UN to US: Drone Attacks Could Be Unlawful

Security firm helped load killer drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan

(NEWSER) - The Central Intelligence Agency has severed ties with private security firm Blackwater, whose employees helped load the drone aircraft tasked with killing targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan. CIA chief Leon Panetta killed the contract, a rep tells the New York Times , which was instrumental in revealing the firm’s ties to one of the agency’s most covert operations. More»

Predators offer intel on militant positions in South Waziristan

(NEWSER) - The US military is supporting the Pakistani offensive against Taliban militants in South Waziristan with intelligence and imaging collected by unmanned Predator drones. The support is separate from the CIA program using the drones inside Pakistan to kill terrorist leaders. “We are coordinating with the Pakistanis,” a military official tells the Los Angeles Times. “And we do provide Predator support when requested.” More»

(NEWSER) - An airstrike in Pakistan’s troubled South Waziristan region, likely orchestrated by the US, has killed about 30 people, the Los Angeles Times reports. The dead are thought to be al-Qaeda or Taliban militants; the attack destroyed the compound of an associate of the Taliban leader suspected in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. It's the deadliest such strike since President Obama took office. More»

Chief says agency 'tickles' terrorist enemy to gauge reaction

(NEWSER) - The CIA purposely uses missile strikes to "tickle" enemy groups, often by targeting a single person, to learn from their responses, agency chief Michael Hayden said today. Hayden also told a gathering of Air Force members the CIA has "picked up insights" from working alongside the military, the AP reports. The agency often uses military weaponry, like unmanned aircraft, in missions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. More»

Asks for OK to launch strikes even if it's not sure who will be killed

(NEWSER) - CIA Director David Petraeus has requested permission to launch drone strikes in Yemen even when the agency is not sure who the strikes might kill. Instead, the CIA would launch attacks based on patterns of suspicious activity, much the way it does in Pakistan, a tactic known as "signature strikes," the Washington Post reports. But President Obama has long insisted the agency be more cautious in Yemen, attacking only when it has specific intelligence on targets. More»