DronesCurrent White House drone policy a “slippery slope”: Report

An 81-page report, released last Thursday by The Stimson Center and authored by a bipartisan panel of former intelligence and defense officials, warned that the present targeted drone strike policy could represent a “slippery slope” toward never-ending war.

As theWashington Post reports, the document weighs the costs and benefits of further drone strikes in countries like Yemen and Pakistan, under the present oversight procedures.. The report argues that “A serious counterterrorism strategy needs to consider carefully, and constantly reassess the balance between kinetic action and other counterterrorism tools, and the potential unintended consequences of increased reliance on lethal UAV’s.”

Additionally, retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, formerly the top commander of forces in Afghanistan, was quoted in the report as saying, “The resentment created by American use of unmanned strikes…is much greater than the average American appreciates. They are hated on a visceral level, even by people who’ve never seen one or seen the effects of one.”

The panel also included retired Army General and head of the Central Command John Abizaid, as well as Rosa Brooks, a law professor at Georgetown University, amongst other military and intelligence officials.

Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, defended the practices of the Obama administration, arguing that the administration always complies with U.S. and international law. She said that the White House “is exploring ways we can provide more information about the United States’ use of force in counterterrorism operations outside areas of active hostilities, including information that provides the American people with a better understanding of U.S. assessments of civilian casualties.”

While Obama has acknowledged some of the same problems in a May 2013 speech at the National Defense University, critics still argue that much more oversight and transparency are required, amongst other more long-term psychological issues.

Drones can also be seen as having removed pilots from actual battlefield conditions and that civilian populations must adapt to the ever-present sound of drones overhead.

The report summarized the stance of the panel when concluding that drone operations should always be “having a positive effect on U.S. national security and not trading short-term gains for more negative longer-term strategic consequences.”