CIA Drone Targeting Tech Revealed, Qaeda Claims

[Eugen Leitl]

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/07/infrared-beacons-guiding-cia-drone-strikes-qaeda-claims/

Danger Room Whatbs Next in National Security

CIA Drone Targeting Tech Revealed, Qaeda Claims

* By Adam Rawnsley Email Author

* July 8, 2009  | 

* 3:59 pm  | 

* Categories: Af/Pak, Drones, Gadgets and Gear

American drone strikes are finding their targets in Pakistan through a series
of infrared homing beacons, Al Qaeda alleges in a new online publication.

The American and Pakistani intelligence services credit U.S. unmanned
aircraft with decimating the ranks of terrorist and insurgent operatives in
Pakistan. bVery frankly, itbs the only game in town in terms of confronting
and trying to disrupt the Al Qaeda leadership,b CIA director Leon Panetta
said in May. The unmanned aircraft have supposedly carried out 28 attacks on
suspected militants, just since the start of the year. Hundreds have been
killed, including as many as 45 more people in a series of strikes today.

But how the killer drones find their targets has been a matter of some
dispute. Local Taliban commander Mullah Nazir, himself an occasional target,
says theybre guided by SIM cards, installed in militant cell phones. Area
tribesman talk of homing devices, planted by informants, that are capable of
signaling American aircraft. In The Ruling Concerning Muslims Spies, an
internet-distributed book written by self-styled theologian and emerging Al
Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al-Libi, warns readers of American infrared devices
which he claims directs the attacks on Al Qaeda and its allies.

bThese result in the firing of the murderous and destructive missiles whose
wrath is inflicted on the Mujahedeen and the weak,b he writes. Then he
provides bphotos of some of the devices the spies painstakingly transport to
the targets they are assigned by their infidel patrons.b

The pictures of the bchips with 9 volt batteriesb provided in the book (see
photo, above) bear a sharp resemblance to the Phoenix and Pegasus models of
infrared flashing beacons made by Cejay Engineering. The devices are used by
the U.S. military, among others, to identify friend from foe, mark drop
zones, and outline perimeters.

The gadgets use LEDs, powered by a 9 volt battery, to emit beacons of
infrared light that are visible only through night vision equipment. A
six-second memory can be programmed to flash in Morse-type codes and other
sequences. The lights can be seen at bdistances of over five miles and can
also be seen through clothing and underwater,b according to one distributor.
from a distance of up to five miles. They can weigh as little as a
half-ounce, are as small as an inch-and-a-quarter, and have a battery life of
nearly 100 hours. The Phoenix family of infrared beacons have been in use
since 1984, making them the bthe most widely used electronic Combat ID system
in the world.b

American Predator and Reaper unmanned aircraft are both equipped with
infrared cameras, making such beacons a natural drone signaling mechanism.
And because the devices are relatively simple and cheap b less sophisticated
models can be purchased online for as little as $25 each b they can be handed
out to informants, without fear of compromising clandestine, sophisticated
American technology.

bTransmitters make a lot of sense to me,b former CIA case officer Robert Baer
previously told about the general notion of beacons guiding in drone strikes.
bIt is simply not possible to train a Pashtun from Waziristan to go to a
targeted site, case it, and come back to Peshawar or Islamabad with anything
like an accurate report. The best you can hope for is theybre putting the
transmitter on the right house.b

In April, 19 year-old Habibur Rehman made a videotaped bconfessionb of
planting such devices, just before he was executed by the Taliban as an
American spy. bI was given $122 to drop chips wrapped in cigarette paper at
Al Qaeda and Taliban houses,b he said. If I was successful, I was told, I
would be given thousands of dollars.b

But Rehman says he didnbt just tag jihadists with the devices. bThe money was
good so I started throwing the chips all over. I knew people were dying
because of what I was doing, but I needed the money,b he added. Which raises
the possibility that the unmanned aircraft b Americabs key weapons in its
covert war on Pakistanbs jihadists and insurgents b may have been lead to the
wrong targets.

[Translation: Yasser El-Shimy]

b Adam Rawnsley and Noah Shachtman