A report in The Washington Post claims that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is urging the White House to approve a significant increase in its fleet of armed drones.
The expansion, US officials said, would extend the spy agency’s decade-long transformation into a paramilitary force. The proposal was tabled by CIA Director David Petraeus. It claims the expanded fleet would a “bolster the agency’s ability to sustain its campaigns of lethal strikes in Pakistan and Yemen.”
The move would also enable the agency to shift its drone campaign to “emerging al Qaeda threats” in North Africa or any additional “trouble spots.” If the proposal is approved, it would allow the CIA to add as many as ten drones to their current inventory of 30-35 drones.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 20th, 2012.
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