Drones And The Kill List Now

The White House debates a drone attack against a U.S. citizen and terror suspect in Pakistan. We’ll look at Washington’s kill list and American drone policy.

In drone news:  the White House is reported this week to be debating whether or not to launch a strike from the sky on an American linked to Al Qaeda.  It’s a “kill list” question, and whether Americans belong on it.  They’ve been there before.  In Pakistan, Kareem Khan has “disappeared.”  His brother and son were killed by a US drone. He was due to testify before European officials on US policy.  In Washington, a report that the NSA is targeting drone strikes off cell phone locations.  Light up your cell, they’ll light you up.  This hour On Point:  keeping up with American drones.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Greg Miller, intelligence reporter for the Washington Post. (@gregpmiller)

Spencer Ackerman, national security editor for the Guardian U.S. (@attackerman)

Micah Zenko, Douglas Dillon Fellow in the Center for Preventative Action at the Council on Foreign Relations. Author of "Reforming U.S. Drone Strike Policies" and "Between Threats and War: U.S. Discrete Military Operations in the Post-Cold War World." (@MicahZenko)

Philip Mudd, director of global risk at SouthernSun Asset Management. Former deputy director of the counter-terrorism center at the C.I.A.  Former senior intelligence adviser and deputy director of the F.B.I.'s National Security branch.

Washington Post: U.S. weighs lethal strike against American citizen — "The Obama administration is weighing whether to approve a lethal strike against a U.S. citizen who is accused of being part of the al-Qaeda terrorist network overseas and involved in ongoing plotting against American targets, U.S. officials said."

Council On Foreign Relations: Reforming U.S. Drone Strike Policies -- "Like any tool, drones are only as useful as the information guiding them, and for this they are heavily reliant on local military and intelligence cooperation. More important, significant questions exist about who constitutes a legitimate target and under what circumstances it is acceptable to strike. "

The Intercept: The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program — "According to a former drone operator for the military’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) who also worked with the NSA, the agency often identifies targets based on controversial metadata analysis and cell-phone tracking technologies. Rather than confirming a target’s identity with operatives or informants on the ground, the CIA or the U.S. military then orders a strike based on the activity and location of the mobile phone a person is believed to be using."