Justice Department officials say Apple hampered their investigation by refusing to unlock the gunman's iPhones. The case is part of a longstanding debate over national security interests and privacy.
"America sees this as an existential fight," writes former CIA analyst Aki Peritz, who argues in this case, the classic insurgent strategy of bleeding a better-resourced adversary is doomed to fail.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll warns that there is no end in sight to America's longest war: "Most of the generals ... say in public, 'There's no military solution to this war.'"
Drone pilots and intelligence analysts who work with them may not be in physical danger themselves but "no doubt are war fighters" who experience psychological stress, says the Air Force.
The U.S. military gave no details about the Thursday airstrikes they say killed Sanafi al-Nasr. The Pentagon said he was "a longtime jihadist experienced in funneling money and fighters for al-Qaida."
Nasir al-Wahishi was part of al-Qaida's "old guard," NPR's Alice Fordham reports. He was a veteran of the fighting in Afghanistan and had been Osama bin Laden's personal secretary.
Sjaak Rijke had been seized in Timbuktu along with two other men in November 2011. Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders calls it an end to a "terrible period of uncertainty and grief."
The attacks, coordinated with 10 allies, began just hours after rebels seized an airbase that was critical to U.S. drone operations against al-Qaida. The base is just 35 miles from Aden.
