The killing of the American-born Yemeni terrorist Anwar al Awlaki on Sept. 30 continues to show how broadly integrated U.S. military operations and intelligence have become. According to media reports, two Predator drones fired Hellfire missiles at al Awlaki as he and three others were traveling in a car. Also killed was Samir Khan, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was the editor of the al Qaeda magazine Inspire.
The deaths of al Awlaki and Khan were the culmination of an intensive effort to track down and eliminate the threat these people posed to America and its citizens. But our ability to conduct such operations depends on accurate and timely intelligence, as well as a robust communications architecture to help choreograph and synchronize the effort.
