Is that an infrared homing beacon in your pocket, or are you just unhappy to see me?

Posted July 9, 2009 at 12:20 PM

http://exurbanleague.com/2009/07/09/is-that-an-infrared-homing-beacon-in-your-pock...

Wired's Danger Room blog has some interesting details on why airborne drone strikes have been particularly effective as of late, and the dangers of relying too much on one source of intel.

The gadgets use LEDs, powered by a 9 volt battery, to emit beacons of infrared light that are visible only through night vision equipment. A six-second memory can be programmed to flash in Morse-type codes and other sequences. The lights can be seen at “distances of over five miles and can also be seen through clothing and underwater,” according to one distributor. from a distance of up to five miles. They can weigh as little as a half-ounce, are as small as an inch-and-a-quarter, and have a battery life of nearly 100 hours. The Phoenix family of infrared beacons have been in use since 1984, making them the “the most widely used electronic Combat ID system in the world.”

American Predator and Reaper unmanned aircraft are both equipped with infrared cameras, making such beacons a natural drone signaling mechanism. And because the devices are relatively simple and cheap — less sophisticated models can be purchased online for as little as $25 each — they can be handed out to informants, without fear of compromising clandestine, sophisticated American technology.

Unfortunately, there is a downside: Bad targeting info means excessive collateral damage.

in April, 19 year-old Habibur Rehman made a videotaped “confession” of planting such devices, just before he was executed by the Taliban as an American spy. “I was given $122 to drop chips wrapped in cigarette paper at Al Qaeda and Taliban houses,” he said. If I was successful, I was told, I would be given thousands of dollars.”

But Rehman says he didn’t just tag jihadists with the devices. “The money was good so I started throwing the chips all over. I knew people were dying because of what I was doing, but I needed the money,” he added. Which raises the possibility that the unmanned aircraft — America’s key weapons in its covert war on Pakistan’s jihadists and insurgents — may have been lead to the wrong targets.

Kudos to the CIA for coming up with such a cheap, effective and reliable way to guide in airstrikes on the bad guys,but it seems to me we need to follow Ronald Reagan's advice when it comes to targeting terrorist safehouses: Trust, but verify.