The Drone Papers

Apparently another whistle-blower has leaked secret info on how the US are using its drones.

Pretty sure The Intercept are here on ATS since Ben did a AMA a while back?
So just curios as to why its not posted here yet ?

Drone Papers

Drones are a tool, not a policy. The policy is assassination. While every president since Gerald Ford has upheld an executive order banning assassinations by U.S. personnel, Congress has avoided legislating the issue or even defining the word “assassination.” This has allowed proponents of the drone wars to rebrand assassinations with more palatable characterizations, such as the term du jour, “targeted kill

and

The Intercept has obtained a cache of secret slides that provides a window into the inner workings of the U.S. military’s kill/capture operations at a key time in the evolution of the drone wars — between 2011 and 2013. The documents, which also outline the internal views of special operations forces on the shortcomings and flaws of the drone program, were provided by a source within the intelligence community who worked on the types of operations and programs described in the slides. The Intercept granted the source’s request for anonymity because the materials are classified and because the U.S. government has engaged in aggressive prosecution of whistleblowers. The stories in this series will refer to the source as “the source.”

Ok, wild question... real info or misleading info ?
Triangulating cell phones and targets their position ?

Not saying the intercept is lying, but maybe fed misleading info?

What do you think ATS? Meat on this or what ?

And lastly:

How the president authorizes targets for assassination

Kill Chain
It has been widely reported that President Obama directly approves high-value targets for inclusion on the kill list, but the secret ISR study provides new insight into the kill chain, including a detailed chart stretching from electronic and human intelligence gathering all the way to the president’s desk. The same month the ISR study was circulated — May 2013 — Obama signed the policy guidance on the use of force in counterterrorism operations overseas. A senior administration official, who declined to comment on the classified documents, told The Intercept that “those guidelines remain in effect today.”

U.S. intelligence personnel collect information on potential targets, as The Intercept has previously reported, drawn from government watchlists and the work of intelligence, military, and law enforcement agencies. At the time of the study, when someone was destined for the kill list, intelligence analysts created a portrait of a suspect and the threat that person posed, pulling it together “in a condensed format known as a ‘baseball card.’” That information was then bundled with operational information and packaged in a “target information folder” to be “staffed up to higher echelons” for action. On average, it took 58 days for the president to sign off on a target, one slide indicates. At that point, U.S. forces had 60 days to carry out the strike. The documents include two case studies that are partially based on information detailed on baseball cards.

The system for creating baseball cards and targeting packages, according to the source, depends largely on intelligence intercepts and a multi-layered system of fallible, human interpretation. “It isn’t a surefire method,” he said. “You’re relying on the fact that you do have all these very powerful machines, capable of collecting extraordinary amounts of data and information,” which can lead personnel involved in targeted killings to believe they have “godlike powers.”

?

The Assassination Complex

a reply to: kloejen

This was posted earlier my friend Here

a reply to: kloejen

You hear stories about how people are declared deceased by the govt. even though they are quite alive, due to paperwork foul ups.
I wonder if they ever screw up the 'baseball cards'?

originally posted by: slapjacks
a reply to: kloejen

This was posted earlier my friend Here

Oops.

originally posted by: slapjacks
a reply to: kloejen

This was posted earlier my friend Here

Correct. Closing this thread.

Please continue in the existing thread.