![[USYEMEN]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u4bb-0P3G5VLm5Nq_awcphUOnf62B1bjDP5KtCX-CTh36U47XoVRsgqPm3KGyKz664UraxlmZQlvsaLO5xAqSL10gU030MMdPowG9v0TBDYEfGPrOhvciDzR9hdFbo-Kq_bzPRpXMsFLkGM5qbbq_r_Q=s0-d)
Reuters
Yemeni residents pointed in order to spot a U.S. drone in October. The CIA has aided military drone strikes in Yemen, and plans to begin its own.
WASHINGTON—The Central Intelligence Agency is preparing to launch a secret program to kill al Qaeda militants in Yemen, where months of antigovernment protests, an armed revolt and the attempted assassination of the president have left a power vacuum, U.S. officials say.
The covert program that would give the U.S. greater latitude than the current military campaign is the latest step to combat the growing threat from al Qaeda's outpost in Yemen, which has been the source of several attempted attacks on the U.S. and is home to an American-born cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, who the U.S. sees as a significant militant threat.
The CIA is launching a covert operation whereby drones will be sent over Yemen to kill al Qaeda operatives. WSJ Washington Bureau Chief Jerry Seib reports. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
The CIA program will be a major expansion of U.S. counterterrorism efforts in Yemen. Since December 2009, U.S. strikes in Yemen have been carried out by the U.S. military with intelligence support from CIA. Now, the spy agency will carry out aggressive drone strikes itself alongside the military campaign, which has been stepped up in recent weeks after a nearly yearlong hiatus
The U.S. military strikes have been conducted with the permission of the Yemeni government. The CIA operates under different legal restrictions, giving the administration a freer hand to carry out strikes even if Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, now receiving medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, reverses his past approval of military strikes or cedes power to a government opposed to them.
The CIA program also affords the U.S. greater operational secrecy, and because CIA drones use smaller warheads than most manned military aircraft, U.S. officials hope they will reduce the risk of civilian casualties and minimize any anti-American backlash in Yemen.
The Yemen program is modeled on the agency's covert program in Pakistan, which has killed 1,400 militants but is also unpopular in the country, where it is seen as a violation of sovereignty that costs civilian lives. Some U.S. diplomats and military officials have begun questioning whether the pace of Pakistan drone strikes should be slowed to ease the backlash.
President Barack Obama secretly approved the new Yemen program last year. It has been under development for several months because of the complicated logistics required to set up a major intelligence operation in an unstable corner of the world.
The program is authorized under the same broad 2001 presidential finding that created the legal underpinnings for the program in Pakistan. That secret finding, signed by President George W. Bush shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, directed the CIA to find ways to kill or capture al Qaeda leaders.
The Yemen program had been slated to begin in July, but the launch time may be moved back a few weeks to accommodate planning and logistical needs, U.S. officials said. The last known CIA strike in Yemen using an unmanned aircraft was conducted in 2002.
The CIA declined to comment. "As a rule, the CIA does not comment on allegations of prospective counterterrorism operations," said CIA spokeswoman Marie Harf.
White House National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to comment on the program or any shift to the CIA.
The U.S. is increasingly concerned about the deteriorating security situation in Yemen, worries heightened by signs that Islamist militants are trying to seize control of towns in southern Yemen.
"They're looking to take advantage of an opportunity that has arisen," a U.S. intelligence official said of the recent movements in the south. "Whether they're going to succeed or not is an open question."
The CIA has been ramping up its intelligence gathering efforts in Yemen in recent months in order to support a sustained campaign of drone strikes. The CIA coordinates closely with Saudi intelligence officers, who have an extensive network of on-the-ground informants, officials say.
The new CIA drone program will initially focus on collecting intelligence to share with the military, officials said. As the intelligence base for the program grows, it will expand into a targeted killing program like the current operation in Pakistan.
The US in Yemen: drone war
| Jun 15, 2011 18:17 Moscow Time |
The US plans to set up a new air base in the Gulf targeting Yemen, while American servicemen are already engaged in a secret anti-Al-Qaeda operation in the south of the country.
The location is kept secret but some say this might be Bahrain as it already has a US base and provides the safest route to Yemen for US drones through American ally-Saudi Arabia.
Recently, drones have been actively involved in regional conflicts, a drone expert Denis Fedutinov told the VoR:
"The US used drones already in the Balkans Campaign, then in Iraq and Afghanistan and now in Libya. The US and Israel are the world drone leaders. Now America has several thousands of drones of different classes."
Russia is also working on its own drones, says a military expert Andrey Fomin:
"The leading Russian drone developer is the IRKUT plane maker, together with the Kamov and Mile helicopter manufacturers. Russia has various types of jets, but no mass production of drones. Recently the country purchased several items from Israel to launch domestic drone-making."
US servicemen in Yemen are using drones for intelligence and aiding jet fighters. Recently, drones destroyed several insurgent camps in southern Yemen and eliminated Al-Qaeda warlords. The country’s President Abdullah Saleh has given the US carte blanche for using any means to combat insurgents.
However, US drones have a bad reputation in the Arab world as they often strike civilians in Pakistan and Afghanistan and are considered sovereignty-breakers. Pakistan’s parliament even demanded that the US stopped using drones in the country.
The U.N. Small Arms Treaty, which has been championed by the Obama Administration, would have effectively placed a global ban on the import and export of small firearms. The ban would have affected all private gun owners in the U.S., and had language that would have implemented an international gun registry on all private guns and ammo.
The month-long talks at U.N. headquarters broke off last July after the Obama administration, in what now looks like was only done for political reelection purposes, decided to pull out of the draft treaty. But only hours after his reelection, the Obama administration signaled that they would be rejoining talks and threw their support behind the gun control measure.
