September dropzone 2013 pdf

In 2010 CIA officials noted in a report that Al-Qaeda was placing special emphasis on recruiting technicians or engineers with expertise in missile technology. During the same year authorities in Turkey arrested a member of AlQaeda who was developing plans to shoot down NATO surveillance drones in Afghanistan. The suspect, a 23-yearold mathematics student, was using software to conduct ballistics research for drone attacks. Today there is still unease among U.S. agencies about Al-Qaeda’s determination to find ways that will counteract drones.

There has been one instance where Al-Qaeda had hacked into a predator and shadow drone. This took place in the year 2009. The insurgents hacked into the video feeds of the drones using typical at-home software that someone could buy off the shelf at Best Buy. The reason this happed was due to the lack of attention given to encrypting the video streaming data links. Fortunately this breaching of a drones video system was caught very early on. Air Force officials said they would work to encrypt all video feeds from its predator drones and have this fixed by 2014. Al-Qaeda is a sophisticated group of intelligent people that the United States might always have to watch out for. As for right now it seems that the United States is staying one step ahead in the on-going fight with drone interference.

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