Stronger national security through the use of the drone program and targeted killings

Becker and Shane’s article revolves around President Obama balancing the drone and targeted killing program with his liberal principles and explores if the program has been effective.  Through the use of armed unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), precision airstrikes, and targeted killings, policy makers in national security have made the United States safer and more secure.  The program has decimated the ranks of Al Qaeda and affiliated terrorist organizations, refocused the efforts of the War on Terror specific groups as opposed to large scale conflicts and nation building (Iraq War), been cost effective in terms of both American lives lost and monetary costs, and forced terrorist groups and militants to spend more time evading attacks instead of planning attacks on Americans and American interests. 

            While it is difficult to find the total monetary cost of the targeted killing campaign, figures are available for the cost of the drones.  The MQ-9 which is commonly used in lethal strikes costs $12 million, a fraction of the cost of the new F-35, and even after accounting for crashed drones and the large crew of support personnel for them, the American security project finds that they are cheaper to operate than manned jet aircraft.  Additionally, while we don’t have figures for total cost of the campaign, we can be sure that it is nowhere near the costs of the Iraq or Afghan war which involved costly invasions, occupations, and rebuilding (costs estimated at $4-6 trillion). 

            The use of drones and precision airstrikes has allowed policy makers to target threats in areas that are inaccessible to ground forces (for reasons of terrain or cost in loss of lives).  According to the New America Foundation’s database, cited in Carpenter and Lina’s article, 1755-2950 militants have been killed to date in Pakistan and 708-945 in Yemen.  The majority of those killed in Pakistan belonged to the Taliban, Haqqqani network (a group closely tied to the Taliban and has been behind numerous deadly attacks on NATO forces), or Al Qaeda and the strikes in Yemen have been almost entirely on Al Qaeda or its regional affiliates.  Aside from diminishing their operational abilities, the body count also can have a psychological effect on the enemy, knowing that so many of their comrades have been killed and that any of them could be next at any time, regardless of how high up they are in the organization.  Knowing that there is a high likelihood of being killed can be a deterring factor for borderline extremists thinking about joining one of the movements.  Among those killed have been senior leaders of the militant and jihadist groups which have resulted in new inexperienced commanders taking their place and less organizational cohesion. 

            There have been 393 drone strikes in Pakistan to date and 117 in Yemen.  The constant pace of the strikes has kept the enemy on the run and forced them to devote the majority of their time to attempting to evade surveillance or death.  It naturally follows that if their priorities shift to just attempting to survive, they will have less time and resources to plan attacks or recruit new members.   There has been no terrorist attack approaching 9/11 in size since the war on terror has begun and the targeted killing program has played a vital role in that.  Safe havens from which attacks could be planned have been eliminated; leaders, bomb makers, logistical planners, and propagandists have killed.  All of this has resulted in a diminished ability on behalf of terrorist organizations to launch an attack on American soil or American interests. 

Becker and Shane state that the targeted killing program has allowed president Obama to refocus the War on Terror on Al Qaeda and core terrorist threats.  By focusing on the targeted killings and withdrawing from large scale occupations and conflicts such as Iraq and Afghanistan, the death toll for both American troops and Muslim civilians has been brought down.   This has allowed the U.S. and President Obama to promote the idea that the U.S. is not at war with Islam but at war with extremist terrorist groups.  Becker and Shane cite a letter found in Bin Laden’s compound in which he cites this tactic as having undermined support for the terror group.  Although the drone strikes and targeted killings may provide some recruiting material for terrorist groups, the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan certainly served to radicalize more of the Muslim population and draw more into the terrorist ranks. 

Finally, there is a lack of better of options to fight the War on Terror and provide national security on that front.  Local regimes have proven incapable of control terrorist or radical elements within their territory or have even been implicated in supporting these groups.  Yemen and Somalia are failed states that cannot control much of their own territory, Pakistan is on the verge on being a failed state with little control over the tribal regions where much of the terror groups hide and elements of the military and ISI are directly tied to these groups.  Invasion, occupation, and nation building in the region have proved too costly in terms of both lives lost and monetary cost, shown little long term improvement, and served to radicalize elements of the population.  Holding prisoners indefinitely in places such as Guantanamo bay served as a recruiting tool to terrorists and the jails in Middle Eastern countries have proven ineffective in holding the prisoners (Al Qaeda jail breaks in Yemen or prisoners being able to carry on their role in the terror group from behind bars).  Becker and Shane also mention the political difficulties in holding terrorists in the U.S. and the legal difficulties in trying them in civilian or military courts (how evidence was obtained). 

The targeted killing program, through the use of armed drones, precision air strikes, and small ground strikes, has been an effective tool for enhancing national security and remains the best option on the table for keeping the nation secure from terrorist threats. 

Cost of Afghan and Iraq Wars: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/study-iraq-afghan-war-costs-to-top-4-trillion/2013/03/28/b82a5dce-97ed-11e2-814b-063623d80a60_story.html

Cost of Drones :http://www.americansecurityproject.org/the-us-and-its-uavs-a-cost-benefit-analysis/

New America Foundation drone strike database: http://securitydata.newamerica.net/drones/pakistan/analysis

Al Qaeda Jail Break, Yemen 2011 : http://www.cbsnews.com/news/al-qaeda-militants-escape-yemen-prison/