Drone Wars

The recalibration of the "War on Terror" has significant implications for the CIA drone program, whose legal justification relies in good measure on the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). If the AUMF were to expire when US combat troops leave Afghanistan at the end of 2014, future drone strikes could only occur while responding to some kind of "imminent" threat to the US and under the president's authority as Commander-in-Chief. Here, Bergen and Rowland examine the dramatic acceleration in the use of drones under George W. Bush and Barack Obama.