That operation, and the turn in Bush administration policy, has been condemned by senior Pakistani officials, including the army chief of staff, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani.
Kayani's statement was his first public criticism of the U.S. military, and his stance on such raids was regarded in Pakistan as a watershed because he had steered clear of politics during his nine months on the job.
Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gillani issued a statement Thursday saying that government policy forbids U.S. military incursions into Pakistan.
Pentagon officials said they hoped that Kayani's anger was mainly for domestic consumption, and would not lead to curtailed cooperation with the U.S. military, which depends on access to Pakistani ports to supply operations in Afghanistan.
The new surveillance technology being deployed on the Predators was developed as part of a special project within the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology, according to current and former officials familiar with the matter.
The CIA has been responsible for Predator flights over Pakistan but is now being pressured to cede some authority to the U.S. military. The agency declined to discuss details of the program.
"It's a poor idea, with American forces engaged in conflicts overseas, to speculate publicly about things like battlefield reconnaissance capabilities," CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said.
Predator strikes were used in attacks that killed Al Qaeda military commander Mohammed Atef in Afghanistan in 2001 and Qaed Sinan Harithi, a suspected mastermind of the bombing of the U.S. destroyer Cole, in Yemen in 2002.
However, Predators have also frequently missed their targets, including a high-profile attempt to attack Al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman Zawahiri in 2006. They have been blamed for the deaths of dozens of civilians in Pakistan, fueling resentment there toward the U.S.
The new system now being deployed was first used on aircraft in Afghanistan, then was installed on Predators in Iraq starting about a year ago. Officials said introduction of the devices coincided with the 2007 U.S. troop buildup in Iraq, and was an important, but hitherto unknown, factor in the subsequent drop in violence there.
The technology allows suspects to be identified quickly. "All I have to do is point the sensor at him," said a military officer familiar with the system, "and a missile can be off the rail in seconds."
