Velicovich, Brett: Drone Warrior

GO INSIDE AMERICA’S SECRET DRONE WAR IN THIS HEADLINE-MAKING, NEVER-BEFORE-TOLD ACCOUNT FROM A FORMER DELTA FORCE INTELLIGENCE SOLDIER AND A PULITZER PRIZE–WINNING WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTER

For nearly a decade, Brett Velicovich was at the center of America’s new generation of warfare: an arsenal of unmanned aerial vehicles—drones—taking down the world’s deadliest terrorists across the globe. One of the few elite members in the entire military with the authority to select targets and issue death orders, he and his small intelligence team worked in concert with the full human and technological network of America’s intelligence assets—analysts, spies, informants, and the military’s most elite and secretive operatives—to stalk, capture, and eliminate high-value targets in Al Qaeda and ISIS. 

Now this decorated veteran, with journalist Christopher S. Stewart, tells his story in a remarkable book packed with more classified drone operations cleared for public release than any other account ever published, according to the U.S. government. Drone Warrior offers an unprecedented view into the remarkably complex nature of drone missions and the rigorous and wrenching on-the-ground decisions behind them. 

With intimate, gripping precision, he shares stories of the most coordinated, advanced, and secret missions that neutralized terrorists, preserved the lives of U.S. and international warriors across the globe, and saved countless innocents in the hottest conflict zones today, including the Middle East and Africa. Velicovich chronicles killing the first leaders of ISIS; tracking down the group’s current leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi; and killing and capturing all but six of the twenty most wanted terrorists across Iraq in only three months. He also tells a heartbreaking story of saving an abducted Iraqi woman and using drones to find a group of the missing schoolgirls abducted by Nigeria’s Boko Haram.

Drone Warrior also chronicles the U.S. military’s evolution in the past decade and the technology driving it. Velicovich considers the future it foretells, and speaks candidly on the physical and psychological toll it exacts, including the impact his missions had on his own life. He reminds us that while these machines can kill, they can also be used to preserve life, including protecting endangered species and supporting humanitarian operations—work he is engaged in today.

Joining warfare classics such as American Sniper, Lone Survivor, and No Easy Day, Drone Warrior is the definitive account of our nation’s capacity and capability for war in the modern age.