Outside the United States and Areas of Active Hostilities,” White House, May 23, 2014.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/05/23/fact-sheet-us-policy-standards-and-procedures-use-force-counterterrorism
.

Over fifteen days in the summer of 2013: Eric Schmidt, “Embassies Open but Yemen Stays on Terror Watch,”
New York Times
, August 11, 2013.

“Turns out I’m really good at killing people”: John Heilemann and Mark Halperin,
Double Down: Game Change 2012
(New York: Penguin Press, 2013), p. 55.

In April 2014, Western media took notice: Barbara Starr, “Unsettling Video Shows Large al-Qaeda Meeting in Yemen,” CNN, April 16, 2014.

Reports from Sana’a indicated: Adam Baron, “U.S. Drone Strikes Came Despite Yemen’s Hopes to Limit Them,”
McClatchy New Service,
April 21, 2014.

13 | One Big Robot

“We want to be everywhere, know everything”: Melanie D. G. Kaplan “JSOC Commander Outlines Intel Demands,”
Trajectory Magazine
, U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, April 17, 2014.
http://trajectorymagazine.com/got-geoint/item/1721-jsoc-commander-outlines-intel-demands.html
(video of speech embedded).

Operating in at least 134 countries: Admiral William H. McRaven, Posture Statement to the House Armed Services Committee, February 27, 2014.

From a mere $2.3 billion in 2001: U.S. Special Operations Command, “FY 2015, Budget Highlights,” pp. 5–6.
http://www.socom.mil/News/Documents/USSOCOM_FY_2013_Budget_Highlights.pdf
.

and was looking for $9.9 billion: Andrew Feickert, “U.S. Special Operations Forces, Background and Issues for Congress,” Congressional Research Service, May 8, 2014.

“They have professional lighting engineers for the displays”: Interview with House Appropriations Committee staffer, Washington, DC, March 28, 2014.

“When SEAL Team 6 operators are sent on ‘training’ missions to Alaska”: Rowan Scarborough, “Obama Runs Special Forces into the Ground,”
Washington Times
, March 11, 2014.

Nevertheless, there was little sign: Matt Cox, “Congress Wants More Control of Special Ops Iron Man Suit,”
Defense Technology
, April 29, 2014.
http://defensetech.org/2014/04/29/congress-wants-more-control-of-special-ops-iron-man-suit/
.

with a slick, expensive gamelike video: Sidney Freedberg Jr., “SOCOM Wants YOU to Help Build High-tech ‘Iron Man’ Armor,”
Breaking Defense
, October 21, 2013.
http://breakingdefense.com/2013/10/socom-wants-you-to-help-build-high-tech-iron-man-armor/
.

Among other items on a Special Operations wish list: Mark Thompson, “Check Out This New Wish List for U.S. Special Ops,”
Time
, April 28, 2014.

Conducted in conjunction with the CIA: Dana Priest, “Covert Action in Colombia,”
Washington Post
, December 31, 2013.

Mono Jojoy, for example: Ariel Avila, “Who Is Mauricio, the Man Directing Farc’s Negotiations?”
Semana
(Bogotá), August 28, 2012.

Paul Reyes, a senior leader killed: Garry Leech, “The Significance of the Deaths of the FARC Leaders,”
Colombia Journal,
March 10, 2008.
http://colombiajournal.org/the-significance-of-the-deaths-of-the-farc-leaders-2.htm
.

“They’ve had two ceasefires in recent years and made them stick”: Telephone interview, May 6, 2014.

In May 2014, in seeming rejection of long-standing U.S. policy: Sara Schaefer Muñoz and Juan Forero, “Colombia Agrees with Rebels to Jointly Fight Trafficking,”
Wall Street Journal
, May 16, 2014.

Notwithstanding the claimed victory in Colombia: Janet Hook, “Americans Want to Pull Back from World Affairs, Poll Finds,”
Wall Street Journal
, April 30, 2014.

Three days after this speech: Patrick Galey, Jack Serle, and Alice K. Ross, “Drone Strikes in Yemen: Bloodiest US and Yemeni Attacks in Two Years Kill at Least 40 People,” Bureau of Investigative Journalism, April 22, 2014.

“Dear America”: Tweet from Farea al-Muslimi, May 3, 2014.
https://twitter.com/almuslimi/status/462465907085029376
.

“tsunami”: Tweet from Farea al-Muslimi, April 21, 2014.
https://twitter.com/almuslimi/status/458376151556423680
.

a detailed Human Rights Watch on-the-ground investigation: Human Rights Watch, “A Wedding That Became a Funeral,” February 19, 2014.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2014/02/19/wedding-became-funeral
.

Officials shown the drone-feed video: Kimberly Dozier, “Report: U.S. Drone Strike May Have Killed Up to a Dozen Civilians in Yemen,” Associated Press, February 20, 2014.

However, in an implicit reminder: Michael Isikoff, “U.S. Investigates Yemenis’ Charge That Drone Strike Turned Wedding into a Funeral,”
NBCnews.com
, January 7, 2014.

Meanwhile a convenient leak suggested: Ken Dilanian, “Debate Grows over Proposal for CIA to Turn Over Drones to Pentagon,”
Los Angeles Times
, May 11, 2014.

Fifteen years earlier: George W. Bush: “A Period of Consequences,” speech delivered at The Citadel, Charleston, SC, September 23, 1999.

In 2012, Barack Obama, in a speech at the Pentagon: President Barack H. Obama, “Defense Strategic Guidance Briefing from the Pentagon,” Press Operations, U.S. Department of Defense, January 5, 2012.

“devastating blows”: Dominique Pastre, “Biden Says Terror Leaders’ Deaths Significant Blow to Al Qaeda,”
Foxnews.com
, April 19, 2010.

At the end of the Bush tenure: Nick Turse, “America’s Secret War in 134 Countries, Huffington Post, January 16, 2014.

Djibouti indeed was the centerpiece: Eric Schmidt, “U.S. Signs New Lease to Keep Strategic Military Installation in the Horn of Africa,”
New York Times
, May 5, 2014.

The camp, home to the JSOC drones: Nick Turse, “The Next Generation of Shadow Wars: America’s Military-Industrial Complex Is Expanding,”
Salon,
April 14, 2014.

Even less visibly, the U.S. Air Force was maintaining: Joe Trevithick, “The Pentagon Plans for More Drones in More Places,”
Medium.com/War-Is-Boring
, April 14, 2014.

As of 2014 the air force planned to have 346 of these: Inside
Defense.com
, “Air Force to Acquire Fleet of 346 Reapers by FY-21, 55 Fewer Than Planned,” March 6, 2014.

of which more than 80 would likely be under CIA control: Aram Roston, “Targeted Killing: CIA’s Fleet of 80
+
UAVs Unlikely to Be Transferred to Military,”
Defense News
, May 15, 2013.

a new acronym entered military jargon: Air-Sea Battle Office, “Air Sea Battle, Service Collaboration to Address Anti-Access & Area Denial Issues,” Department of Defense, May 2013.
http://www.defense.gov/pubs/ASB-ConceptImplementation-Summary-May-2013.pdf
.

Thanks to Predator and Reaper: The Federal Procurement Data System has provided the following report on the top 100 defense contractors in 2013: FY
https://www.fpds.gov/downloads/top_requests/Top_100_Contractors_Report_Fiscal_Year_2013.xls
. Accessed July 30, 2014.

For the twelve Reapers the air force planned to buy:
InsideDefense.com
, March 6, 2014.

Boeing’s F/A-18 “Growler” electronic warfare plane: Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 President’s Budget Submission: Navy Justification Book, Vol. 1: Aircraft Procurement, Navy Budget Activities 1–4, pp. 1–15.

while Lockheed was happily extracting $106 million for the C-130J transport plane: U.S. Department of Defense, “Selected Acquisition Report (SAR) Summary Tables As of December 31, 2013.”