Why US Drones Make So Many Mistakes

The CIA has abandoned intelligence activity. The effect of the accidental killing of Lo Porto on the possible use of unmanned aerial vehicles in Libya.

The death of Giovanni Lo Porto dates back to January this year, exactly three years after the Italian aid worker was kidnapped in Pakistan by an al-Qaida terrorist group. Yet, it wasn’t until April 23 that the news was declassified and communicated in person to the world by U.S. President Barack Obama. What’s more, he accepted complete responsibility for the incident.

Well, at least that’s something, isn’t it?

A U.S. drone directly targeting a terrorist hideout where the unfortunate hostages were being held accidentally caused Lo Porto and the American Warren Weinstein’s sad end. The timing and way in which the White House communicated the news to the world have caused deep irritation and clashes, not only because of the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi’s, presence in Washington, D.C. in the days running up to the declassification of the information, but also because of the concurrent European Union summit for security in the Mediterranean, a summit where, among other things, the possible use of armed drones to destroy boats and curb human trafficking was discussed.

The Detestable Use of Drones

The usefulness of drones is undeniable in modern warfare, yet the topic still needs serious consideration, almost exclusively in relation to the United States of America and its modus operandi. Enamored with the efficiency of unmanned aerial spy vehicles that allow it to spy on every corner of the planet without risking men on the ground, the CIA has progressively almost abandoned human intelligence activity in favor of electronic activity and, therefore, drones. This has made it even more cynical, imprecise and violent.

We only need to think of the attempts to kill the Islamic State Caliph al- Baghdadi. Thought to have been killed by targeted bombing numerous times, his fate is surrounded by many instances of “maybe,” “probably,” “we think that” without any confirmation or verification from the field. This is because there were no longer any agents in the field, since instead, they were all shut up inside metal containers on American bases, thousands of kilometers away with a joystick in one hand and a soda in the other. This is ridiculous.

Now, new agents recruited by Langley are busily engaged in the selection of potential targets for drones and not in analyzing sources and information on the ground. An estimated 2,000 workers are involved in managing drones, 20 percent of whom focus only on the selection of the targets. This means that Langley trusts more in a satellite image than in human intelligence, which is how huge mistakes, like the assassinations of Lo Porto and Weinstein, happen.

New CIA Policies

The origin of this shortcoming can be found in the period after Sept. 11, 2011, with the adoption of exceptional measures to fight terrorism, which over time have led to a drastic gene mutation in the structure and working philosophy of the very CIA that, under the direction of General David Petraeus (2011-2012), progressively became an intelligence system in a true paramilitary framework.

Today, it is John O. Brennan who directs the Central Intelligence Agency. According to his vision, Langley should have become less military and more civil. Brennan, however, is in turn the great instigator of the campaign for the wide use of unmanned aerial vehicles against terrorism. Under his direction, the CIA has become definitively accustomed to acting following a framework that is none other than indiscriminate killing.

So far, this approach has left hundreds of victims and seen a wide use of targeted homicides authorized by the president himself (the reason why the U.S. administration has ended up under investigation by the United Nations), which continue to result in numerous civilian victims like Giovanni Lo Porto.

The Unconstitutionality of Drones

Under President Obama, drones have become real killing machines, which have even sanctioned the intentional homicides of American citizens, carried out outside national borders without any juridical sentence or process. As Obama has acknowledged, since 2009, U.S. drones have killed at least four American citizens in Yemen and Pakistan, a fact that is not only anti-American, but completely unconstitutional. And yet, no one mentioned this at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.

The death of Anwar Al-Awlaki, the American citizen who became an al-Qaida leader on the Arabian Peninsula and was struck by a drone in Yemen in September 2011, has caused debate. This death of an American citizen, decided from a distance and inflicted outside of a war context beyond the protection of constitutional rights, was the first alarm bell on the CIA’s flippancy in action: The CIA is not the Pentagon and should not carry out military functions.

The right and license to kill, which U.S. presidents, George W. Bush first, and Barack Obama second, have arrogantly assigned themselves under the justification of fighting terrorism, presents more than just a few problems of lawfulness, even in terms of international law.

Italian Armed Drones

In any case, it is almost exclusively the United States that has armed drones at its disposal and that does not traditionally share its superior knowledge and technology even with NATO allies, with exceptions made for the trusted British.

Yet, Italy leads the world in the construction of drones. The Finmeccanica Group, for example, through Selex, produces the Falco, a particularly efficient drone for surveillance missions, surveying targets, localization, identification, but also capable of being adapted for so-called “dangerous” missions.

This means that Italy would also be capable of producing armed drones. But as Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti recently declared, “We have to ask for permission from the Americans” to arm them. In addition to some particularly costly investments, what would also be required are some technological “access keys” that we [Italy] do not have, and which the American government has absolutely no intention of sharing.

And yet, since 2011, the Italian air force has ordered kits from the United States, which would make it possible to apply Hellfire missiles and JDAM satellite guided bombs to our small fleet of drones made up of six Predators and six Reapers.

In May 2013, Il Sole 24 Ore stated: “Italy is raising its voice with the United States, complaining about delays and hesitations by Washington in delivering the weapons to be carried on six Reaper drones bought by the Italian air force in the United States, to be added to the six smaller Predators already being used in Iraq and Libya and deployed in Afghanistan. Rome asked Washington for authorization to purchase missiles and bombs for the drones almost two years ago.”

The lack of a response from Washington was then defined as “not very acceptable” by Claudio Debertolis, head of Segredifesa, the military organism that deals with the acquisition of new weapons and equipment.

The EU Summit and Drones in Libya

Even today, there is still no sign of that technology. Maybe Washington thinks that we are still “inexperienced” allies: This is why Matteo Renzi received negative answers in America for the umpteenth time, despite an article in The Washington Post in February, which suggested a small chance of U.S. authorization.

As if that weren’t enough, the news of the drone killing of Lo Porto and Weinstein at the same time as the EU summit casts a shadow over the opportunity to exploit drones in Libya, at least for the impressionable European public. In fact, no agreement was reached at the Brussels summit on the topic. And there is considerable suspicion that the Obama administration also had a hand in this.

It is a sin to think badly of others, as says the adage by Andreotti, but so often you are right. Whether it was sheer circumstance or not, Barack Obama’s move of announcing the unfortunate news yesterday, exactly five minutes before the start of the summit, reminds us a little too much of the ways out favored by Hollywood’s Frank Underwood, the ruthless American president played by Kevin Spacey in the television series “House of Cards,” who does not skimp on vile acts and abuses of power. Unfortunately, this isn’t a joke but a rather sad image of American foreign policy, which would have once been defined as evil, where only a single master can exist, above all on the topic of drones.