Armed unmanned aerial vehicles—combat drones—have fundamentally altered the ways the United States conducts military operations aimed at countering insurgent and terrorist organizations. Drone technology is on track to become an increasingly important part of the country’s arsenal, as numerous unmanned systems are in development and will likely enter service in the future. Concerned citizens, academics, journalists, nongovernmental organizations, and policymakers have raised questions about the ethical consequences of drones and issued calls for their military use to be strictly regulated. This level of concern is evidence that the future of drone warfare not only hinges on technical innovations, but also on careful analysis of the moral and political dimensions of war. The use of UAVs made survey participants more likely to support initiating a war, and this was consistent across four principal policy objectives that were the cause for war: counterterrorism, humanitarian intervention, foreign policy restraint, and internal political change.  Military strategists, analysts, American civilians, and drone technology manufacturers may be interested in this study. Students pursuing coursework in military science, technology innovation, and warfare ethics may want a copy of this volume for continued research on this topic.

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Rethinking the Drone War : National Security, Legitimacy, and Civilian Casualties in U.S. Counter-terrorism Operations is available here:  https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01213-0

Lethal and Legal? The Ethics of Drone Strikes can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01176-1

Terrorist and Insurgent Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Use, Potentials, and Military Implications can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01199-1
 

MARCUS SCHULZKE is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the School of Politics and International Studies at the University of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. He has published research on the morality of drone warfare, moral decision-making in combat, and just war theory for such journals as Political Studies, The Journal of Military Ethics, and Philosophy and Technology.  Dr. Schulzke holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University at Albany, NY, with a dissertation on how soldiers make ethical decisions during counterinsurgency operations.
 
JAMES IGOE WALSH is Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, NC.  His research interests include the military and political consequences of advanced weapons, links between natural resources and conflict, and intelligence and national security. His work has been supported by the Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Science Foundation, and the Minerva Research Initiative. Dr. Walsh is the author of The International Politics of Intelligence Sharing, published by Columbia University Press, New York, and was named an Outstanding Title by Choice. Dr. Walsh holds a Ph.D. in international relations from American University.