Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, continue to shape how, when, and where the United States conducts military and counterterrorism operations around the world. Yet the United States’ use of armed drones remains controversial, in large part because of ongoing secrecy surrounding the use of lethal drone strikes outside of traditional battlefields and the resulting lack of accountability that often goes hand in hand with the absence of transparency. Currently, the U.S. drone program rests on indistinct frameworks and an approach to drone strikes based on U.S. exceptionalism. Ambiguity surrounding U.S. drone policy has contributed to enduring questions about the legality, efficacy, and legitimacy of the U.S. drone program. The United States has an opportunity to be a leader on developing appropriate policy frameworks to guide the transfer and use of armed drones and setting a responsible international precedent, but current efforts undermine existing international law and practice.
The Drones project seeks to ensure that U.S. drone policy and practice is responsible and transparent and serves as a useful benchmark in the pursuit of appropriate international standards to guide drone transfers and use in ways that do not weaken current international norms.
Since 9/11 the United States has assumed broad authority to lethally target people around the world in perpetuity and in secret, with limited oversight, and even more limited accountability
September 13, 2021
The Biden administration has an opportunity to shift course, to change the U.S. approach so that it centers human rights and commitments to the rule of law, and to lead in setting a responsible international standard for the use of force abroad.
May 18, 2021
As the Biden administration reviews policies for use of lethal force outside war zones, it must be certain it’s not perpetuating a cycle of “forever wars.”
May 10, 2021
For 20 years, people suspected of terrorism have been targeted and killed by U.S. airstrikes and lethal counterterrorism operations.
May 5, 2021
The U.S. drone program demonstrated and enabled a willingness to use lethal force in counterterrorism operations, and that willingness has come to define U.S. engagements in the world for a generation.
April 29, 2021
The U.S. needs to make export decisions based on what is in its best interests – which are not solely limited to economic opportunity.
June 25, 2020
Ensuring U.S. policy on drones sets the standard for drone transfers and use around the world.
February 11, 2020
An Opportunity for the United States to set the standard for the transfers and use of armed drones around the world.
February 4, 2020
Copyright The Henry L. Stimson Center