Since 9/11, the U.S. has used armed drones to combat terrorists. Bush initiated the use of strikes; Obama accelerated the practice, especially in Pakistan; and, Trump institutionalized it further. Biden’s “over-the-horizon” counterterrorism strategy suggests he will also continue to rely on strikes. At the same time, other states and stateless actors, including France and the Islamic State, have acquired drones indicating the emergence of a “second drone age.”

What are the implications of the evolving proliferation of drones for international security and global order? How do these consequences, in turn, shape policies to manage the emergence of automated and autonomous remote-warfare technologies? This panel discussion draws on the insights of three experts to answer these and related questions, including:

Mr. John Brennan, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency;Professor Amy Zegart from the Hoover Institute at Stanford University; and,U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Paul Lushenko, a General Andrew Jackson Goodpaster Scholar at Cornell University.This discussion will be moderated by Professor Sarah E. Kreps, the John L. Wetherill Professor at the Department of Government, and hosted by Congressman Steve Israel, Director of the Institute of Politics and Global Affairs at the Brooks School of Public Policy.

This event is a collaboration between the Brooks School of Public Policy, Cornell Tech Policy Lab, the Institute of Politics and Global Affairs, and the Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies.