Last week, the Daily Beast breathlessly reported an “exclusive” story, alleging that Department of Defense officials admitted that anti-ISIS airstrikes had killed what the Beast characterized as “innocents.” The Beast obviously thought it was on to something big with its “exclusive.” So what number of civilian deaths (out of attacks on more than six thousand …

Famed historian Seymour Butts made a startling discovery in the basement of the Library of Virginia in Richmond: a secret battle plan documenting the second planned usage of unmanned aerial vehicles in American, nay, world history. Yes, the second. This document, a fading post-battle report penned by a certain Colonel Angus, also references the first …

Thirteen years ago today the Predator drone saw its first armed reconnaissance mission in Afghanistan. Since then, the U.S. military drone fleet has grown by leaps and bounds. The U.S. Air Force has scores of Predators and Reapers stationed around the globe 24/7, high-altitude drones like Global Hawk patrol the stratosphere, and the U.S. Army …

After years of widespread use, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become synonymous with the platform’s capability to conduct “hunter killer missions.” That the UAV has both the sensor and the weapon to conduct strikes has shortened the time needed to launch precision strikes, while also removing the risks to human pilots. However, the United States’ …

Two years ago, on the way to a conference, I found myself sitting next to a gender studies professor on the plane. When I told him about my research, he asked: “What gender do you think drones have?” I did not know how to respond at the time, never having asked myself that question and …

JM Berger, Will McCants, and Clint Watts sat down with Ryan Evans at the Jefferson Hotel to talk about a range of subjects related to counter-terrorism. What could be more appropriate for Christmas? Have a listen!   Image: Department of Defense

M. Shane Riza, Killing Without Heart: Limits on Robotic Warfare in an Age of Persistent Conflict (Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2013).   In Killing Without Heart, Colonel M. Shane Riza argues that the use of remotely-piloted and autonomous robots by the US military leads to bloodless engagement (at least on our side), one in which …

A great colleague of mine has a worthy article with strategic implications about the utility of drones in Syria over at the Council on Foreign Relations site. Dr. Audrey Cronin is one top-notch professor of strategy, and teaches at George Mason University (where I took an interdisciplinary graduate degree a few decades ago).  Dr. Cronin’s …

Editor’s note: This is the latest edition of WOTR’s #NatSec2016 email newsletter.  If you want to get it delivered straight to your inbox each week, sign up here!   Finally. Bernie Sanders is feeling his own “bern.” Especially after a win in Wisconsin, his fourth in a row, Sanders is now speaking a lot more on …

Most defense policy watchers have heard of it. They know it is coming. And while it is the kind of thing many Pentagon officials, military leaders, and members of Congress might wish to ignore, it will be here before they know it. “It,” of course, is the modernization “bow wave” the U.S. military will encounter …

Is the CIA’s targeted killing campaign the “most precise and effective application of firepower in the history of armed conflict”? Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, former director of both the CIA and the NSA, argued exactly that in The New York Times earlier this year. While Hayden might be right, he elides a number of significant …

Turkey is experiencing a wave of terror violence, linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). These two non-state actors are also at war inside Syria, where the PKK’s Syrian affiliate, the PYD, is currently waging an effective offensive to take territory from ISIL in northern …

After more than a year of speeches, debate, and discussion (much of it curated here at War on the Rocks), the recent fiscal year 2017 (FY17) budget submission finally provides facts with which to evaluate the Pentagon’s so-called third offset strategy. After examining the portfolio of investments and initiatives identified by the Department of Defense, …

In Washington, it’s a term that sends shivers down policymakers’ spines — often invoked to describe an unknown or undesirable alternative to a policy that is problematic and often overly idealistic, yet that officials nonetheless desperately want to succeed. In 2007, soon after U.S. authorities had announced a high-stakes troop surge in Iraq, a group …

The Iraqi Army defenders of Ramadi had held their dusty, stony ground for over a year and become familiar with the increasing adeptness of their opponents waving black flags. At first, these Iraqi Army units simply faced sprayed rifle fire, but then it was well-placed sniper rounds that forced these weary units to keep under …