“The American planes hovering in the skies for quite some time fired at least three missiles at a house in Zafar town in Miran Shah bazaar that damaged the compound completely….They did not appear to be the local militants.”-unnamed local official

April 29, 2012, a U.S. assassination drone killed at least three people in Pakistan.

The attack took place in North Waziristan (within the Waziristan region), dozens of people were wounded.

Also on April 29, a U.S. drone crashed in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan.  Mujahideen claim they shot it down and have recovered the wreckage.

“We want (police) to be able to use the aircraft sooner because there is a public interest.”-Ben Gielow, Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International

According to a Boston Herald report, U.S. police are chomping at the bit for their FAA issued drone licenses.

“Rushing to push through applications to fly drones doesn’t seem like a good idea.”-Jennifer Lynch, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Many police departments say they have already bought small drones, claiming they are to be used to find missing people.  Until now rules did not allow them to legally use them.  Federal Aviation Administration will have new rules in place by May 14, allowing your local police to legally spy on you with drones.

What’s interesting is that some “law” enforcement agencies have already been caught operating drones.

“….instead of having a caucus to feed preschool children, they decided it was more important to have a Drone Caucus and that’s because all the manufacturers in their districts are funding them.” also “Eisenhower was so right, and he was so right when he said it steals money, it robs us of food for our children, of healthcare for our parents, he was so right. And it’s just worse and worse.”-Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK

Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, revealed that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection are operating Predator-B drones, from North Dakota and now into Washington state.  They claim to be watching the Canadian border for criminal activity.

Down Mexico way, some people are questioning the effectiveness of Predator drones used on that border.

According to stltoday.com: “…Homeland Security officials who have spent six years and more than $250 million building the nation’s largest fleet of domestic surveillance drones. The nine Predators that help police America’s borders have yet to be very useful in stopping contraband or illegal immigrants.”

Washington Post reported on April 25 that President Barack Obama has authorized the CIA to use drones to kill people, even if they can’t tell who it is they’re killing.  The new drone policy is called “signature” strikes.

On April 10, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s Stephen W. Preston, gave a speech which explained why the Obama administration is so gung ho on allowing the CIA, and not the military, to operate the assassination drones. Supposedly traditional “laws of war” do not apply to intelligence agencies.

According to Preston, the CIA answers only to U.S. laws, and those laws favor the CIA: “The courts have long recognized the state secrets privilege and have consistently upheld its proper invocation to protect intelligence sources and methods from disclosure. Moreover, federal judges have dismissed cases on justiciability or political question grounds, acknowledging that the courts are, at times, institutionally ill-equipped and constitutionally incapable of reviewing national security decisions committed to the President and the political branches.”

Speaking of Yemen, the Associated Press revealed that a Yemen Mujahideen claimed to have killed by CIA drone strike last year, is actually alive and well.

April 24, a top FBI official was in Yemen, just two days after a CIA drone strike killed what Yemen officials claim was a top militant “leader”.

Mohammed Al-Basha, Yemen’s embassy spokesman in Washington DC, revealed that the FBI is also involved with drone strikes in Yemen: “Mueller visits Yemen on an annual basis so this is not a special or secret occasion. President Hadi emphasised that he is strongly committed to combatting extremism and working with the U.S. to counter the mutual threat of terrorism.”

FBI director Robert Mueller vowed to crush the Yemen Mujahideen.

April 27, at least 22 people were killed by U.S. drone strikes in Somalia.