“Drones lower the threshold through which civilian policymakers will decide to use military force outside of borders, undoubtedly. The United States would not have attacked Pakistan 350 times with manned aircraft or with special operations forces. So drones are distinctly different…Now, the number of countries that have drones has almost doubled, from 40 to 75 from 2005 to today. The number of actual programs have more than quintupled. Arming a drone is harder than you think, so the number of countries who have this capability is still quite limited. The United States and perhaps Israel, the only countries to ever use armed drones outside of their territory. But it is inevitable that other countries will use this.”
— Micah Zenko of the Council on Foreign Relations, speaking Mar. 1 on the future of drones.
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