Chris Woods: America's Secret Drone Wars

Chris Woods, an investigative reporter who has specialized in covering drone warfare, will address the Los Angeles World Affairs Council over dinner on May 5th on how the Predator and other unmanned aerial vehicles are changing the face of modern war. Woods will talk about how the development of drone technology on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan/Pakistan has transformed US military tactics. He will also discuss the impact drones have had on other foreign conflicts where they have been used, and the political debates over how and when drones should be used.

There has been a steep increase in the use of drones by the US under the Obama administration, and an accompanying level of criticism that drone warfare can be counter-productive to US interests, particularly if civilians are seen to be victims of the strikes. In 2013, the Obama administration revisited its policy on drones to call for increased oversight of their use in order to reduce civilian casualties. There is also growing concern that the acquisition of drone technology by other nations – and non-state actors like ISIS – will lead to dangerous new forms of confrontation around the world. Already drones have become standard fixtures in thriller writers’ plots.

Woods, a former senior BBC producer, has written extensively about covert US drone warfare. His work has taken him from the militant-controlled hills of Waziristan in Pakistan to the urban battlefields of Iraq and to the conflict zones of Israel and the Palestinian territories. He was recently awarded the prestigious Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism for his investigative work on drones.

For more information: http://www.lawac.org/EventDetail/tabid/103/eventid/30292/Default.aspx