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Brennan defends drone strikes, even on Americans
Associated Press ^ | Feb 7, 2013 7:58 PM EST | Kimberly Dozier

Posted on 02/07/2013 6:33:34 PM PST by Olog-hai

CIA Director-designate John Brennan strongly defended anti-terror attacks by unmanned drones Thursday under close questioning at a protest-disrupted confirmation hearing. On a second controversial topic, he said that after years of reading classified intelligence reports he still does not know if waterboarding has yielded useful information.

Despite what he called a public misimpression, Brennan told the Senate Intelligence Committee that drone strikes are used only against targets planning to carry out attacks against the United States, never as retribution for an earlier one. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” he declared.

Referring to one American citizen killed by a drone in Yemen in 2011, he said the man, Anwar al-Alawki, had ties to at least three attacks planned or carried out on U.S. soil. They included the Fort Hood, Texas, shooting that claimed 13 lives in 2009, a failed attempt to down a Detroit-bound airliner the same year and a thwarted plot to bomb cargo planes in 2010. …

(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: cia; dronestrikes; johnbrennan; leftistagenda

1 posted on 02/07/2013 6:33:39 PM PST by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai

What is the current state of anti-drone technology? Just curious, that’s all.


2 posted on 02/07/2013 6:37:24 PM PST by Jyotishi (Seeking the truth, a fact at a time.)
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To: Olog-hai

In the dictionary under the word “controversy” it says see the Obama administration.


3 posted on 02/07/2013 6:48:35 PM PST by johnthebaptistmoore (The world continues to be stuck in a "all leftist, all of the time" funk. BUNK THE FUNK!)
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To: Olog-hai

He says water boarding is reprehensible and never should be done again, but death lists and drone strikes are just fine.

Bizzarro world.


4 posted on 02/07/2013 6:51:20 PM PST by Gabrial (The nightmare will continue as long as the nightmare is in the Whitehouse)
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To: Olog-hai

Ft. Hood? I thought that was workplace violence.


5 posted on 02/07/2013 6:54:49 PM PST by petitfour
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To: Olog-hai

Brennan is a crypto Muzzie. Heck, forget the crypto. (He may actually be a convert, or if he isn’t, he sure sounds like one.)


6 posted on 02/07/2013 6:54:59 PM PST by livius
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To: Olog-hai

George Orwell would recognize this corrupt, lying Administration.

Facts Ignored:
Army Major (Hasan) was on the Presidential Transition Team
and Hasan served on the Homeland Security Policy Institute’s
presidential transition task force

Fact: The Obama Caliphate (U.S.Government) Pays $23,000 a Month
to the Mosque of Ft. Hood Shooting Supporter Al-Awlaki
.

7 posted on 02/07/2013 6:57:14 PM PST by Diogenesis (De Oppresso Liber)
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To: Jyotishi
Necessity is the mother of invention. The thing about an un-manned aircraft is that it has to be controlled from a remote location. You may not be able to shoot it down due to cruising altitude, but at some point the thing must need to communicate back to base. Disruption of communications would bring something like this down. Even a knowledgeable ham radio operator could devise a way to render one of these units useless, if one were so inclined.
8 posted on 02/07/2013 7:13:46 PM PST by factoryrat (We are the producers, the creators. Grow it, mine it, build it.)
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To: factoryrat

Secure communications using a constellation of satellites, frequency-hopping and encryption is not necessarily easily overcome, even by a knowledgeable ham operator.

These aren’t line-of-sight drones. They can be flying in the middle east, under control in-theater perhaps, but some have systems of control that can range all the way back to a trailer at Nellis or etc.

The video feeds were not well-encrypted, but with recent events I suspect all of this IS being retro-fitted with better systems.


9 posted on 02/07/2013 7:25:49 PM PST by muffaletaman (IMNSHO - I MIGHT be wrong, but I doubt it.)
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To: muffaletaman
You're overlooking the brute force method. Satellite systems operate in the microwatt-milliwatt range. Terrestrial communications are limited in PEP due to interference from satellite communications. The FCC regulates frequency any power output for communications systems to prevent interference to these systems. Most satellite communications are in the upper VHF through most of the microwave bands. The point is, if it's transmitting, I can track it down, even burst mode. It becomes a beacon or buoy. I don't need to target a drone at that point, all I need to do is burn out the RF front end out on its transceiver, and it becomes a piece of flying junk.
10 posted on 02/07/2013 7:47:09 PM PST by factoryrat (We are the producers, the creators. Grow it, mine it, build it.)
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To: factoryrat
it has to be controlled from a remote location.

For now but probably not for long. They are working on autonomous drones. Who know? They probably already have them.

11 posted on 02/07/2013 7:53:35 PM PST by DManA
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To: Gabrial

Remember our troops have to follow rules of engagement even at the risk of their own lives. If not they can be tried and sent to prison for life while making a life or death decision. But their Commander in Chief can kill anyone he wants without rules of engagement. How soon before American citizens within our borders are targeted by drones?


12 posted on 02/07/2013 8:14:26 PM PST by Americanexpat
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To: DManA

Doesn’t matter. If they’re moving though the sky, they can be tracked. Where they take off and land will be targeted. Don’t forget about all of the engineers and technicians who came up with these things. Some of those people take a dim view to the nefarious purposes that these drones are employed to do.


13 posted on 02/07/2013 8:22:32 PM PST by factoryrat (We are the producers, the creators. Grow it, mine it, build it.)
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To: Olog-hai

http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/did-cia-pick-sanitize-obamas-passport-records/


14 posted on 02/07/2013 8:23:23 PM PST by opentalk
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To: factoryrat

Geez, you make me miss my days in amateur radio!

Of course, that was when you got on the air with vacuum tubes & WWII surplus, & slow scan TV was one frame every six seconds. Scanning eBay for old Hammarlund, Collins, & Hallicrafters stuff is a trip down memory lane.

All I’ll say about droning Americans is that Al-Alwaki was no “American” but a West-hating jihadi with a US passport. Which doesn’t mitigate that this regime is basically at war with anyone who objects to its agenda.


15 posted on 02/08/2013 3:48:39 AM PST by elcid1970 ("The Second Amendment is more important than Islam.")
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