Publishers Weekly
02/16/2015
To military planners, drone warfare makes a lot of sense and embodies the "enduringly desirable attributes of ‘speed, range, precision, and lethality'": it requires fewer troops on the ground, has the opportunity to kill only targeted individuals, and—theoretically—doesn't require a lengthy campaign. Yet as national security specialist Cockburn (Rumsfeld) shows in this history of the practice, the grim reality is often anything but. Cockburn's contacts in the military apparatus allow him to describe a program rooted in emotional button-pushing over the war on terror that was riddled with egos, overzealous commanders, dead civilians, and lucrative government contracts for a weapon whose performance was often less accurate than promised. Troublingly, Cockburn says, taking out a high-ranking target—a primary goal of drone warfare—often creates a power vacuum. As an intelligence officer noted of the situation in Iraq: "We kept decapitating the leadership of these groups, and more leaders would just appear from the ranks to take their place." The program and its effects—both intended and not—are ripe for a takedown and Cockburn admirably explains the strategies, intentions, and emotions that continue to surround the program. As he says in the book's closing chapter, whether it's working or not, "the assassination machine is here to stay." (Mar.)
From the Publisher
"Kill Chain is a fascinating book ... a revelatory, must-read account of drones and killing from the air."-Joel Whitney, San Francisco Chronicle
"Cockburn is a crackerjack writer...He draws a high-resolution picture of vested interests (kickbacks, egos, along with Raytheon, Lockheed, Northrop, Hughes, General Dynamics, Booz Allen, and company), leading us down the garden path to the seventy-two virgins. The tools don't work - on many levels, drones cut 'a wide and indiscriminate swath through local society' - and the military's strategy is a failure."-Peter Lewis, The Christian Science Monitor
"Cockburn pulls back the camera to provide a wider historical perspective, setting the policy of targeted killing via drones within the larger context of the American military-industrial complex. From the repeated failure of the stealth bombing campaigns in the Kosovo and Vietnam wars, to the way in which the drug wars stepped in to perpetuate the security bureaucracy of the Cold War, Cockburn sees America's killer drone policy as the culmination of a historical pattern of lies, deception, and greed in the deployment of lethal military force around the world... [InKill Chain] Cockburn, the righteous political leftists, [carries] the torch of the antiwar crusade into current debates."-Karen J. Greenberg, The Washington Post
“In this first-rate history, Andrew Cockburn takes readers from the Pentagon's mainframe-driven dreams of the Vietnam War era through today's visions of stealth super-drones, exposing the dark realities of twenty-first-century robotic warfare. Richly informative, superbly researched, and utterly illuminating, Kill Chain shines much-needed light on the shadowy theories and theorists, secret military and intelligence programs, and classified technologies that spawned our current age of remote-controlled assassination.” —Nick Turse, author of Kill Anything that Moves
“This brilliant book tells us how computers kill soldiers and civilians, and explains with bone-chilling clarity how generalship gave way to microchips from Vietnam to Afghanistan. A blood-curdling account of the rise of robot warfare, a great story, and a prophecy to be read and heeded.” —Tim Weiner, author of Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
“A compellingly readable book that not only tells us why drones cannot live up to the overblown expectation of politicians but lucidly explains the vulnerability of intelligence, either robotic or human, better than any book I have ever read.” —Edward Jay Epstein, author of Deception: The Invisible War Between the KGB and the CIA
“In this riveting book, Cockburn puts the reader in the pilot's seat as kill teams go on their deadly hunts before dashing home for their children's soccer games. Wrapped in enormous secrecy, the only way past the armed guards and cipher-locks and into this new world of Hellfire diplomacy is Cockburn's great new read. Rather than voter IDs, people should prove they have read this book before being allowed to vote in the next election.” —James Bamford, author of The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America
“It's not just the technology that makes a difference on the modern battlefield. It is, by Harper's Washington editor Cockburn's account, the development of a doctrine that augments—and sometimes replaces—the old order of battle with the notion that enemy leaders are objects fit for assassination, adding a necessarily political dimension to the military one…Sharp-eyed and disturbing, especially Cockburn's concluding assessment that, nourished by an unending flow of money, ‘the assassination machine is here to stay.'” —Kirkus
“A report that is both enlivening and terribly troubling.” —Booklist
author of The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret James Bamford
In this riveting book, Cockburn puts the reader in the pilot's seat as kill teams go on their deadly hunts before dashing home for their children's soccer games. Wrapped in enormous secrecy, the only way past the armed guards and cipher-locks and into this new world of Hellfire diplomacy is Cockburn's great new read. Rather than voter IDs, people should prove they have read this book before being allowed to vote in the next election.
author of Deception: The Invisible War Between Edward Jay Epstein
A compellingly readable book that not only tells us why drones cannot live up to the overblown expectation of politicians but lucidly explains the vulnerability of intelligence, either robotic or human, better than any book I have ever read.
author of Legacy of Ashes: The History of the Tim Weiner
Thisbrilliant book tells us how computers killsoldiers and civilians, andexplains with bone-chilling clarityhow generalship gave way to microchips from Vietnam to Afghanistan. A blood-curdling account of the rise of robot warfare, a great story, and a prophecy to be read and heeded.
Library Journal
★ 03/01/2015
Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), have actually been around for several decades, but have gained notoriety in the past ten years for their use in attacking hard-to-reach, high-priority human targets. While this form of warfare undoubtedly saves some American lives and is easier to stage than sending in the troops, the civilian toll from the strikes seems to drive more people to oppose the United States. Cockburn (Washington editor, Harper's Magazine; Rumsfeld) has experience with political/defense topics, and he writes about the development of another expensive, advanced technology weapons program, which companies and the military love. He critiques a common misperception that if one can only take out the most important targets, then the enemy will collapse; enemies always appear to have a way of adapting, he notes. The other misconception is that technology can defeat human will, even though history has plenty of counter examples (e.g., the Vietnam War). The policies, effectiveness and ethical use of drones are controversial. Their use is expanding, however, and the focus is shifting from Iraq and Afghanistan to places such as Yemen and Africa, and planning continues for operations against more advanced rivals. There are reference notes appended but no bibliography, and the illustrations do not add anything to the work overall. VERDICT Despite some problems, this is an informative and easy-to-read book for those interested in this hot topic. Perhaps a drone will drop it off at your front door. [See Prepub Alert, 9/29/14.]—Daniel Blewett, Coll. of DuPage Lib., Glen Ellyn, IL
Kirkus Reviews
2014-12-15
An examination of the rise of the present generation of killing machines, antiseptic and seemingly inescapable.It's not just the technology that makes a difference on the modern battlefield. It is, by Harper's Washington editor Cockburn's (Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall, and Catastrophic Legacy, 2007, etc.) account, the development of a doctrine that augments—and sometimes replaces—the old order of battle with the notion that enemy leaders are objects fit for assassination, adding a necessarily political dimension to the military one. This shift was marked, Cockburn writes, in the Kosovo War, when Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, a "high-value target," became a candidate for execution from afar: "Assassination, officially forbidden and always denied, was still in the shadows but edging ever closer toward public respectability." Arguably, it's still disreputable, but assassination happens all the same, as witness the demise of Osama bin Laden and, less notoriously, the recent deaths of several ISIS commanders in Syria. Cockburn carefully charts the rise of the new doctrine and its supporting scholarship. It was anthropologists, for instance, who provided rationale for the unseemly bombing of Muammar Qaddafi's family compounds, killing his sons and grandchildren, on the grounds that "in Bedouin culture, Qaddafi would be diminished as a leader if he could not protect his immediate family." Given that current Army doctrine, developed by the enthusiastic counterinsurgency fighter David Petraeus, has a section on targeting enemies for elimination—and given that current political doctrine allows the killing of anyone who even resembles a terrorist—it appears that we'll have to shelve any remaining romantic ideas of single combat and get used to war by murder. Sharp-eyed and disturbing, especially Cockburn's concluding assessment that, nourished by an unending flow of money, "the assassination machine is here to stay."
