See It/Shoot It

The Secret History of the CIA's Lethal Drone Program

Christopher J. Fuller

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780300227673
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politica e relazioni internazionali
• Subtopic: Intelligence e spionaggio

An illuminating study tracing the evolution of drone technology and counterterrorism policy from the Reagan to the Obama administrations.

This eye-opening study uncovers the history of the most important instrument of U.S. counterterrorism today: the armed drone. It reveals that, contrary to popular belief, the CIA's covert drone program is not a product of 9/11. Rather, it is the result of U.S. counterterrorism practices extending back to an influential group of policy makers in the Reagan administration.

Tracing the evolution of counterterrorism policy and drone technology from the fallout of Iran-Contra and the CIA's "Eagle Program" prototype in the mid-1980s to the emergence of al-Qaeda, Fuller shows how George W. Bush and Obama built upon or discarded strategies from the Reagan and Clinton eras as they responded to changes in the partisan environment, the perceived level of threat, and technological advances. Examining a range of counterterrorism strategies, he reveals why the CIA's drones became the United States' preferred tool for pursuing the decades-old goal of preemptively targeting anti-American terrorists around the world.

Table of contents

• CONTENTS
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• A NOTE ON LANGUAGE
• ABBREVIATIONS
• PROLOGUE: “LET HIM SLEEP”
• INTRODUCTION: “THE TRUE WATERSHEDS IN HUMAN AFFAIRS ARE SELDOM SPOTTED”
• 1. “The Hamlet of Nations”: The Rhetoric and Reality of the Reagan Administration’s Counterterrorism Policy, 1980–1985
• 2 “Let’s Find a Way to Go after Them”: The Fadlallah Affair and the Achille Lauro Hijacking, 1985
• 3. “We Have to Find a Better Way to Send a Message”: The CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, from the Eagle Program to the Predator Drone, 1986–2001
• 4. “Talking about Capturing bin Laden”: The Clinton Administration and the Legal Architecture of Lethal Force in Counterterrorism, 1993–2000
• 5. “Ninja Guys in Black Suits”: Alternative Counterterrorism Tools, 1993–2008
• 6. “The Only Game in Town”: The Strategy and Effectiveness of the CIA’s Lethal Drone Campaign, 2009–2012
• CONCLUSION: “IT SENDS ITS BLOODHOUNDS EVERYWHERE”
• NOTES
• Index