Comment paper 6

It seems more often than not that the biggest issue related to drones and many other technological advances in warfare is the lack of information provided and gathered by the government and the public alike.  Drones are debated wildly for their role in civilian deaths, however when one may try to research this topic, there are a wide array of varying opinions and statistics.  More so the long-term effect of using such technology is even more ambiguous.  The present problem is the lack of knowledge by both parties.  The government will not release certain information to the general public, while some issues have not even begun to be researched.  I feel this is a redundant topic; looking back at my previous post, I am still in accordance that the government has simply not been able to keep up and adapt with the rapid expansion of these new technologies and their implications.  Rather than imposing new sanctions, laws, and guidelines, high ranking government officials, including the President, have taken it upon themselves to make executive decisions.  However this is a fundamental problem, as it does not let the proper ways of the three-branch system of our government to function. 

An example of the discrepancies between information is demonstrated in the article “Fear the Reaper”. 

“According to its founder, Pakistani computer scientist Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani, the resulting numbers suggest civilians account for 88 percent of all drone-strike deaths in Pakistan since 2004.  But the New America Foundation's similar dataset, complied by analysts Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann, shows drastically different results. They too rely on news reports, but they estimate the civilian fatality rate to be only 20 percent on average since 2004.” 

How are we to make any informed hypothesis about drones if we receive such a wide array of “facts”?  The main concerns that arise are civilian casualties as well as detachment; however neither have been studied intricately or at least not provided publically.  The lack of knowledge about drone strikes stems from ignorance as well as governmental overlook when dealing with their effects and methods.  The government needs to first address the problems with drones and then provide guidelines and conditions on how they can be used, otherwise their use will continue to rise without precedent.