UAV Fooled to Hide Iraq Murder

[Eugen Leitl]

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/1,73012-0.html

By Marty Graham

05:00 AM Mar, 22, 2007

CAMP PENDLETON, California -- As they carried out the killing of an Iraqi
civilian, seven Marines and a Navy medic used their understanding of the
military's airborne surveillance technology to spoof their own systems,
military hearing testimony charges.

"These are people who every day deal with such things and understand how the
images are gathered, as much as understand other tactical and weapons
issues," says defense attorney David Brahms, who represents a Marine who's
pleaded guilty to conspiracy and kidnapping in the case. "They are warriors
and this is what warriors do."

The April 26, 2006, killing of disabled police officer Hashim Ibrahim Awad
has been the subject of eight months of military hearings at Camp Pendleton
near San Diego. Three defendants have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting
court martial on murder charges. Five others have entered guilty pleas to
lesser charges, receiving prison sentences from one to eight years. As part
of their plea bargains, they've agreed to testify against the three remaining
Marines.

The case is remarkable for the fact that the killers nearly got away with
their alleged crime right under the eye of the military's sophisticated
surveillance systems. According to testimony, at least three times the
warriors took deliberate, and apparently effective, measures to trick the
unmanned aerial vehicles -- UAVs in military parlance -- that watch the
ground with heat-sensitive imaging by night, and high-resolution video by
day.

The images are routinely translated into PowerPoint presentations, systems
manufacturers say. The PowerPoint of this particular killing was nearly
accepted as proof of a "good shoot" until one of the troops, Navy hospitalman
Melson Bacos, stunned investigators with a confession, according to the
testimony of Special Agent James Connolly with the Naval Criminal
Investigative Service, or NCIS.

The killing took place in the early morning darkness of April 26, when a
"snatch party" of three Marines and a medic set out to kill and make an
example of a suspected insurgent named Saleh Gowad, who'd been captured and
released many times, according to testimony. Not finding him, they went next
door and seized the sleeping Awad from his home, while the four remaining
squad members waited nearby.

They men allegedly flexicuffed Awad's hands and marched him about a half-mile
to a bomb crater, where they bound his feet and positioned him with a stolen
shovel and an AK-47. Then they returned to an attack position and shot him.

On the way, according to testimony, the forward party took at least three
steps to disguise its actions from aerial surveillance, steps that initially
persuaded investigators the killing was justified. One Marine went forward
and dug around in the crater. At the same time, the three other troops
crouched with Awad behind a low wall in what Brahms described as a squad in a
typical military posture.

They held that pose as the surveillance UAV passed over, creating an infrared
tableau of four troops watching a bomber dig a hole along the road.

After the UAV passed, and they dodged being seen by a U.S. helicopter, the
four rose from behind the wall to march Awad to the crater, according to the
medic's testimony. While they were moving Awad the final 125 yards to his
death, according to Bacos, they heard the UAV return. Cpl. Trent Thomas
quickly wrapped himself around Awad so that the two men would appear as a
single person on the heat-reactive infrared sensors, according to testimony.

Then they put Awad in the hole where the Marine had posed with the shovel
seconds before, backed off and signaled. Six of the eight troops opened fire
-- staging a firefight with a bomb-planting insurgent.

"Congratulations, we just got away with murder, gents," the squad leader told
them, according to Bacos' testimony.

The routine investigation of the shooting -- sparked by a complaint from
Awad's family members to their sheikh -- became a murder investigation only
because Bacos confessed, Connolly testified. His confession so startled the
investigators that they struggled between reading him his rights and
continuing the questioning, according to lawyers who read the interrogation
transcript.

The Marine defendants' version of the events -- a firefight with a
bomb-planting insurgent -- was supported by the PowerPoint presentation shown
to NCIS agents by the Marines' commanding officer. The NCIS and lawyers close
to the case would not confirm or deny that the presentation was derived
directly from the overhead feed, but those familiar with the UAVs say
PowerPoint presentations are routinely produced from UAV surveillance.

Winslow Wheeler, the director of the Strauss Military Reform Project at the
Center for Defense Information in the Washington, D.C., area, says he's not
surprised that the UAV's surveillance system was spoofed. Though he hasn't
heard of similar cases, the technology has its limits, he says.

"When people learn how they work and what happens when they're used, they can
figure out ways to trick them," he says. "With infrared, the heat signal
doesn't penetrate moisture or dust, so you can hide things that way. Or you
can heat them up. And when images go from a recording to PowerPoint, you lose
some resolution so the images become harder to identify."

Marines in Al Anbar province, where Awad was killed, rely on two systems:
Boeing's ScanEagle and the Pioneer, made by AAI. The Pioneer was most likely
the system overhead that morning, because it was low and loud.

The aptly named Pioneer is one of the military's original UAVs -- during the
first Gulf War, a Pioneer recorded a video of a group of Iraqis waving white
flags and surrendering to the unmanned vehicle, apparently having learned
that bombers came right after the UAVs.

The Pioneer's night-vision system uses forward-looking infrared, or FLIR, the
same technology used on many police helicopters. Its images are black on
white, or white on black, with warm objects like humans, animals and car
engines producing the contrasting hue.

"The image can be a little 'ghosty,'" says Steven Reid, vice president of
unmanned systems at AAI, who refused to discuss any aspect of tricking the
technology, saying it's classified. "It's amazing where the heat may be -- if
a car goes through there's a shadow on screen for a short while afterwards."

Steps similar to those the alleged killers apparently took may someday be a
routine part of planning a crime, as U.S. law enforcement agencies clamor to
put UAVs over U.S. airspace for domestic surveillance. But police departments
that use FLIR say they haven't seen those tricks yet.

"People who are committing crimes at night are usually committing crimes of
opportunity or passion and they aren't planning ahead," says Sgt. Bill Woods
of the San Diego Police Department's Airborne Law Enforcement unit. "They
think if there isn't a spotlight on them, they're home free."

In the Camp Pendleton case, Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington, Pfc. John Jodka,
Lance Cpl. Jerry Schumate Jr., Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson and Bacos have
pleaded guilty to reduced charges and lost their ranks as part of the deals.
Cpl. Trent Thomas, Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda and squad leader Sgt. Lawrence
Hutchins III are headed for formal trial at separate courts martial scheduled
for later this year.

The Marines and NCIS aren't releasing the PowerPoint presentation that
initially cleared the men, saying it's part of an ongoing investigation. And
they've rebuffed requests for the aerial imagery of what happened that night,
defense attorneys say.