By Dan Gettinger The South Korean government is warning its citizens to be on the lookout for any North Korean drones. The Center for the Study of the Drone acquired photographs of signs posted near the Demilitarized Zone that warn local residents that North Korean drones have trespassed south before …
The Drone Primer: A Compendium of the Key Issues is a free, one-stop, handbook addressing the basic and fundamental questions around drones in all their contexts, from foreign theaters of war to domestic civilian use. This basic report covers technology, history, strategy, law, and culture, and includes a portfolio of drone …
By Dan Gettinger Like many public safety departments across the country, the St. Louis County Police Department owns a robot. It is a small, unmanned ground vehicle that is used for bomb disposal. It was acquired through the Department of Defense 1033 Program that transfers used military equipment to local …
A version of this story originally appeared on Motherboard – Vice and MuckRock By Shawn Musgrave The Federal Bureau of Investigation has had an eager eye on surveillance drones since first experimenting with remote control airplanes in 1995. But budget cuts nearly ended the Bureau’s unmanned plans in 2010, and …
By Arthur Holland Michel Young Drones, a new graphic novel rock opera showing this weekend at Lower Ossington Theatre in Toronto, is the story of two (presumably rather advanced) unmanned aerial vehicles that quit their jobs patrolling the Alberta tar sands in pursuit of a simpler life. “They fall in …
By Marcel LaFlamme It wasn’t Beau’s finest hour. In the closing minutes of a session on drone warfare at New York University’s Drones and Aerial Robotics Conference last fall, the self-described technologist stood up to ask what was, to put it charitably, an inelegant question. Journalist and filmmaker Madiha …
By Dan Gettinger On April 2, 2014, Army Specialist Ivan Lopez opened fire on his colleagues at Fort Hood, Texas, killing three people before turning the gun on himself. The mass shooting, the second at Fort Hood in the past five years, focused attention nationwide on the difficulties that U.S. …
By Alex Pasternack Dianne Feinstein has a bone to pick with drones, especially since she confronted one on her own lawn. “I’m in my home and there’s a demonstration out front, and I go to peek out the window, and there’s a drone facing me,” the California Democratic senator recalled to …
By Zachary Israel Officials who served in George Bush’s administration have been both critical and supportive of President Obama’s use of drones for targeted killing in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. The Bush administration was subjected to much criticism and controversy over its use of indefinite detention, extraordinary rendition and torture …
By Dan Gettinger On April 20, 2008, a Russian MiG fighter shot down a Georgian unmanned surveillance drone over Abkhazia, a separatist region that declared independence in 1999 and maintained a close allegiance to the Kremlin. In response to what it called an “unprovoked aggression,” Georgian troops were deployed to …
By Jared Rankin Though it remains technologically and politically fraught, the vision of a domestic dronespace has been fast tracked for legislation by 2015. It is by now obvious, and much commented-upon, that the introduction of sensor-laden drones into national airspace has serious implications for privacy rights. Many have voiced …
This is a transcript of “Rules of Engagement: The Legal, Ethical and Moral Challenges of the Long War,” a collaboration between the Center for the Study of the Drone and Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. The panel: Charles A. Blanchard, former General Counsel, U.S. Air Force; former chief …
