Africa.

This is coolbert:

 From the Chicago Tribune an update on Africa Command at work.

Locations at one time almost totally devoid of American military presence now the situation far different. 

"FOCUS AFRICA" 

 "U.S. outsources its spying" 

 "The practice of hiring private companies for surveillance on huge expanses of African territory has been a cornerstone of the American military secret activities on the continent"

 "The African network" 

 American surveillance and UAV combat aircraft stationed in Africa and having live missions anti-terrorist, anti-insurgent.

 A much more widespread presence and activity under the auspices of civilian contractors to a large extent, low key and low profile.

 Known locations from the Tribune article to include:

 * Nouakchott, Mauritania - - PC-12. [ended in 2008]

 * Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso - - PC-12.

 * Entebbe, Uganda - - PC-12.

 * Nzara, South Sudan - - surveillance planes. [planned]

 * Arba Minch, Ethiopia - - Reaper.

 * Manda Bay, Kenya - - 100 commandos.

 * Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti - - targets in Yemen. [Reaper?]

 * Victoria, Seychelles, Indian Ocean - - Reaper.

 Those targets for surveillance or destruction being:

 * al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. [Mali and Niger both]

 * Boko Haram. [Nigeria]

 * Lord's Resistance Army. [various central African locations]

 * al-Shabab. [Somalia]

 * al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. [Yemen]

 [That ancestral home of the bin Laden clan of course being Yemen.]

 Who exactly needs an intelligence agency anyhow to glean this type of info when it is all made manifestly clear to you with a single glance in the Chicago Tribune?

 I am able to infer correctly [?] that these independent civilian contractors working for the American DoD are merely gathering data and not doing analysis of same?

The PC-12 the Pilatus turboprop utility aircraft outfitted with various devices allowing for long-range surveillance. Designated by the U.S. military as the U-28A.

Instrument packages pick up a lot of info that daily "catch" forwarded to another location for processing? 

Reaper are combat type UAV and might very well be under military control at all times AND FURTHERMORE THE PILOTING IS POSSIBLE FROM A BASE SOMEWHERE IN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES THAT UAV FLOWN REMOTE ON A MISSION AND THE GO TO USE WEAPONRY GIVEN ONLY AFTER PROPER MILITARY PROTOCOLS FOLLOWED AND OBEYED?

 Djibouti at one time was French territory and there still exists and is present a strong French Foreign Legion [FFL] in the area? That may be so also!!

 coolbert.