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Edition: U.S. Article Comments (1) Full Focus Editor's choice A selection of our top photos from the past 24 hours. Full Article Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Black men survive longer in prison than out: study 14 Jul 2011 Do tea, coffee drinkers have lower risk of MRSA superbug? 14 Jul 2011 Pentagon to treat cyberspace as "operational domain" 14 Jul 2011 Apple pays S.Korean user compensation over iPhone tracking 14 Jul 2011 WRAPUP 2-Obama pauses U.S. debt talks, lawmakers weigh options 2:15am EDT Discussed 121 Obama, lawmakers meet for 75 minutes on debt impasse 100 Obama and lawmakers regroup to seek debt deal 98 WRAPUP 1-Taxes still a stumbling block in U.S. debt talks Watched Flying sphere goes where man fears to tread Thu, Jul 14 2011 Mexico's largest marijuana farm 9:23am EDT Hefner's revenge; Ryan Reynolds stops traffic Fri, Jun 17 2011 As U.S. wars wind down, drones gain new prominence Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Three bombs kill at least 21 in India's Mumbai Wed, Jul 13 2011 Pakistan's ISI chief visits U.S. as ties founder Wed, Jul 13 2011 U.S. drone strikes kill 45 suspected militants in Pakistan Tue, Jul 12 2011 Leon Panetta says al Qaeda's defeat "within reach" Sat, Jul 9 2011 NATO acknowledges killing Afghan civilians, probes more claims Thu, Jul 7 2011 Analysis & Opinion In wake of Mumbai attacks, Pakistan could help save dialogue with India On the Afghanistan-Pakistan border : cutting off the nose to spite the face Related Topics World » A boy walks past a mud house damaged by a bomb explosion early morning in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border town of Chaman July 14, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Saeed Ali Achakzai By Warren Strobel and Tabassum Zakaria WASHINGTON | Fri Jul 15, 2011 1:13am EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In many ways, it's the perfect weapon for a war-weary nation that suddenly finds itself on a tight budget. Missile-armed drones are playing a greater role than ever in U.S. counter-terror operations, as President Barack Obama winds down land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Washington's focus expands to militant havens such as Somalia and Yemen where there are no U.S. troops permanently on the ground. The CIA now operates Predator and Reaper unmanned aircraft, armed with Hellfire missiles, over at least five countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and Libya. The agency does not publicly acknowledge the program. The U.S. military uses drones, primarily for surveillance, in Iraq and elsewhere. And there's every likelihood the use of drones to attack suspected anti-U.S. militants will spread further, current and former U.S. officials told Reuters. "The CIA's role could very well expand over the coming years as the government deals with emerging terrorist threats," said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. In the latest strikes, at least 48 militants were reported killed in drone attacks Monday and Tuesday in Pakistan's tribal regions. That brought to about 260 the number of drone strikes in Pakistan since 2004, including nearly 50 this year, according to a tally kept by the New America Foundation think tank. By far most of those drone strikes, more than 225, came after July 2008, when the United States decided on a more aggressive and unilateral pursuit of militants in Pakistan, a U.S. official said. Analysts and former U.S. intelligence officials generally approve of the increasing reliance on drones, but warn they are not without drawbacks. Those include civilian casualties, resentment of America's warfare-from-a-distance in Pakistan and elsewhere -- and the likelihood the technology will be turned against the United States some day, they said. "We currently have a monopoly, or effective monopoly, on armed drones," said John Nagl, a retired U.S. Army officer and president of the Center for a New American Security think tank. "This technology will spread, and it will be used against us in years to come." COUNTER-INSURGENCY ON THE WANE? The use of drones -- remotely piloted aircraft -- against militants began in the years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, was ramped up in President George W. Bush's final year in office and has been embraced enthusiastically by Obama. "When threatened, we must respond with force -- but when that force can be targeted, we need not deploy large land armies overseas," Obama declared in a June 22 speech announcing a faster-than-expected withdrawal of the troops he surged into Afghanistan last year. Obama's speech appeared to signal the end of the era of large-scale counter-insurgency campaigns, championed by a cadre of officers that included Nagl, involving tens of thousands of U.S. and allied troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The troops did more than fight. They protected civilian populations, built schools and roads, trained armies and police forces. The White House's new counter-terrorism strategy emphasizes a lighter footprint, as advocated by Vice President Joe Biden. Combat brigades are being replaced by Special Forces strike teams, capture-and-interrogate operations -- and drones. A senior U.S. official said Obama has made no "strategic shift" to favor using drone strikes. "There are probably some times when they are the most appropriate tool given the nature of the target you may be going after, and there are other times when they won't be," said the official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name. Indeed, Obama rejected an option for a drone strike to kill al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in early May, sending in a Navy SEAL team instead. In April, he authorized yet another approach, capturing a leader of the Somali militant group al Shabaab, Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, at sea and interrogating him for two months before transferring him to a U.S. prison. Still, the official acknowledged that drones are an attractive option outside declared theaters of war, where "you want to be even more discriminating and more careful in your application" of deadly force. That, analysts say, is precisely where the militant threat is moving, as al Qaeda's core group declines relative to affiliates like al Shabaab and Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. As the Iraq war winds down, more drones equipped for intelligence gathering and other purposes have been freed up, the senior official said. The overall U.S. drone arsenal has also increased. "It's something that in some ways is a natural evolution: as you have more assets to draw on, you tend to use them more," he said. KILL OR CAPTURE Paul Pillar, a Georgetown University professor and former top CIA analyst, said drones are a "more effective and better focused way" of using military force against militants. "But ... we must bear in mind as we make each individual decision about a drone strike that the immediate positive results always have to be weighed against the potentially longer-term consequences, given how it's perceived and possible resentment," he said. Former U.S. intelligence officials said one downside to drone strikes is the loss of potential intelligence from interrogating a suspect or finding telltale "pocket litter." The senior U.S. official called that a false choice -- capture often isn't an option -- and also rejected criticism of civilian casualties. Drones, he said, are often more precise than other counter-terrorism weapons. Innocent bystanders have frequently been killed in drone strikes, but such deaths appear to have dropped dramatically in recent years. A source familiar with the program said about 30 noncombatants and 1,400 militants have been killed in Pakistan since Bush expanded drone use in July 2008. The New America Foundation analysis found the "non-militant fatality rate" dropped from about 20 percent in 2004 to 5 percent last year. Nagl credited former defense secretary Robert Gates and Gen. Stanley McChrystal, former U.S. commander in Afghanistan, with pushing hard for better links between intelligence gathering and drone operators, resulting in more accurate strikes -- and fewer civilian casualties. While counter-insurgency may be out of favor now, Nagl -- who emphasized that he did not back the 2003 Iraq invasion -- said the United States should not jettison those skills. "We may be done with counter-insurgency, but insurgency may not be done with us." Both the Predator and Reaper drones are produced by the privately held General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., based in San Diego, California. (Editing by Todd Eastham) World Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (1) daniwitz13 wrote: Drones are used by cowards. It is a method of killing without feelings. Like killing someone from the back so one need not look into their eyes. It has proven many times that the target is NOT fully known and many times there are civilian causalities. How do Woman and Children fend off a drone controlled from a blockhouse in Utah. The US and Obama, do NOT care about other people dying. They simply apply a name to people, then kill them with impunity. They are oblivious that this method instills hatred for the US and encourages more radicals and the more radicals that arise, more drones are used. Pity the oblivious. Jul 15, 2011 2:57am EDT -- Report as abuse See All Comments » Add Your Comment Social Stream (What's this?) © Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters Editorial Editions: Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom United States Reuters Contact Us Advertise With Us Help Journalism Handbook Archive Site Index Video Index Reader Feedback Mobile Newsletters RSS Podcasts Widgets Your View Analyst Research Thomson Reuters Copyright Disclaimer Privacy Professional Products Professional Products Support Financial Products About Thomson Reuters Careers Online Products Acquisitions Monthly Buyouts Venture Capital Journal International Financing Review Project Finance International PEhub.com PE Week FindLaw Super Lawyers Attorney Rating Service Reuters on Facebook Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. 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