U.S. seeks new bases for drones targeting Al Qaeda in Pakistan

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http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-drone-bases-20140216,0,2170648.story



A new jet-powered drone called the Avenger could figure in plans to use bases outside Afghanistan because it could get to targets in Pakistan much faster than the propeller-driven Predator and Reaper drones.

U.S. seeks new bases for drones targeting Al Qaeda in Pakistan
By Ken Dilanian and David S. Cloud
February 16, 2014, 7:00 a.m.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is making contingency plans to use air bases in Central Asia to conduct drone missile attacks in northwest Pakistan in case the White House is forced to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan at the end of this year, according to U.S. officials.

But even if alternative bases are secured, the officials said, the CIA's capability to gather sufficient intelligence to find Al Qaeda operatives and quickly launch drone missiles at specific targets in Pakistan's mountainous tribal region will be greatly diminished if the spy agency loses its drone bases in Afghanistan.

The CIA's targeted killing program thus may prove a casualty of the bitter standoff with Afghan President Hamid Karzai over whether any U.S. troops can remain in Afghanistan after 2014, as the White House has sought. Karzai has refused to sign a bilateral security agreement to permit a long-term American deployment, and some White House aides are arguing for a complete pullout.

According to current and former officers, CIA analysts operating from fortified outposts near the Pakistani border evaluate electronic intelligence, while case officers meet sources who help them identify targets. They pay people to place GPS trackers on cars or buildings to help guide the drone-launched missiles.