An MQ-4 Predator controlled by the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron stands on the tarmac at Balad Air Base, Iraq. The Air Force will train 240 pilots to fly Predator and Reaper drones compared with 214 fighter and bomber pilots for the budget year that ends in September. Maya Alleruzzo / The Associated PressUse Of Drones In Pakistan And Afghanistan: Deadly, But Legal? -- Christian Science Monitor
Unmanned aerial drones have become important weapons in the US counterterrorism effort. But questions are mounting about who controls the drones, and what laws govern their use.
Unmanned Predator drones have become the face of the US war on terrorism, an unconventional response to an unconventional enemy. And they are seemingly effective. Last week, they struck down one of the US military's most-wanted enemies: Baitullah Mehsud, the head of the Pakistani Taliban.
The drones are likely to become more a regular feature of counterterrorism. But as they do, the US – and allies like Pakistan – will have to confront important questions about their legality. Who, exactly, controls the drones? And by what laws are they governed?
Surprisingly, nobody really knows.
Read more .....
My Comment: I will not go into the details of what the CIA can or cannot do ....but technically, Congress on the actions of the Church committee in the 1970s did ban the use of the CIA from conducting targeted killings.
Personally, I have no beef with the CIA killing those who have made it very clear that they want to kill us ..... but recent calls to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate CIA torture does open the prospect that in the future there may be investigations on targeted killings.