Predator drone5/16/2023 ![]() ![]() However, most of his predecessor’s reforms have either been voluntary, like the release of two reports totaling the number of strikes and both combatants and civilians killed, or executive guidelines that could be ignored with relative ease. On the first day of the Trump administration, it is too early to tell what changes he could implement. However, many needed reforms were left undone-in large part because there was zero pressure from congressional members, who, with few exceptions, were the biggest cheerleaders of drone strikes. President Obama deserves credit for even acknowledging the existence of the targeted killing program (something his predecessor did not do), and for increasing transparency into the internal processes that purportedly guided the authorization of drone strikes. Throughout his presidency, I have written often about Obama’s legacy as a drone president, including reports on how the United States could reform drone strike policies, what were the benefits of transferring CIA drone strikes to the Pentagon, and (with Sarah Kreps) how to limit armed drone proliferation. Two terms and 540 strikes later, Obama leaves the White House after having vastly expanding and normalizing the use of armed drones for counterterrorism and close air support operations in non-battlefield settings-namely Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia. ![]() On January 23, 2009, just three days into his presidency, President Obama authorized his first kinetic military action: two drone strikes, three hours apart, in Waziristan, Pakistan, that killed as many as twenty civilians. counterterrorism strategy over the past eight years. Updated: This piece has been updated to include comment from CBP.As Donald Trump assumes office today, he inherits a targeted killing program that has been the cornerstone of U.S. During humanitarian missions AMO regularly deploys the unmanned aircraft system to assist FEMA in assessing hurricane affected areas, in coordination with the National Weather Service to capture imagery of storm impacted areas, and with federal, state and local partners to conduct search and rescue missions, in addition to its law enforcement mission," the spokesperson added. AMO carries out its mission nationwide, not just at the border, consistent with federal laws and policies. CBP AMO routinely conducts operations with other federal, state, and local law enforcement entities to assist law enforcement and humanitarian relief efforts. "After arriving into the Minneapolis airspace, the requesting agency determined that the aircraft was no longer needed for operational awareness and departed back to Grand Forks. The unmanned aircraft system provides live video feed to ground law enforcement, giving them situational awareness, maximizing public safety, while minimizing the threat to personnel and assets,” a CBP spokesperson wrote. Customs and Border Protection, Air and Marine Operations unmanned aircraft system was preparing to provide live video to aid in situational awareness at the request of our federal law enforcement partners in Minneapolis. In 2015, the FBI surveilled Black Lives Matter protests using aircraft over Baltimore after people there protested the police killing of Freddie Gray.Īfter the publication of this piece, CBP confirmed it operated an unmanned aircraft over Minneapolis. The use was highly controversial at the time since then, CBP has used drones hundreds of times, and has not kept very good records about their use. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, OTR chat on or email Predator drones were first used within the United States in 2012, when the Department of Homeland Security flew one over the property of a cattle farmer named Rodney Brossart to surveil him, and to help end a 16-hour standoff between him and another rancher over a stolen-cattle dispute. Its pilots operate out of trailers there, and Customs and Border Patrol has a presence at the base it flies its Predator drones along the US-Canada and US-Mexico borders, but has also been known to operate them domestically in the interior of the country, as it is currently doing over Minneapolis.ĭo you know anything else about drone use in the U.S.? We’d love to hear from you. Motherboard has previously visited Grand Forks Air Force base, where remote pilots fly unarmed MQ-9 Reaper drones (also known as Predator drones) and Global Hawk drones both domestically and abroad. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |