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Royal Danish Defence Collegeengaging “boots on the ground” while still achieving its anti-terrorism objectives.In order to emphasize his point, President Obama evoked the memories of pastfailures in order to justify the use of drones: “It is false to assert that puttingboots on the ground is less likely to result in civilian deaths or less likely to createenemies in the Muslim world. The results would be more U.S. deaths, more BlackHawks down [italics added], more confrontations with local populations, and aninevitable mission creep in support of such raids that could easily escalate intonew wars.” 15 The mention of “Black Hawks down” evoked the memory of the failedUS engagement in Somalia in the early 1990s, and later in the speech, he evokedthe memory of Vietnam as well as the recent memories of Iraq and Afghanistan tofurther emphasize his point.Because of the risks involved in having “boots on the ground”, the necessityof continuing the war against al Qaeda, the successes of the drone policy, theinternational pressure to engage in the Arab Spring, and the recent experiences ofthe United States in foreign relations, drones have proven to be an important tool forthe Obama administration to achieve its foreign policy objectives with minimum risk.Issues with the use of dronesLegal issues rather than military ones have been a major problem for the Obamaadministration’s drone policy.Internationally, the United States has been criticized for targeting people withoutconsideration for national sovereignty and for violating humanitarian law. Withinthe United States, the issues have been focused around the transparency of thedecision-making process as well as constitutional issues regarding the targetingof American citizens.Generally speaking, the US public is very supportive of the Obama administration’sdrone policy. According to a Gallup poll from March 2013, 65% of the US populationsupported the administration’s use of drones to “Launch airstrikes in other countriesagainst suspected terrorists”. 16Therefore, the great debate in the United States has focused on the drone policy’slack of transparency. It was not until early 2012 that the Obama administrationacknowledged some of the strikes that had been carried out, and it was not untilMay 2013 that the administration admitted the killing of 4 US citizens, despite thefact that the most prominent of the operations, the targeting of Anwar al-Awlaki,took place in 2011.President Obama’s speech on May 23 rd , 2013 was also meant to counter thesecriticisms of his administration’s drone policy.(15) Ibid.(16) Alyssa Brown and Frank Newport: In U.S., 65% Support Drone Attacks on Terrorists Abroadhttp://www.gallup.com/poll/161474/support-drone-attacks-terrorists-abroad.aspx7
The speech specifi ed that the use of drones is legal according to both internationaland domestic US law. President Obama said that, because the United States wasattacked on September 11 th , 2001 by al Qaeda, the country is in a legitimate warwith “…al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their associate forces.” 17 This fact, accordingto President Obama, legitimizes the use of forces against these actors, no matterwhere they are found by the United States.Addressing the question of domestic legal issues, President Obama asserted thatany US citizen who goes abroad to plot attacks on the United States cannot beprotected by their citizenship. The domestic US legal foundation on which the Obamaadministration bases its policy is the “Authorization for the Use of Military Force”(AUMF) passed in Congress on September 18 th , 2001 as a response to the terroristattacks of September 11 th . According to the AUMF, “the President is authorizedto use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations,or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terroristattacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations orpersons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against theUnited States by such nations, organizations or persons.” 18However, as part of the effort to ensure more transparency, President Obamaannounced a proposal to repeal the AUMF and to formulate new decisionmaking procedures for conducting drone strikes. This effort can be seen bothas a consequence of the massive public criticism of the transparency issue andas an attempt to improve the Obama administration’s image, which has beenhammered by a number of scandals. The scandals revolve around the terroristattack on the US consulate in Benghazi on September 11 th , 2012, the targeting ofconservative political movements by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and thesecret surveillance of an Associated Press reporter by the Justice Department. Inthe face of these scandals combined with the lingering criticism of its drone policy,the Obama administration was in need of improving its image. President Obama’sspeech on May 23 rd , 2013 should also be seen in this light.Drones in Anti-Access/Area Denial EnvironmentsA central part of the 2012 strategic guidance was the development of capabilities tooperate in a so-called “A2/AD environment”. Because of the increasing capabilitiesof potential adversary states to deny the United States access to strategicallyimportant regions, it has become a central issue for the Department of Defenseto develop capacities to enable continued operations despite enemy actions. Thestrategic guidance states the following: “Accordingly, the U.S: military will invest as(17) Remarks by the President at the National Defense University:http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-offi ce/2013/05/23/remarks-president-national-defenseuniversity(18) United States Congress: “Public Law 107-40” (Washington D.C., 107 th Congress, 18 September2001), section 2a8
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