Politics and often helped her husband make political decisions. Margaret taylor was opposed to her husbands nomination and Zachary Taylor enjoyed telling people she was praying for his opponent to win. Abigail fillmore was the 1st president ial wife to have a profession and began efforts to establish the 1st white house librarys. This sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on chasing original series 1st ladys influence and image examining the public and private lives of the women who fill the position of first lady and their influence on the presidency from what the washington to Michelle Obama sundays at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv. As a complement the new book 1st ladies, president ial historians on the lives of 45 iconic american women available as hardcover or an ebook through your favorite bookstore or online bookseller. Documenting the rise of gone technology and its use in war. I am rick macarthur. I am delighted to welcome you here to another in a continuing series of events. Located in the heart of manhattans Upper West Side and is rapidly becoming in the institution. This is not a chain store or a Citibank Branch which means that we need your patronage to thrive. So far the support of our customers has been remarkable. It is my great pleasure tonight to introduce Andrew Cockburn author of the just published coaching i am lucky to have andrew as i washington editor role that he performs brilliantly with pieces of a quality that you simply cant find anywhere else. Andrew is a very rare combination of outrage journalist and studious crossman and never lets his anger get in the way of scrupulous accuracy and wellwritten storytelling. Detail rendered in sentences that enlightened rather than way down the subject. The april issue of harpers magazine his piece about the history of corruption and loansharking a citibank. I rushed early copies here that i hope you will buy right after you brought coaching. Theyre going to let andrew explain his thesis that i resist reading a brief passage that i think captures the essence of the story. Kill chain is an expose of the remotecontrolled drone and Missile Program that nowadays sucks up such an immense amount of money and thought in washington. But it but it is also a history of the peculiar american obsession with assassination and systematize supposedly sanitized military tactics and obsession that works itself out at a dangerous removed from reality on the ground. This obsession is delusional and selfdefeating and should have been proven but it was on today similar stronger than ever. But i cannot resist this. Reporter to reporter this is a lot harder to get than you may realize. Andrew is described a meeting between i guess you could call them the kind of internal whistleblower who has actually tested the drones and figured out that they are highly inaccurate. In fact, overwhelmingly inaccurate, only about 21 percent of the target in a test in nevada. But he is up against the militaryindustrial complex in the form of i forget what her name is. She is known as the dragon lady of procurement at the pentagon. The Principal Deputy under secretary of the air force and she would eventually be sentenced to a ninemonth prison term for corrupt dealings with the boeing corporation but on that october morning when she went into confront christie to complain about this report that he had written about the inaccuracy of the drones she was still much feared for her commanding contracts. The the pentagon building was still smoking from the devastating impacts of American Airlines flight 11 when he marched into the 3rd floor office with four or five sycophantic generals trailing behind her. Not known for diplomacy she came straight to the. What the fark is this she shouted at the testing officer director. What do you mean sending out this funky report saying that predator doesnt work . Who is the flocking hassle that wrote this report . I am going to see me view my new fighting acyl. That is the voice of the militaryindustrial complex. Christie is unfazed. Have you found anything to five have you found anything in this report that is wrong . No admitted the official. Can you at you at least take the bet out about not operationally suitable . All present were well aware this was as far as most officials would ever read. Christie gave no ground. Letter and report stood but it did not matter. Washington matter. Washington was already entranced by the notion of killing people in distance. Anyway Andrew Cockburn. [applause] thank you. Thank you very much. Theyre kind introduction. And you must have broken the four letter barrier by now. Together we did. I am going to start by reading part of the book which is a description of an actual drone strike witches it is the account that you will see. It contains the actual all the communications. The pilots in nevada and the people on the ground in afghanistan. Without further ado on a cold february don in 20102 small suvs and affordable pickup truck headed down a dirt road in the mountains of southern afghanistan. They set out soon after midnight traveling across country reach highway one of the countrys principal paved road which would lead them to kandahar and optical found inside more than 30 men, women and children. Everyone knew one another. They all came from the same cluster the mountain villages. Others were shopkeepers heading to the capitol to buy supplies. The women carried turkeys, gifts for the relatives they were stay with. A number were an ethic minoritys of shia muslims. Now there and taliban country and therefore dangerous for them. They were short on gas. They met no other cars and little foot traffic. The world around them must have seemed empty but it was not. Unbeknownst to them they were being watched and their every movement transmitted across the globe. A ramshackle vehicles one one breaking down and the other blue attire that along people they would never meet conferred across oceans and continents as to who they were aware they were going to what they were carrying and whether they should live or die. On what they were traveling toward an Operational Detachment dropped him of the supporting force to attack the nearby village. Such work routine. Planned and executed by the special Operations Command that specializes in the pursuit and elimination of highvalue targets. Someone thought this someone thought this operation important enough to give it the codenamed operation noble justice. Sunday february 21. M q1 predator. We are eyes on the 1st vehicle trying in the open. Stand by for movement. The 27foot long predator drone was circling at 14,000 feet. Carrying a variety of cameras including infrared video that picked up the warmth. Almost in an instant but not quites the images flashed across the world the twin screens inside a metal box roughly the size of a shipping container. Facing the screen set a pilot guiding the drawn by Remote Control. Beside him set a sensor operator. In another room set of 3rd member of the crew the Mission Intelligence coordinator watching the same video images. The pictures headquarters of air force special Operations Command. The vast the littleknown Global Network referred to as the distributive Common Ground system. This is a Central Nervous system of john warfare funneling collating, and sharing the unimaginable amount of imagery collected around the globe. In theory anyone in any part of the system has access to any information that has been fed into the system wherever they are. Thus it was that the images were being watched by dedicated team of young men and women each with specialized tasks and overall charge was an intelligence tactical coordinator supervising to screeners. The chief screener civilian contract from maj. Defense corporation heavily involved in Drone Operations outrank the 2nd imagine your air force officer. Also present were to fall motion video analysts while one watch the screen the other typed. Conclusions drawn conclusions drawn which were then passed to the screener for onward transmission and to the Mission Intelligence coordinator. Another analysts generating relative geographical information made at the couple. The ultimate beneficiary is the sergeant attached to the party known as the joint tax controller responsible for communicating via radio that any and all air support and relaying orders intelligence to and from the young captain commanding the party calling himself jaguar 25 the only link with the team in nevada which in turn was the sole link with the screeners in florida. Almost as soon as the party disembarked from the helicopter somewhere out in the darkness handheld radio was switched on. They are here. Let us get all the mujahedin together. Simple, uncomplicated address to no one in particulars. Unlike the system supplied by the us forces americans were bemused by the enemies unconcerned. Overheard by a host of us military intelligence post on the ground in the air. The word was the word was passed to look out for enemy reinforcements. Two vehicles in tandem lumbering into the area. Suspicions hardened when they flashed lights at each other before continuing on together in the direction of the patrol. 4 15 a. M. Mission intelligence coordinator. See if you can zoom in on that. Is that a funky rifle . Sensor operator just a warm spot from where he been sitting. I was hoping we can make other rifle. Nevermind. The only way the only way i have been able to see a rifle as if they move them around when they are holding them. Drone operators are not in immediate contact with the real world literally thanks to the phenomenon known as latency. Down again to a ground station switching to a fiber optic cable through which it travels across western europe the Atlantic Ocean and the continental United States before reaching nevada and the screen in the palace trailer as as the electronic pulses are split are reunited and buckle for assembly microsecond delays steadily accumulate. It means that the scene on a pilot screen is out of date usually two seconds, sometimes as much as five. As the crew reacts to what there saying moving the controls that signal and turn takes two to five seconds to deliver. This time lapse is why drone takeoffs and landings us be handled by a separate team so they can see the planes they are flying in realtime the potential targets on the ground are aware of the delay. Members of al qaeda reported its whens when they hear a drone overhead they move around as fast as possible. Their close resemblance. Sometimes they are no better than looking through google earth through a straw. Most of the time the convoy was under watch the sensor can only focus on two of the three vehicles at a time. The imperfect the imperfect resolution was lost. Imagery became less precise. The drone was too high. When the sensor operator cannot focus path to properlys video is even poor. 4 24 a. M. What we are looking for is a quick reaction. Watching from a distance. Then came an unwelcome message from florida. Mission intelligence coordinator. At least one child there suv bull ship. Where . Send me affecting still. I no they are shady, but. At least one child. Really . Military aged male. That means is guilty. Maybe a teenager but i havent seen anything that looks that shorts. Mission intelligence coordinator. Yes. Review that ship. Possible child. Just as the sun rose above the mountains the convoy halted. Many passengers get out. 5 10 a. M. Pilot they are praying. This is definitely it. Praying, i mean, seriously. That is what they do. Theyre going to do something nefarious. All the adults all the adults in the party got out when the convoy stopped at the river. To the infrared camera and so too to the watch as far away the men and women were merely indistinguishable blobs. The party was the party was presumptively one of taliban enforcement no one thought to ponder their gender. An hour later the vehicles turned off in a different direction which led them ultimately 12 miles away an indication that whoever they were the most likely had no hostile intent. Nevertheless they assess this as a flanking maneuver to get behind the troops. 6 59 a. M. Cant wait until this actually happens. Yeah. Though far removed drone crew see themselves in the same martial tradition as fighter pilots. Not to mention the combat pay. The trailer chatter that night echo that of combat crews. Only once in a while is the record reveal they are firmly on the ground. 7 11 a. M. Sensor operator. Well would you mind if i take a bathroom break . No not all. The crew spoke the language almost think comprehensible so laden with acronyms that plain english was often supplanted. The military jargon impose another layer between them and the reality on the ground. Our ducking teenagers or younger . I would say about 12. 7 40 a. M. , pilot i only identified one adolescent. Well pass that along to the ground controller. Probably 12 or 13 years old. We agree. We understand and agree. 8 35 a. M. Pilot, to watch this thing go down and when they run out of ammunition we can play cleanup. Lets see how they break up. Pilot, yeah sounds good. When everyone is running in different directions, i dont follow care if you follow one guy, im with you. The first missile from the lead helicopter killed 11 passengers. The second missile hit the vehicle which absorbed some of the blast to allow some of the passengers to survive. As a matter of routine the attackers through 3. 75inch rockets. All of these missed. People who escaped were not running. 8 52 a. M. Thats weird. Pilot they were all pids. They are wearing jewelry and stuff, like a girl. Despite the hopeful theory, these were not pilots out on drag and they eventually ceased fire. Twentythree people were killed and two of them were boys. One woman and three children ages five and 14 were wounded. Many of them were severely wounded. What are these . They were in them middle vehicle . The conversation in the trailer was losing terms. 9 15 a. M. Pilot, the guard may be checked carrying a child as well. It looks like an adolescent to me. No way to tell maam. No way to tell from here. So im going to move on that same following year describing a dinner held by the cia station which raises money to support the families of those who have died in action. Richard helms, the cia director would customarily refer to the defense as pastors. Such was common in the world was long gone. The executives who had passed through the revolving door were there as friends and current partners. It seemed like every manufacturer in the country had taken a table. In the decade since 911 the cia has been in the news for ignored signs of the impending attack, questionable procedures, secret information. Even admits all the scandals he was welcomed with heartfelt audience. They all received a ringing applause. Although gates had left the cia eight years before he was very much a figure in the institution. He was a mentor and active in retirement. He had climbed through the ranks of the national security. His supervisor in his first station recalls beneficiary report efficiency report. He was doing the work behind the scenes. In 1993 he moved on to be the director of the intelligence program. In which capacity he came to know him. He was the cia agent assigned to brief white house attendees. It was an important position normally reserved for someone with operational experience. He was pressed to provide details of the Osama Bin Laden mission. In 2005 he spent the next three years on the terrorist watchlist working for the government. He had cultivated many relationships over the years. He was a former advisor for bill clinton who was recommended to obama. He had to spare the disease without damaging the surrounding tissue as he said. Obama wanted to make him as the cia director, so instead he assigned him to counterterrorism with an office down the hall from the oval office. They knew the bulky irishman. He insisted on reserving the last word. For the tuesday afternoon meetings. Now along with the other 600 he rose to accept the coveted award of exemplary service. After paying due tribute to other honorees he spoke of a tragic incident where men and women were killed by a suicide. This was post afghanistan in 2009. Then he moved on to a more upbeat topic. He found deeprooted resistance regarding new technology. All that he informed dash factories were working night and day to turn out weapons. So from now on the watchword is drones. Obama gave his speech about how we need to more be more careful and there needs to be no more deaths. According to them they never killed any civilians at all. What you consider a civilian . In their eyes, a 13yearold child is not a civilian. He is a male deserving death. Since that speak there has been a number of occasions in yemen where there has been questionably killed civilians. In pakistan they dont really know because of the nature of the society of women and girl babies are kept away and even the neighbors dont know their name. You couldnt know how many people youve killed so if you put a Lie Detector Test on the bomber he would say he hates killing civilians but with this kind of war and some very partial witnesses say it will be inevitable to kill civilians. Is there any data that shows killing civilians in drone strikes is conventional . In 2009 there was a big one that bombed a taliban and concentration in afghanistan that killed somewhere between 80 and a hundred civilians. I should say in a way theres a very narrow line. Drones operate by Remote Control not from sitting half a world away. The b1 bombers aims the weapons and hes sitting in a plane looking at a video feed but i dont think theres really a huge amount of difference. Theres one removed from reality. To answer your question, i think just because the nature of the weapons being brought a band bomber can kill more people, the thing about drones is the whole effect on society. In yemen and other places you can hear them all the time. You hear a constant buzzing and has more of an effect on society. They know it any moment a missile could blow them away. Its why children know not to play when its a sunny day because drones have good visibility. They go out and play when its cloudy. People are scared of going to weddings and funerals because those are popular targets for drone strikes. If you add up the num