Drone: Inside the CIA's Secret Drone War (video)

From drone operators to strike victims, we examine the impact of remote-controlled killing and the future of warfare.
In 2001, the White House concluded that it was legal to use armed drones to kill senior al-Qaeda leaders. Within weeks of the 9/11 attacks, US President George W Bush signed off on an order which authorised the CIA to capture and kill al-Qaeda operatives.

For some, drones are the greatest weapon ever to be developed by the CIA; for others, they present a constant, deadly and terrifying threat.



In this two-part documentary, we go inside the CIA's secret drone war to explore, through wide-ranging interviews spanning the US and Pakistan, what drones mean for the people who fly them and for the people who live under their constant threat.

What happens when you spend hours in a pitch-black room, day after day, shooting at "targets" halfway across the world on a pixelated screen in the hinterland of Nevada? Why are former pilots speaking out against the drone war and is the US government attempting to silence them? And how do drone operators process killing with a joystick?