1. Compartmentalization.
2. Stealth.
3. Deniability.
1. Only a handful of men are involved in the operation of a drone, and only two men need to know the actual target: the operator and his immediate commander. A successful sting operation (or air strike) would require numerous people to be read-in.
2. Basically nobody knows that anything is going on until the target goes boom.
3. This is a less sure advantage, but alternate explanations (gas explosion, bomb-making operation gone wrong, etc.) are easy to contrive and the govenrment has powerful leverage over LEOs and first responders. At any rate, if the Feds don't scruple over fraggng their political enemies what might they do to whistleblowers? Better to "see nothing" and clam up.
The government has plenty of far less visible ways of doing you in if it wanted to already.
Ok, since I, like most everyone else, doesn’t live in some remote compound from which I never emerge, how does a UAV strike on me have less Compartmentalization, Stealth, and Deniability than:
1. A government agent putting a bomb under my car
2 A government agent stabbing me in the ankle with a poisoned umbrella
Both of these options require fewer people and are stealthier than a UAV strike, the bomb under my car is as stealthy, and the poison umbrella is stealthier.
1. Drone strikes only involve the target's life: the shooter is not risked. If the government is actually considering using these things against us (remember that they said that they would only use these on American citizens "in combat". Waco comes to mind as "combat" in their view).
2. The target is reachable anywhere - in their homes, on the road, on vacation, etc.
3. The attack is nearly always a surprise - another advantage for the shooter. Similar to a sniper attack but with even less risk.
4. There is virtually no defense against a drone attack. If they know where you are or even suspect it, you're hit. Hitting a drone first is almost impossible. While I was still on active duty, we had drone targets for our .50 caliber machingunners. Despite thousands of rounds fired and a lot of sincere application, none of the targets were ever hit.
This is the first generation of anonymous warfare. This is only the beginning.