SocraticGadfly: Iran and our missing CIA drone -- big issues

December 06, 2011

Iran and our missing CIA drone -- big issues

First, it's clear that the drone that was lost over Iran is a CIA plane.

This leads to many, many other questions.

1. Why don't these drones have GPS limiters that, when humans screw up, get inattentive, etc., can limit their flights, self-destruct the planes, etc.? The absence of anything like that just sounds stupid. This isn't Francis Gary Powers, where you're relying on a human to off himself in his U-2.
2. This particular drone appears more swanky than a "base" model, including having some sort of stealth technology. How easy will it be for Iran to reverse-engineer that and thereby end our easy drone flights? The spook shack says Iran can't learn much, but ... surreee ...
3. Can't anybody in the CIA lie better? This plane was NOT surveilling in Afghanistan. And, if you can't lie better, can't you just shut up? It now is unofficially admitted by one and all that it was spying on Iran.
4. Back to No. 1 ... just how good, or bad, of pilot quality does the CIA have?
5. Can Iran determine what we were learning from this and other drones?
6. Is the CIA lying about a crash rather than a shoot-down?

And, add this thought: What if Iranian and Chinese intelligence, notorious spies on the U.S., are partnered?

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