Where the Drones Are

Mapping the launch pads for Obama's secret wars.

BY MICAH ZENKO AND EMMA WELCH | MAY 29, 2012

Location: Zamboanga, Philippines

Coordinates: 6.92, 122.06

The Philippine government reportedly allows the United States to fly unmanned surveillance drones to monitor militants from the al Qaeda-linked group Abu Sayyaf on the island Mindanao. The most active site is in Zamboanga, one of the locations where the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines is based. U.S. drones are said to have provided the location of prominent Abu Sayyaf militants that were subsequently killed in an air strike carried out by the Philippines Air Force in February 2012.

Joel Sagat/AFP/Getty Images

 

Micah Zenko (@MicahZenko) is a fellow and Emma Welch is a research associate with the Center for Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign Relations. Micah writes the blog Politics, Power, and Preventive Action.