Managing the Terrorism Threat with Drones

• Author: Katherine Zimmerman
• Position: Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and adviser to AEI's Critical Threats Project
• Pages: 319-335

Managing the Terrorism Threat with Drones

Katherine Zimmerman*

INTRODUCTION

The contours of America’s counterterrorism strategy against al Qaeda and the

Islamic State have remained remarkably consistent over the past two decades.

Broadly, the strategy focuses on eliminating threats to the U.S. homeland or

American interests abroad by degrading al Qaeda’s and the Islamic State’s exter-

nal attack capabilities and global networks, disrupting their operations through

military operations or enhanced law enforcement and border security, and deny-

ing them sanctuaries.

1

The Biden administration has not released a national strategy for counterterrorism yet. For

previous strategies, see: BUSH WHITE HOUSE, NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR COMBATING TERRORISM

(2003), https://perma.cc/K5NC-QDX3; BUSH WHITE HOUSE, NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR COMBATING

TERRORISM (2006), https://perma.cc/23XQ-G4Y3; OBAMA WHITE HOUSE, NATIONAL STRATEGY

FOR COUNTERTERRORISM (2011), https://perma.cc/U4GD-LA2E; TRUMP WHITE HOUSE, NATIONAL

STRATEGY FOR COUNTERTERRORISM (2018), https://perma.cc/9JYQ-AXD2.

After Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States sought to

limit its force commitments and counterterrorism-linked combat operations

abroad.

2

Press Briefing, U.S. Dep’t of Defense, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby and Dr. Mara

Karlin, Performing the Duties of Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Hold a Press Briefing

(Nov. 29. 2021), https://perma.cc/D6K2-TWA4; Donald Trump, Remarks by President Trump on the

Strategy in Afghanistan and South Asia (Aug. 21, 2017), https://perma.cc/2LE8-KKVB.

Although U.S. officials still called for the defeat of the transnational ter-

rorist organizations, U.S. strategy became focused on the terrorist threats they

posed to American interests and shifted the responsibility of defeating the local

manifestations of these organizations to partners. The U.S. military thus invested

heavily in cultivating partnerships with local security forces to combat the vari-

ous al Qaeda and Islamic State branches, embracing the “by, with, and through”

operational approach to limit direct combat exposure of U.S. forces.

3

This

approach also changed the role of armed drones in counterterrorism operations.

Drone strikes now supplement local partnerships and other counterterrorism

activities because their long-range strike precision complements a low-footprint,

partner-based approach.

4

Today, U.S. drones target terrorist leaders and networks in Africa, the Middle

East, and South Asia. Their use has expanded geographically since the first drone

strike killed al Qaeda’s military chief, Mohammed Atef, in Afghanistan on

* Katherine Zimmerman is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and adviser to AEI’s Critical

Threats Project. She thanks Kate Chesnutt for her research support and Orianna Merer for her citation

support for this article, as well as the JNSLP editorial team. © 2023, Katherine Zimmerman.

1.

2.

3. Joseph L. Votel & Eero R. Keravuori, The By-With-Through Operational Approach, 89 JOINT

FORCES Q. 40, 41 (2018).

4. Drones provide an over-the-horizon strike capability that can be utilized to neutralize emerging

and imminent terrorist threats while partner forces combat the local terrorist group.

319

November 14, 2001.

5

Reports Suggest al Qaeda Military Chief Killed, CNN (Nov. 16, 2001. 8:15 PM), https://perma.cc/

TWW9-JL3G.

The vast majority of drone strikes occurred in Afghanistan,

Iraq, and Pakistan for almost a decade, although others occurred outside those

zones.

6

For a breakdown of drone strike statistics through 2016, see Micah Zenko, Obama’s Final Drone

Strike Data, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELS. (Jan. 20, 2017), https://perma.cc/4EV5-E3N7.

The first such strike killed Qaed Salim Sinan al Harithi, an al Qaeda oper-

ative, in Yemen on November 3, 2002.

7

The November 2002 drone strike in Yemen also killed the first American, Kamal Derwish, who

was in the vehicle. U.S. airstrikes against terrorist targets in Somalia and Yemen were conducted

primarily with cruise missiles or attack helicopters before 2011. James Risen, THREATS AND

RESPONSES: DRONE ATTACK; An American Was Among 6 Killed by U.S., Yemenis Say, N.Y. TIMES,

Nov. 8, 2002, at A13; CNN, U.S. Confirms Death of Man Linked to Alleged Buffalo Terror Cell (Nov.

12, 2002, 1:17 PM), https://perma.cc/A3LD-AWGD.

In 2011, the United States began regu-

larly conducting strikes in Yemen and Somalia, and then in 2014 and 2016, the

United States used drones to target terrorists in Syria and Libya, respectively.

8

The United States conducted drone strikes in Libya in 2011 as part of Operation Unified Protector,

an anti-Muammar Qaddafi campaign. Jeb Boone & Greg Miller, U.S. Drone Strike in Yemen is First

Since 2002, WASH. POST (May 5, 2011), https://perma.cc/M6K8-C8YV; Greg Jaffe & Karen DeYoung,

U.S. Drone Targets Two Leaders of Somali Group Allied with al-Qaeda, WASH. POST (June 29, 2011),

https://perma.cc/WPF3-H2ZF; Karen DeYoung, U.S. Considers Opening New Front against Islamic

State to Create a Safe Zone in Syria, WASH. POST (Dec. 1, 2014), https://perma.cc/ZJ3T-YUYE; Greg

Jaffe, Edward Cody, & William Branigin, Libyan Rebels Welcome U.S. Drones; McCain Visits

Benghazi, WASH. POST (Apr. 22, 2011), https://perma.cc/2YRP-HQM4; James Politi, US Drones to

Strike ISIS Targets in Libya from Base in Italy, FIN. TIMES (Feb. 22, 2016), https://perma.cc/8UPX-

BCKL.

Who the United States targeted and how they were identified has also changed.

9

For an overview of current targeting policy, see Charlie Savage, White House Tightens Rules on

Counterterrorism Drone Strikes, N.Y. TIMES (Oct. 7, 2022), https://perma.cc/RKM2-3BAH.

Controversial “signature” strikes once targeted unknown individuals based on

certain behavioral patterns rather than specific identification of individuals or

sites but have been largely phased out.

10

For reporting on CIA requests for expanded authorities see, Greg Miller, CIA Seeks New

Authority to Expand Yemen Drone Campaign, WASH. POST (Apr. 18, 2012), https://perma.cc/A92H-

4JW6.

Notably, the Obama administration

authorized the first addition of an American citizen to the kill list in 2010 with

Anwar al Awlaki, killed in September, 2011.

11

Spencer S. Hsu, Obama Invokes “State Secrets” Claim to Dismiss Suit Against Targeting of U.S.

Citizen al-Aulaqi, WASH. POST (Sept. 25, 2010), https://perma.cc/H7GB-KTYE; Katherine Zimmerman,

Awlaki Killing May Not Be Lasting Blow to al Qaeda, WKLY. STANDARD (Sept. 30, 2011), https://perma.

cc/6P4Q-PBPV.

The United States has justified

these actions as self-defense in an active, armed conflict against foreign terrorist

organizations.

12

Christian Schaller, “Until They Are Effectively Destroyed”: The U.S. Approach on the Temporal

Scope of Armed Conflicts with Terrorist Organizations, 11 J. NAT’L SEC. L. & POL’Y 636 (June 2021),

https://perma.cc/Z7RJ-BP2D.

Drones have become a key counterterrorism tool for the United States even as

the tempo of drone strikes has risen and fallen in conjunction with U.S. attention

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

320 JOURNAL OF NATIONAL SECURITY LAW & POLICY [Vol. 13:319