Alex Anzeveno
Comp Per.4
Mr. Klein
April 15, 2016

Should the United States Continue Its Use of Drone Strikes Abroad?

The use of drones in the world has been known for some time now. Almost every country to this has day has acquired or has the technological advantages to industrialize these machines. There has always been a problem with should we send troops or not. Send missiles from home to our enemies. But now we send unmanned aerial vehicles or UAV’s that have no effect on American lives but cause chaos anywhere else. Here is the real issue. Should the United States continue to use drones, despite their long-term consequences, or should America deny itself the short-term effectiveness that drones provide? There is little question that armed UAVs are good at their job that is killing terrorists. Over 3,000 extremist operatives have been killed by drones since President Obama took office. However, the same tool that notices today’s terrorist seems to create the terrorist of tomorrow. Any supporter of drone use needs to recognize this reality, and opponents need to understand that drones offer strategic advantages that other means of addressing imminent threats do not. Many will ask what the victims did to deserve such an unexpected and fierce attack. The answer is simply that they were members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda and the U.S. government felt that they were too big of a threat to national security. Many argue that such a decision is best left to the courts and should not be entertained by the executive branch. They say that using drones is a violation of rights like due process and stops them from having their day in court. I believe that drones do far greater good than evil. Drones protect us. They are not a threat to a law abiding citizen and in this increasingly technological age drones are a necessity to protect such citizens. Many fail to realize the process that goes into selecting a target. Agencies debate for hours over whether a person is dangerous enough to need to be taken out. It is not a light decision. Those who are taken out pose an imminent threat to the United States safety. Drones reduce the risk to soldiers, are cheaper to use, and are extremely effective in reducing terrorism. Drones should continue to be used by the U.S. to take out terrorists, thereby protecting the country’s national security.
Contrary to popular belief these drones are not a new tool on the market. Unmanned aircrafts have been in use dating back to 1849 when the Austrians launched balloons mounted with bombs to attack the city of Venice. Since then drones have become increasingly more sophisticated. The invention of Elmer Sperry’s automatic gyroscopic stabilizer opened the way to radio controlled drones in the early 1920’s. The drone world was revolutionized in the 1980’s by Abraham Kareem, who built the “Albatross” drone that managed to stay in the air for fifty six hours (Sifton). This was quite an improvement from previous drones, which often crashed on missions. This success lead to funding from the military, which inevitably lead to better drones until the Predator drone, which is currently in use, was built. In 1995 the U.S. Air Force established itsu first squadron of these UAV’s, although their main use was still almost exclusively for surveillance. In 2001 these drones were successfully equipped with Hellfire missiles, giving the U.S. the ability to neutralize terrorist threats from afar. Later that same year, on October 7th, these armed drones were sent to Afghanistan to be used in the war on terror (Shaw). Since then drone activity has increased and the drones themselves have only improved.