Reports that the U.S. did not intentionally target Nasir al-Wahishi in a recent drone strike in Yemen highlights a troubling trend in America's counterterrorism operations, and signals Obama administration policies of limiting U.S. warfighting abroad may now force it into using a controversial and dangerous tactic known as "signature strikes."

Citing unnamed officials, The Washington Post reports that an armed drone under the control of the CIA targeted a group of al-Qaida operatives in Yemen, identifying them only by a pattern of activity, not their specific identities. It was only later that the CIA learned al-Wahishi was among the casualties, striking what is considered the most significant blow to the terrorist organization since killing Osama bin Laden in 2011.

The CIA and the Pentagon have so far declined to comment specifically on the strike. The White House has confirmed that al-Wahishi has been killed but would not offer any more details publicly on the circumstances around his death.



If true, the incidental killing of al-Wahishi indicates the White House is stepping away from rhetoric in 2013 that it would modify its drone policies. President Barack Obama stated then in an address to the National Defense University that the U.S. would focus largely on targeting and killing specific people, not those who appear to be terrorists from the limited perspective of a surveillance drone, and only if they could not be captured and civilian casualties could likely be avoided.

The use of signature strikes returned to top headline space earlier this year, after Obama confirmed in April a U.S. aircraft had accidentally targeted and killed two hostages -- American Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian -- at a compound on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The president admitted the CIA had been tracking the compound and incorrectly determined the only occupants were enemy combatants. It launched the strike based on the "near certainties" protocols employed for U.S. counterterrorism strikes.

Obama attributed the mistake to "the fog of war," adding, "in our fight against terrorists, specifically, mistakes and sometimes deadly mistakes can occur."

The use of these controversial tactics is a result of the Obama administration's war policies, focused on bringing American ground forces home from protracted conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Places like Libya, Syria and Yemen have become hotbeds for insurgent activity, but are also too dangerous for U.S. forces to operate in and provide a platform intelligence agents can use to gather information.

The U.S. is then left to rely largely on 21st-century armed drone technology, born from the need to expand a watchful eye over the war in Afghanistan and steadily expanded during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. The recent popularity of drone operations has put an incredible strain on the Air Force, largely responsible for operating the aircraft.



When asked about death of al-Wahishi on Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren declined to comment specifically. But the news, combined with the announcement the U.S. had also killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar in Libya this week, shows the effectiveness of U.S. counterterrorism efforts even without having to deploy troops to those countries, he said.



"Even though we no longer have a presence in Yemen, no more boots on the ground, we don't have a presence in Libya, but we still have global reach," Warren said. "We still retain the ability to find, and kill terrorists wherever they are hiding in the world."

Signature strikes have been an effective but imprecise tool used by U.S. intelligence and military units in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in the worldwide hunt for al-Qaida, to break terrorist networks' swift methods of moving operatives, particularly their top leaders. Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the high profile former head of the military's shadowy Joint Special Operations Command, admitted after retiring in 2013 the appeal of the strikes and their inherent dangers.