In an effort to respond to President Barack Obama's calls for constructive new approaches to thinking about drones (also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs), the Stimson Center created a 10-member task force on US drone policy.
The task force members include:
- Gen. John Abizaid (Co-Chair)
- Rosa Brooks (Co-Chair)
- Lt. Gen. David Barno
- John Bellinger III
- Lincoln Bloomfield Jr.
- Mary Cummings
- Janine Davidson
- Peter Lichtenbaum
- Philip Mudd
- Jeffrey Smith
The report notes that the US does not have a monopoly on UAV technologies nor an ability to predict all potential countermeasures. The think tank report goes on to say that there is reason to fear the rapid and uncontrolled proliferation of UAV technology developed in other countries, along with a rapid evolution of technologies designed to counter UAVs.
The Task Force says that it is concerned about the Obama Administration's heavy reliance on targeted killings as a pillar of US counterterrorism strategy, and says that strategy risks increasing instability and escalating conflicts around the globe.
Here is what The New York Times said about the drone report. Here is the Council on Foreign Relation's (CFRs) take on the report. Here is UPI's reporting on the think tank report. Here is what The Guardian has to say. Here is The Washington Post's take. Here is what the Acton Institute had to say. And here is Politico's take. Here is what The Wall Street Journal had to say.
