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The Law Enforcement Operations Model

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As discussed in the next section, some critics of these types of responses to transnational terrorism argue that a law enforcement operations model should be applied rather than the law of armed conflict because of the nature of the operations that are involved. For instance, Kels notes that human rights advocates “insist upon a legal geography of war, whereby states must apply a law enforcement (rather than armed conflict) model to any hostilities conducted outside of universally recognized hot battlefields like Afghanistan” (B3). This approach, however, ignores the realities of military operations on the ground and consequences of using a law enforcement operations model rather than the law of armed conflict to control these efforts (Kels B3). As Kels points out, “Holding a drone operator, fighter pilot or sailor directing ordnance at an overseas terrorist hideout to the same detain-first, shoot-last standards as a Metro police officer would negate the very purpose of the weapons system, which is precisely the goal of some activists” (B3). Indeed, rather than improving America’s opportunities to apply FSW to eliminate threats emanating from other countries that are unable or unwilling to stop them, these arguments only add further fuel to the anti-drone rhetoric in ways that may even encourage additional terrorist incursions from abroad.
Law Enforcement Operations (LEO) Law is both a context for the application of power and at the same time, an instrument of power. Rule

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