Drones and the Promise of Legal War

Drones both embody and threaten the promise of legal war. On the one hand, drones offer the possibility of realizing one of the core objectives of the laws of war: to direct lethal force only against combatants while, at the same time, protecting civilians. On the other hand, for those living in areas where drones are deployed, their use suggests a profound sense of vulnerability; an emerging reality in which distant powers act with impunity, watching those they choose and then projecting deadly force against targets selected based on hidden criteria. This challenges the broad moral and legal vision of the laws of war to create a mutually reinforcing sense of order among multiple parties to a conflict with the goal of jointly limiting the brutality and destruction of warfare.

Discussions about the ethics and legality of drone deployment are often criticisms of larger US policies rather than reflections on the particular challenges raised by this emerging technology. For example, critics commonly focus on the numbers of civilians killed by drones. However, the serious legal and moral issues of mistaken targeting or collateral damage are no more significant whether attacks are conducted by drones or a manned aircraft (and there is evidence that drone use minimizes this harm). Others focus on the illegality of drone deployment outside of clearly defined war zones, such as in Northern Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. Again, this important legal and strategic question is the same regardless of whether the attacks are conducted by drones, fighter jets, missiles, bombers, or other military technologies. Where public discussion fails to engage the unique challenges posed by drones, it draws attention away from the debates that we need now, while this emerging military technology is in its early stages of development and deployment.