A report published in ‘The Guardian’ reveals that a US air force unit in the Nevada desert is flying the CIA’s drone strike programme in Pakistan.
The report published in ‘The Guardian’ is based on a documentary ‘Drone’ in which former drone operators claimed that personnel from the US air force were flying the CIA’s Predator missions in Pakistan.
The documentary identifies the 17th Reconnaissance Squadron operating from a secure compound in Creech air force base in the Mojave Desert as the unit conducting CIA drone strikes in Pakistan.
The National Security Council and CIA declined to comment when approached by ‘The Guardian’ while the Pentagon did not respond.
A former US Predator operator, Brandon Bryant said the film he had decided to speak out after senior officials in the Obama administration gave a briefing last year in which they wanted to “transfer” control of the CIA’s secret drones programme to the military.
Bryants claims were corroborated by six other former drone operators who worked alongside the unit but none of them were prepared to go on the record.
Bryant said this was disingenuous because it was widely known in military circles that the US air force was already involved.
“There is a lie hidden within that truth. And the lie is that it’s always been the air force that has flown those missions. The CIA might be the customer but the air force has always flown it. A CIA label is just an excuse to not have to give up any information. That is all it has ever been.”