On the other side of the globe, an armed drone hovers above a suspected suicide bomber's home, poised and ready to fire its missiles.
Elsewhere, superior officers lean back in plush leather armchairs - watching the drama unfold through widescreen TVs - prepared to sign off the attack.
These are, of course, scenes from an intense Hollywood blockbuster, Eye in the Sky, starring Aaron Paul, Helen Mirren and the late Alan Rickman.