While supporters claim that drone warfare is not only legal but ethical and wise, others have suggested that drones are prohibited weapons under International Humanitarian Law (IHL) because they cause, or have the effect of causing, indiscriminate killings of civilians, such as those in the vicinity of a targeted person. The main legal justification made by the Barack Obama Administration for the use of armed drones is self-defense. However, there is ambiguity as to whether this argument can justify a number of recent attacks by the United States.

In order to determine the legality of armed drone strikes, other factors such as sovereignty, proportionality, the legitimacy of individual targets, and the methods used for the selection of targets must also be considered. One justification for the ethical landscape is the reduced amount of collateral damage relative to other forms of strike. Real time eyes on target allow last-minute decisions and monitoring for unintended victims, and precise tracking of the target through multiple systems allows further refinements of proportionality. However, this is of little benefit if the definition of "targets" is, itself, flawed and encompasses noncombatants and unconnected civilians.

This monograph provides a number of specific recommendations attempting to ensure that the benefits of drone warfare are weighed against medium- and long-term second order effects in order to measure whether targeted killings are serving their intended purpose of countering terrorism rather than encouraging and fueling it.

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About the Author: ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SHIMA D. KEENE is a British academic and practitioner specializing in matters relating to national and international security. She is a Director of the Conflict Studies Research Centre, Oxford, as well as Director of the Security Economics Programme at the Institute for Statecraft, London, United Kingdom (UK). Dr. Shima is also a Deployable Civilian Expert (DCE)1 and a member of the UK Government's Civilian Stabilisation Group (CSG)2 specializing in Intelligence and Security Sector Reform which sits under the Security and Justice Function of the CSG. She is a former Senior Research Fellow and Advisor at the Advanced Research and Assessment Group, Defence Academy of the UK, and Special Advisor to the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), where she had responsibility for assessment and recommendations for the development of financial counterinsurgency strategies in Afghanistan. Dr. Keene advises and works closely with several British and international organizations on a number of topics relating to national and international security including the MoD, various UK Government departments and law enforcement agencies, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe, the Global Futures Forum, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), U.S. Government departments and law enforcement agencies, and various global private sector organizations. Dr. Shima has 25 years of practitioner experience in a number of industries to include finance, defense, security, and telecommunications in both the public and private sectors, to include with government departments, law enforcement, telecommunications, and finance. She is also a former British Army reservist soldier with 7 years military service, most of which was spent with 4th Battalion, the Parachute Regiment. Dr. Keene has published numerous internal and external MoD and NATO reports as well as award winning academic journal articles. She is the author of "Threat Finance: Disconnecting the Lifeline of Organized Crime and Terrorism." Dr. Shima graduated from the University of Buckingham with honors in business studies and holds an M.Phil. in defence and security studies from the Defence College of Management and Technology, Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, and a Ph.D. in international criminal law from the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London.