American, Italian Hostages Killed in CIA Drone Strike in January
A U.S. drone strike in January targeting a suspected al Qaeda compound in Pakistan inadvertently killed an American and Italian being held hostage by the group, senior Obama administration officials said.
The killing of American development expert Warren Weinstein and Italian aid worker Giovanni Lo Porto is the first known instance in which the U.S. has accidentally killed a hostage in a drone strike.
The mishap represents a major blow to the Central Intelligence Agency and its covert drone program in Pakistan, which President Barack Obama embraced and expanded after coming to office in 2009.
The incident also underscores the limits of U.S. intelligence and the risk of unintended consequences in executing a targeted killing program which, according to human-rights groups, endangers civilians. U.S. officials say the strikes are needed to combat al Qaeda. To mitigate the risks, officials say the CIA won’t launch missiles at a suspected target if they know civilians are present.
Mr. Obama, speaking at the White House Thursday morning, said he takes “full responsibility” for the death of the two hostages in the strike. He also conveyed his “deepest apologies” and “profound regret” for the operation.
The White House has launched a review of the January strike to see if changes are needed to the drone program to avoid similar mistakes. Officials said the program hasn’t been curtailed so far in response.
In addition to the hostages, U.S. intelligence agencies believe American-born al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn was killed in January in a separate incident. U.S. intelligence analysts believe he was likely killed in a CIA drone strike that took place after the one that killed Messrs. Weinstein and Lo Porto.
The CIA had been closely monitoring the suspected al Qaeda compound in Pakistan’s tribal areas for weeks leading up to the strike that killed the two hostages. The agency collected hundreds of hours of surveillance. Then, a few days before the strike was launched, that surveillance was increased, giving the CIA near-constant visibility of the site and those entering it.
At no point during that extended period of surveillance did the U.S. spy agency detect the presence of the two hostages or of any other civilians inside the compound, which they thought was being used by al Qaeda militants, the officials said. U.S. intelligence agencies now believe al Qaeda took extraordinary measures to keep the hostages inside and out of sight.
Along with Messrs. Weinstein and Lo Porto, the strike on the compound killed al Qaeda leader, Ahmed Farouq, another American citizen, the officials said. The CIA had observed what they believed to be a senior al Qaeda member entering the compound in the days just before the strike but intelligence analysts didn’t know that it was Mr. Farouq, the officials said.
Similarly, the CIA didn’t know that Mr. Gadahn was at the compound that it bombed later in the month.
The White House normally would need to seek special legal clearances to directly target American citizens suspected of plotting attacks against the U.S. That process didn’t apply in these cases because Messrs. Farouq and Gadahn weren’t being directly targeted in the operations, officials said.
Mr. Gadahn has long been seen as an important al Qaeda propagandist and was indicted during the Bush administration on charges of treason and material support for terrorism.
U.S. intelligence agencies identified Mr. Farouq as an operational leader who recently assumed the role of deputy emir of a new group known as al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent, or AQIS.
Details about CIA drone strikes in Pakistan are normally kept secret. In this case, Mr. Obama decided to declassify some of the information about the strike that killed Messrs. Weinstein and Lo Porto because of the U.S. government’s responsibility for the incident, administration officials said.
The officials who spoke about the incident, however, declined to provide some details, including the date of the drone strike and precisely where the strike took place. The U.S. has conducted five drone strikes in Pakistan so far in 2015, well below the peak pace of 117 strikes in 2010, according to the Long War Journal, a website that tracks drone strikes in Pakistan.
Typically, it can take the CIA weeks or longer to determine who was killed in a drone strike.
In February, U.S. spy agencies began to pick up intelligence that Messrs. Weinstein and Lo Porto had been killed, but they didn’t know how. At the time, U.S. officials thought that in addition to a possible drone strike, the hostages could have been killed in a military operation conducted by Pakistani forces.
To make a determination, U.S. spy agencies pored over CIA drone feeds, intercepted communications and other types of intelligence.
A few days ago, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded with a high degree of confidence that the hostages were killed in the January drone strike. They then began the process of notifying relatives of the deceased as well as the Italian government and key congressional committees.
Mr. Weinstein was abducted from his guarded home in August 2011 in Pakistan’s relatively safe eastern city of Lahore.
In a video released by al Qaeda’s media arm in 2013, Mr. Weinstein made a direct appeal to Mr. Obama to negotiate his release, saying that he felt “totally abandoned” by the U.S. government.
He was employed at the time by a private U.S. contractor, J.E. Austin Associates Inc., which was working on a project for the U.S. Agency for International Development, a government agency responsible for nonmilitary foreign assistance. Pakistan is a major recipient of American aid.
U.S. officials said they have regularly briefed Mr. Weinstein’s family about U.S. efforts to find him, but U.S. intelligence agencies didn’t know where he was being held in Pakistan and didn’t attempt an operation to free him.
U.S. intelligence agencies didn’t realize that Mr. Weinstein was being held alongside Mr. Lo Porto until after analysts determined that they were killed at the compound in the January strike.
Many top al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan have been killed by the CIA’s campaign of drone strikes, which Mr. Obama ramped up after taking office.
In recent years, the number of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan has declined sharply, as U.S. military forces have pulled out of Afghanistan and as more of the group’s leaders were killed, casting doubt on its ability to carry out large-scale attacks on the U.S. The drop-off in strikes also coincided with growing criticism of the program by human rights groups and Pakistan’s government.
While the pace of CIA strikes in Pakistan has declined, the Obama administration has ramped up counterterrorism campaigns using drones and manned aircraft in areas of the Middle East and north Africa where al Qaeda affiliates, and the Islamic State militant group, have thrived.
source: American, Italian Hostages Killed in CIA Drone Strike in January - WSJ
A U.S. drone strike in January targeting a suspected al Qaeda compound in Pakistan inadvertently killed an American and Italian being held hostage by the group, senior Obama administration officials said.
The killing of American development expert Warren Weinstein and Italian aid worker Giovanni Lo Porto is the first known instance in which the U.S. has accidentally killed a hostage in a drone strike.
The mishap represents a major blow to the Central Intelligence Agency and its covert drone program in Pakistan, which President Barack Obama embraced and expanded after coming to office in 2009.
The incident also underscores the limits of U.S. intelligence and the risk of unintended consequences in executing a targeted killing program which, according to human-rights groups, endangers civilians. U.S. officials say the strikes are needed to combat al Qaeda. To mitigate the risks, officials say the CIA won’t launch missiles at a suspected target if they know civilians are present.
Mr. Obama, speaking at the White House Thursday morning, said he takes “full responsibility” for the death of the two hostages in the strike. He also conveyed his “deepest apologies” and “profound regret” for the operation.
The White House has launched a review of the January strike to see if changes are needed to the drone program to avoid similar mistakes. Officials said the program hasn’t been curtailed so far in response.
In addition to the hostages, U.S. intelligence agencies believe American-born al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn was killed in January in a separate incident. U.S. intelligence analysts believe he was likely killed in a CIA drone strike that took place after the one that killed Messrs. Weinstein and Lo Porto.
The CIA had been closely monitoring the suspected al Qaeda compound in Pakistan’s tribal areas for weeks leading up to the strike that killed the two hostages. The agency collected hundreds of hours of surveillance. Then, a few days before the strike was launched, that surveillance was increased, giving the CIA near-constant visibility of the site and those entering it.
At no point during that extended period of surveillance did the U.S. spy agency detect the presence of the two hostages or of any other civilians inside the compound, which they thought was being used by al Qaeda militants, the officials said. U.S. intelligence agencies now believe al Qaeda took extraordinary measures to keep the hostages inside and out of sight.
Along with Messrs. Weinstein and Lo Porto, the strike on the compound killed al Qaeda leader, Ahmed Farouq, another American citizen, the officials said. The CIA had observed what they believed to be a senior al Qaeda member entering the compound in the days just before the strike but intelligence analysts didn’t know that it was Mr. Farouq, the officials said.
Similarly, the CIA didn’t know that Mr. Gadahn was at the compound that it bombed later in the month.
The White House normally would need to seek special legal clearances to directly target American citizens suspected of plotting attacks against the U.S. That process didn’t apply in these cases because Messrs. Farouq and Gadahn weren’t being directly targeted in the operations, officials said.
Mr. Gadahn has long been seen as an important al Qaeda propagandist and was indicted during the Bush administration on charges of treason and material support for terrorism.
U.S. intelligence agencies identified Mr. Farouq as an operational leader who recently assumed the role of deputy emir of a new group known as al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent, or AQIS.
Details about CIA drone strikes in Pakistan are normally kept secret. In this case, Mr. Obama decided to declassify some of the information about the strike that killed Messrs. Weinstein and Lo Porto because of the U.S. government’s responsibility for the incident, administration officials said.
The officials who spoke about the incident, however, declined to provide some details, including the date of the drone strike and precisely where the strike took place. The U.S. has conducted five drone strikes in Pakistan so far in 2015, well below the peak pace of 117 strikes in 2010, according to the Long War Journal, a website that tracks drone strikes in Pakistan.
Typically, it can take the CIA weeks or longer to determine who was killed in a drone strike.
In February, U.S. spy agencies began to pick up intelligence that Messrs. Weinstein and Lo Porto had been killed, but they didn’t know how. At the time, U.S. officials thought that in addition to a possible drone strike, the hostages could have been killed in a military operation conducted by Pakistani forces.
To make a determination, U.S. spy agencies pored over CIA drone feeds, intercepted communications and other types of intelligence.
A few days ago, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded with a high degree of confidence that the hostages were killed in the January drone strike. They then began the process of notifying relatives of the deceased as well as the Italian government and key congressional committees.
Mr. Weinstein was abducted from his guarded home in August 2011 in Pakistan’s relatively safe eastern city of Lahore.
In a video released by al Qaeda’s media arm in 2013, Mr. Weinstein made a direct appeal to Mr. Obama to negotiate his release, saying that he felt “totally abandoned” by the U.S. government.
He was employed at the time by a private U.S. contractor, J.E. Austin Associates Inc., which was working on a project for the U.S. Agency for International Development, a government agency responsible for nonmilitary foreign assistance. Pakistan is a major recipient of American aid.
U.S. officials said they have regularly briefed Mr. Weinstein’s family about U.S. efforts to find him, but U.S. intelligence agencies didn’t know where he was being held in Pakistan and didn’t attempt an operation to free him.
U.S. intelligence agencies didn’t realize that Mr. Weinstein was being held alongside Mr. Lo Porto until after analysts determined that they were killed at the compound in the January strike.
Many top al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan have been killed by the CIA’s campaign of drone strikes, which Mr. Obama ramped up after taking office.
In recent years, the number of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan has declined sharply, as U.S. military forces have pulled out of Afghanistan and as more of the group’s leaders were killed, casting doubt on its ability to carry out large-scale attacks on the U.S. The drop-off in strikes also coincided with growing criticism of the program by human rights groups and Pakistan’s government.
While the pace of CIA strikes in Pakistan has declined, the Obama administration has ramped up counterterrorism campaigns using drones and manned aircraft in areas of the Middle East and north Africa where al Qaeda affiliates, and the Islamic State militant group, have thrived.
source: American, Italian Hostages Killed in CIA Drone Strike in January - WSJ
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