The United States has
drastically scaled back the number of drone attacks against militants in
Pakistan and limited strikes to high-value targets in response to growing
criticism of the program in this country.
Those actions appear to have temporarily appeased Pakistan's powerful generals,
who publicly oppose the covert CIA strikes, U.S. officials said. But some
officials are still worried about push back from Pakistan's new civilian
leaders, who took power in June with a strong stance on ending the attacks
altogether.
The future of the drone program is likely to be a key item on the agenda during
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to Pakistan, which is expected soon.
Only 16 drone strikes have taken place in Pakistan so far this year, compared
with a peak of 122 in 2010, 73 in 2011 and 48 in 2012, according to the New
America Foundation, a U.S.-based think tank.
The CIA has been instructed to be more cautious with its attacks, limiting them
to high-value targets and dropping the practice of so-called "signature strikes"
— hitting larger groups of suspected militants based purely on their behavior,
such as being armed and meeting with known militants, said a current U.S.
intelligence official and a former intelligence official briefed on the drone
program.
The CIA embraced the measures, feeling the drone program may be under threat
from public scrutiny, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorized to discuss the classified program publicly.
Two other senior American officials said the U.S. scaled back the number of
attacks and tightened up its targeting criteria as a concession to the Pakistani
army, considered the most powerful institution in the country and the final
arbiter on the future of the drone program.
Senior Pakistani army officers made it clear that the program could not continue
at the tempo it was being carried out and expressed concern that civilian
casualties were breeding more militants, said the U.S. officials, speaking on
condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The circumstances surrounding a strike on July 3 in Pakistan's North Sacristan
tribal area illustrated Washington's intention to go after well-identified
targets only, said one of the officials. The attack on a house, which killed at
least 16 suspected militants, was backed up by "hugely detailed" intelligence
laid out in a 32-page PowerPoint presentation.
The intelligence indicated the target was a gathering of militants from the
Haqqani network who were plotting a second attack on the Ariana Hotel in the
Afghan capital of Kabul, said the official. The Ariana Hotel has long been
suspected of being used by the CIA as a listening post.
President Barack Obama signaled the administration's new approach to drones in a
landmark speech in May in which he said attacks would be carried out only on
"terrorists who pose a continuing and imminent threat to the American people"
and when there is "near-certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured."