Student Sean Blomgren explores the question: What place should drones have in US military strategy?
Editor’s Note: Current student, Sean Blomgren, wrote this piece about the use of drones in the US military. He is a student in Steve Niva’s program, Transforming the Art of War: From Industrial to Asymmetric Warfare, and Beyond, which recently hosted a campus forum, Drone Warfare: Home and Abroad exploring this issue.
Republicans who were outraged by November’s presidential election results have some unlikely intellectual bedfellows: Pakistanis. However the anger some Pakistanis feel comes from a much different place. It comes from their first-hand experience with drones or unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). “The same person [Barack Obama] who attacked my home has gotten re-elected,” said Mohammad Rehman Khan in a Reuters article about drone victims in Pakistan.
Drones are a transformational technology for the US military and CIA: they can be sent into dangerous, distant areas to carry out precise attacks on hostile militants without danger to US military personnel. They can operate for long periods, monitor suspected terrorists, and even launch precision guided missiles in assassination attempts.
Since President Obama’s first election in 2008, the use of drones has become “the centerpiece of a global U.S. counterterrorism campaign” according to Spencer Ackermen’s recent article in WIRED. Over the past four years, the direction of the “War On Terror” has changed from large military operations, to one characterized by targeted drone strikes and, to a lesser extent, the use of special forces such as the operation that killed Osama Bin Laden. These operations are reportedly taking place in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya to pursue terrorists and militants who are believed to be a threat to the United States.
Issues arise as our military employs these drone strikes. Civilian casualties and the sense of a violation of national sovereignty incite anti-U.S. sentiment that may fuel some unintended consequences. For instance the tribal region of al-Majala in Yemen became a haven for Al-Qaeda militants following a strike that killed 14 women and 21 children. In addition to deep concerns about civilians and national sovereignty, some strategists worry that drone strikes may produce effects that are counter to US interests.
Readers: What do you think? Should drones have a place in US military strategy and foreign policy?