The Effectiveness of Security

            Drone strikes have been increasingly controversial over the past few years. This is not surprising as the number of strikes used by the Obama administration had skyrocketed in 2010 and they are still prevalent today. The government having the ability to neutralize people on the other side of the world with flying robotic killers is an Orwellian threat to many people. Being able to check humans off of a list while drones kill them appears callous, cruel and terrifying. The fact is, drones are simply another tool the military is able to use to fight war, and in a global war on hidden insurgents, flying drones are important, and effective. There have been mishaps over the years, civilians have been accidentally killed, but that is no different from having soldiers on the ground. The statistics provided by newamerica.net on the drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen prove that the drones are very effective at eliminating hostiles with no risk to American soldiers and airmen, and thus should continue to be allowed.

            The year 2010 had the largest number of drone strikes in Pakistan with 122 sorties flown resulting in the elimination of over 788 hostile militants and only 16 civilian deaths. Of the total of 849 killed by drones in 2010, that result is a 92% success rate for accurately killing targets. On the high end of all strikes in Pakistan, the drones have an 82% accuracy rating for killing militants. For many, that number is still too low and every mistake ends in the death of innocent people. The cold truth is that is the reality of war, innocent people will be caught in the middle and killed. This is true whether drones are used or soldiers, and with drones there are no Americans put in harm’s way. The argument can be made that 82% accuracy is too low, and too many innocents are killed. But the benefit of keeping Americans safe can be said to make up the difference. The military is concerned with keeping its own people alive, not those living in a hostile country.

            As part of the targeted killing program, mass data collection is necessary to find those with hostile intent against the people of the United States. The NSA, FBI, CIA and other intelligence agencies do spy on everyone on earth who is connected to the internet, and many more who are not. As stated in previous blogs, privacy is nonexistent for most Americans, and it is popular to willingly disregard it. Critics of intelligence gathering can equate the effort to finding a needle in a haystack, and they would not be wrong. But over the years the government has prevented numerous attempted terror plots, such as the metro and shoe bombers. The government may be searching in a 7billion straw haystack searching for a few hundred needles, but it can be comforting to know that they are looking. Until a more cost effective and less invasive method is proposed by those who value their “privacy,” then preventing even one terror attack on the scale of or smaller than that of the September 11^th attacks is worth it.