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<body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'> Very brief, but frightening article.......<div id="highlighted-container"></div><div class="l-main"><div class="l-content" role="main"><a id="main-content"></a> <div class="element-invisible"><h1>Published on </h1></div><article class="node node--headline node--full node--headline--full" role="article"><div class="grid-size-12 node__content"><div class="field-wrapper content-container clearfix inline-fields" id="field-wrapper-attribution"><div class="field field--name-field-article-date field--type-datestamp field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><span class="date-display-single">Monday, August 17, 2015</span></div></div></div><div class="grouping-spacer">by</div><div class="profile-titles clearfix"><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Common Dreams</a></div></div><h1 class="node__title managed-node-title">US Military Prepares Drastic Escalation of Global Drone Program</h1><div class="field field--name-field-subtitle field--type-text-long field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><span>New reporting reveals plans to expand drone program by 50 percent, including broader use of mercenaries</span><BR></div></div></div><div class="field-wrapper content-container clearfix inline-fields" id="field-wrapper-authors"><div class="grouping-prefix">by</div><div class="profile-titles clearfix"><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/author/lauren-mccauley-staff-writer" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Lauren McCauley, staff writer</a> </div></div><div class="field field--name-field-article-img field--type-image field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><img width="955" height="500" class="caption-processed" alt="According to officials, the Pentagon hopes to expand the use of lethal drone strikes in the years ahead. (Photo: US Air Force)" src="http://www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_large/public/headlines/predator-a_0.jpg?itok=CANgP651"></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-field-main-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">According to officials, the Pentagon hopes to expand the use of lethal drone strikes in the years ahead. (Photo: US Air Force)<BR></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">The U.S. Pentagon is poised to dramatically increase the deployment of surveillance drones over "global hot spots" such as Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, the South China Sea, and North Africa, as well as expand its capacity for lethal drone strikes, the <em>Wall Street Journal</em> <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/pentagon-to-add-drone-flights-1439768451">revealed</a> on Monday.<BR>Citing exclusive interviews with senior U.S. officials, the <em>WSJ's</em> Gordon Lubold reports that the number of daily flights by aircraft such as MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper drones will surge an estimated 50 percent. Further, the expanded drone program will "draw on the Army, as well as Special Operations Command and government contractors," in addition to the U.S. Air Force, which currently carries out most of the operations for the Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency.<BR><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/donate"><img width="692" height="200" class="caption-processed" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;" alt="Common Dreams needs you today!" src="http://www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/summer2015_article-0817.png"></a><BR>Lobuld reports: "The Pentagon envisions a combined effort that by 2019 would have the Air Force continue flying 60 drone flights a day, the Army contributing as many as 16 and the military’s Special Forces Command pitching in with as many as four. Government contractors would be hired to fly older Predator drones on as many as 10 flights a day, none of them strike missions."<BR>A detailed investigation <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2015/07/30/reaping-the-rewards-how-private-sector-is-cashing-in-on-pentagons-insatiable-demand-for-drone-war-intelligence/">published</a> late July by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism revealed the great extent to which the U.S. military has already relied on corporate entities for much of its surveillance and analysis. The probe raised the question as to whether a private contractor's "risk assessment"—i.e. the determination whether an individual should become a target— obeys an already "mushy" legal framework.<BR>Monday's<em> WSJ</em> piece notes that other officials are reportedly pushing for even-broader surveillance capabilities, employing technologies known as "wide-area airborne surveillance pods," which increases "by as much as tenfold the quantity of surveillance feeds."<BR>The news follows <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-wants-drones-in-north-africa-to-combat-islamic-state-in-libya-1436742554">reporting</a> also by Lobuld, as well as colleague Adam Entous, last week which revealed that the U.S. is currently holding talks with a number of North African countries over the possibility of erecting drone bases within their borders, expanding the military footprint in order allegedly unmask so-called "blind spots" in Islamic State strongholds such as Libya and Tunisia.<BR>According to the <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2015/08/03/us-drone-wars-in-pakistan-afghanistan-yemen-and-somalia-monthly-report-july-2015/">latest tally</a> from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, since 2002 there have been as many as 620 total U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Afghanistan, killing up to 5,460 people including as many as 1,106 civilians.<BR></div></div></div></div></article></div></div> </div></body>
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