“Everybody knows we’re using drones,” said a senior U.S. official familiar with the program, one of several who agreed to discuss intelligence matters on the condition of anonymity. “On the other hand, we’re doing it on a pretty systematic and standardized basis. Why don’t we just say what those standards are?” ...WaPo
The Iraq war may be over and the Afghanistan troop presence may be winding down, but drone activities have been increasing even as Americans are allowed to know little about them.
The administration has said that its covert, targeted killings with remote-controlled aircraft in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and potentially beyond are proper under both domestic and international law. It has said that the targets are chosen under strict criteria, with rigorous internal oversight.
It has parried reports of collateral damage and the alleged killing of innocents by saying that drones, with their surveillance capabilities and precision missiles, result in far fewer mistakes than less sophisticated weapons.
Yet in carrying out hundreds of strikes over three years — resulting in an estimated 1,350 to 2,250 deaths in Pakistan — it has provided virtually no details to support those assertions.
In outlining its legal reasoning, the administration has cited broad congressional authorizations and presidential approvals, the international laws of war and the right to self-defense. But it has not offered the American public, uneasy allies or international authorities any specifics that would make it possible to judge how it is applying those laws. ...WaPo
And that's not even including what the drones are doing to their "pilots." NPR reports today that a form of PTSD is affecting the killers -- the personnel who sit at their computer screens and push the button. NPR anchor, Renee Montagne, spoke with reporter Rachel Martin.
A new study shows almost 30 percent of drone pilots surveyed suffer from what the military calls burnout. NPR's Rachel Martin got an advance copy of that report and joins us in our studio to talk about the psychological effects of war by remote control. ...
...
MONTAGNE: And now, burnout - that is the military's term. What exactly does it mean?
MARTIN: Well, the Air Force says these pilots feel overworked, stretched too thin and fatigued, what you might associate with burnout. But important to note, the Air Force doesn't consider this to be a dangerous level of stress - but they are concerned about the overall well-being of these folks and their morale level.
But 17 percent of active duty drone pilots surveyed are thought to be, quote, "clinically distressed" - which is much more concerning. This is where the stress level has actually crossed a threshold where it's now affecting the work that these people do and their family life and it's a red flag for the military. And a large majority of these pilots said they're not getting any counseling for their stress level. ...NPR
Why, if they're at such a distance from the kill, do they face the same or perhaps more intense post-traumatic stress?
MARTIN: ... Officials that conducted the study said they actually encountered a handful of pilots who suffered symptoms of PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - directly linked to their experience running combat operations. It's important to point out here, these pilots can be looking at the same piece of ground for days, sometimes months.
So in a way they're closer to the battlefield than regular pilots. I mean they can watch someone's pattern of life, see them with their family, and then they can be ordered to shoot. Colonel Kent McDonald co-authored the report, and here's how he described it.
COLONEL KENT MCDONALD: We try to select people who are well adjusted, and when they have to kill someone or when they're involved in missions where they are observing people over long periods of time and then they - they either kill them or they see them killed, it does cause them to rethink aspects of their life and it can be bothersome.
MARTIN: Bothersome to say the least. ...NPR
You bet it's "bothersome." If we were smart, we'd extend the PTSD studies to all Americans. The results might explain a good deal of what we're doing to ourselves, as well as to our neighbors around the world.