Article

Cyberwar and unmanned aerial vehicles : using new technologies, from espionage to action

Jessica A. Feil

• Case Western Reserve journal of international law, Vol. 45, no. 1, 2012, p. 513-544

English

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American military and civilian national security agencies are frontrunners in developing cybertools that will help keep soldiers and operatives safe and provide a tactical advantage. These cyberweapons have been in development for decades. Some policymakers and academics call for new regulation or even prohibition of cyberweapons, both domestically and internationally. Such regulation would be short-sighted and reactionary. Cyberweapons offer significant range of utility. Properly written computer code ensures targets and goals are met accurately. New technologies offer precision unknown in previous weaponry. Cyberweapons are not the only new technology generating concern. Unmanned aerial vehicles are similarly critiqued. The American government has provided more expansive legal justifications for drone campaigns abroad. The public information available about drone campaigns sheds light on how cyberweapons will fit into the twenty-first century national security universe.

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