The elite command’s targeting cells have traditionally been located near the front lines of its missions, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. JSOC also has established a secret targeting center across the Potomac River from Washington, current and former U.S. outpost in Djibouti has been transformed into a launching pad for counterterrorism operations across the Horn of Africa and the Middle East. Joint Special Operations Command, which carried out the raid that killed bin Laden, has moved commando teams into suspected terrorist hotbeds in Africa. The proposal, which would need White House approval, reflects the agency’s transformation into a paramilitary force, and makes clear that it does not intend to dismantle its drone program and return to its pre-Sept. 11 focus on gathering intelligence. Petraeus is pushing for an expansion of the agency’s fleet of armed drones, U.S. View Graphic Explore documented drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and SomaliaĬIA Director David H. Brennan is seeking to codify the administration’s approach to generating capture/kill lists, part of a broader effort to guide future administrations through the counterterrorism processes that Obama has embraced.
White House counterterrorism adviser John O.
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Privately, officials acknowledge that the development of the matrix is part of a series of moves, in Washington and overseas, to embed counterterrorism tools into U.S. Spokesmen for the White House, the National Counterterrorism Center, the CIA and other agencies declined to comment on the matrix or other counterterrorism programs. Less visible is the extent to which Obama has institutionalized the highly classified practice of targeted killing, transforming ad-hoc elements into a counterterrorism infrastructure capable of sustaining a seemingly permanent war. The administration has taken tentative steps toward greater transparency, formally acknowledging for the first time the United States’ use of armed drones. The Obama administration has touted its successes against the terrorist network, including the death of Osama bin Laden, as signature achievements that argue for President Obama’s reelection. Meanwhile, a significant milestone looms: The number of militants and civilians killed in the drone campaign over the past 10 years will soon exceed 3,000 by certain estimates, surpassing the number of people al-Qaeda killed in the Sept. The rosters expand and contract with the pace of drone strikes but never go to zero. 11, 2001, are now fixtures of the national security apparatus. Targeting lists that were regarded as finite emergency measures after the attacks of Sept. That timeline suggests that the United States has reached only the midpoint of what was once known as the global war on terrorism. We’re not going to wind up in 10 years in a world of everybody holding hands and saying, ‘We love America.’ ” “It’s a necessary part of what we do. . . “We can’t possibly kill everyone who wants to harm us,” a senior administration official said. View Graphic The process behind targeted killing
Given the way al-Qaeda continues to metastasize, some officials said no clear end is in sight. officials said the database is designed to go beyond existing kill lists, mapping plans for the “disposition” of suspects beyond the reach of American drones.Īlthough the matrix is a work in progress, the effort to create it reflects a reality setting in among the nation’s counterterrorism ranks: The United States’ conventional wars are winding down, but the government expects to continue adding names to kill or capture lists for years.Īmong senior Obama administration officials, there is a broad consensus that such operations are likely to be extended at least another decade. The matrix contains the names of terrorism suspects arrayed against an accounting of the resources being marshaled to track them down, including sealed indictments and clandestine operations. Over the past two years, the Obama administration has been secretly developing a new blueprint for pursuing terrorists, a next-generation targeting list called the “disposition matrix.” counterterrorism policies and the practice of targeted killing. Editor’s note: This project, based on interviews with dozens of current and former national security officials, intelligence analysts and others, examines evolving U.S.