The crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle from Mexico would be a first on U.S. soil, Cordero said.

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But the term "unmanned aerial vehicle" is a misnomer, since roughly 160 people work on a typical Predator mission.

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"A UAV doesn't have a mom, " a retired military officer told me, using an acronym for an unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone.

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And in addition to that, we identified a unique capability that we thought could help with the effort, which was the ability to target -- to hit targets with an unmanned aerial vehicle, for instance, which allows for precision targeting.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing with Jay Carney and Ben Rhodes