On Drones

An excellent article in The Atlantic which addresses the impact of drones on warfare, foreign policy, and ethics. It is quite long and covers a lot of ground, but possibly the most fascinating bits are the glimpses behind the political curtains:

Asked whether he was on board with a particular strike, [U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter] said no.

Leon Panetta, the CIA director, said the ambassador had no veto power; these were intelligence decisions.

Munter proceeded to explain that under Title 22 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, the president gives the authority to carry out U.S. policy in a foreign country to his ambassador, delegated through the secretary of state. That means no American policy should be carried out in any country without the ambassador’s approval.

Taken aback, Panetta replied, “Well, I do not work for you, buddy.”

“I don’t work for you,” Munter told him.

Then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stepped in: “Leon, you are wrong.”

Panetta said, flatly, “Hillary, you’re wrong.”

At that point, the discussion moved on. When the secretary of state and the CIA director clash, the decision gets made upstairs...

Later that summer, General David Petraeus was named to take over the intelligence agency from Panetta. Before assuming the job, Petraeus flew from Kabul, where he was still the military commander, to Islamabad, to meet with the ambassador. At dinner that night, Petraeus poked his finger into Munter’s chest.

“You know what happened in that meeting?” the general asked. (Petraeus had observed the clash via a secure link from his command post in Afghanistan.) “That’s never going to happen again.”

Munter’s heart sank. He thought the new CIA director, whom he liked and admired, was about to threaten him. Instead, Petraeus said: “I’m never going to put you in the position where you feel compelled to veto a strike. If you have a long-term concern, if you have a contextual problem, a timing problem, an ethical problem, I want to know about it earlier. We can work together to avoid these kinds of conflicts far in advance.”

Petraeus kept his word. Munter never had to challenge a drone strike in a principals’ meeting again during his tenure as ambassador.

The article was written by Mark Bowden, the author of Blackhawk Down. Do yourself a favor and go read it all.