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Category Archives: White House Politics
The Drone Papers Digested: The “Assassination Complex”
In what follows, I want to summarize the main findings from the release of the “drone papers” by the Intercept in late 2015. These documents, from a 2013 Pentagon report, offer a snapshot of U.S. manhunting by JSOC Special Forces … Continue reading
The Dronification of State Violence, Part III: The Drone War Paper Trail
Previous section: The Dronification of State Violence, Part II: Historical Origins The Paper Trail So far, we have provided some of the broad-brush strokes of the CIA’s partnership with Pakistan’s ISI. Yet in analyzing the CIA, it is easy to “black … Continue reading
The Dronification of State Violence, Part 1: Life and Death in the West Wing
This post is part of a series of sections from a broader paper, which can be found online here. Full citation: Ian Shaw and Majed Akhter (2014) The Dronification of State Violence, Critical Asian Studies, 46(2): 211-234. Introduction: Life and … Continue reading
CIA to remain central force in U.S. counter-terrorism for “many years to come”
Mark Mazzetti of the NYT reports on the enduring, central role of the CIA in drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen. This comes despite rumblings last year that the Pentagon would handle the U.S. targeted killings. “Despite rampant rumors that … Continue reading
Posted in Brennan, CIA, White House Politics
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Bureaucratic Assassination — How do U.S. Targeted Killings Work?
INTRODUCTION Since the First World War and the birth of airpower, both military and civilian personnel have worked together to compile target lists for bombing. New and evolving technology has reduced the “blast radius” of the munitions dropped to such … Continue reading
Dirty Wars: A Review, Part 1: The Rise of Neoconservatives
Dirty Wars, by Jeremy Scahill Jeremy Scahill’s “Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield” is a masterpiece of independent journalism that explores the spread of U.S. paramilitary violence in the shadows. I have taken far too many notes (!) so … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Jeremy Scahill, Law and Lawfare, White House Politics
Tagged Bush, Cheney, CIA, Clinton, dirty wars, Jeremy Scahill, JSOC, Rumsfeld, Special Operations, US military
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The White House’s counterterrorism “playbook” is near completion
Greg Miller, Ellen Nakashima, and Karen DeYoung report on the White House’s institutionalization of targeted killings and other counterterrorism tactics. John Brennan, the future CIA director, was a pivotal figure in centralizing the diverse “disposition” techniques across the Pentagon, CIA, and State Department … Continue reading
Posted in CIA, Law and Lawfare, White House Politics
Tagged CIA, Drones, Obama, playbook, U.S., White House
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Drone strikes are “counter-productive”, former Obama security adviser
Although it is obvious to lots of people that a “thanatopolitics” – the mobilization of death to secure life – is doomed to failure, when U.S officials acknowledge this shortcoming, it crests in the news. Consider Michael Boyle, who was on Obama’s … Continue reading
Posted in White House Politics
Tagged Blowback, civilian deaths, Drones, Strategy, U.S. military
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The White House’s ‘Drone Rulebook’ was accelerated during U.S. 2012 election
As reported last month by the Washington Post, the White House has been scrambling to unify its targeting procedures for extrajudicial drone strikes. The development of the ‘playbook’ as its called, was accelerated in the weeks leading to the U.S. … Continue reading
Posted in White House Politics
Tagged Brennan, CIA, Drones, Obama, targeted killing, U.S., White House
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Deadly Documents: Executive Orders, Their Monarchical Power, and Their Roots in Thanksgiving
Many of the excesses and abuses attributed to the CIA–from counter-insurgency in Vietnam to counter-terrorism in Pakistan–are set in motion by a single, deadly document: an executive order called a ‘presidential finding’. This strange piece of paper, which usually bears … Continue reading
Posted in History of Drones, White House Politics
Tagged CIA, Congress, constitution, Executive Order, Law and Lawfare, military, Obama, Thanksgiving, U.S., War on Terror, Washington
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