doi:10.7916/ewk3-e717Oral history interview with Heather Lea Linebaugh, 2022Linebaugh, Heatheroral historiesmixed materialPresidents--United StatesDrone aircraft--Moral and ethical aspects--United StatesDrone warfare--United StatesDrone aircraft--Government policy--United StatesUninhabited combat aerial vehicles (International law)Targeted killing--Government policy--United StatesWomen and the military--United StatesPost-traumatic stress disorder--United StatesVeterans--Services for--United StatesVeterans--Medical care--United StatesDrone aircraft pilotsCivilian war casualtiesLinebaugh, HeatherObama, BarackUnited States. Air ForceHeather Linebaugh reflects on her service in the United States Air Force from 2009 to 2012, during which time she worked in intelligence as an imagery and geospatial analyst on the drone program. She shares stories of her upbringing in central Pennsylvania, and remembers her thinking and motivations around the time of her enlistment in the Air Force, which coincided with Barack Obama's 2008 election. Linebaugh describes her training in the program, the professional and interpersonal dynamics between lower-level enlisted airmen and officers in the program's hierarchy, and the close social bonds formed with colleagues in her unit. She focuses on the disconnect between public and political discourses around the accuracy and efficacy of the drone program, the identity and activities of its military participants, and its actual realities, including the psychological and moral trauma suffered by many of those who worked in the program. Linebaugh recounts her decision to write a 2013 op-ed in The Guardian about her experience in the program, and remembers the public hostility the article provoked. Also discussed are Linebaugh's participation in the 2016 documentary National Bird; improvements in the ability of participants in, and veterans of, highly classified programs to access high quality mental health care; and program veterans' response to the Obama administration's 2016 executive order (EO 13732) and summary report on civilian casualties of U.S. operations involving the use of force