June 05, 2025
Episode 1: The Hand Behind Unmanned – America’s Quest for Autonomous War
What are unmanned weapons and where did America’s quest for autonomy begin? The answer takes us back to the birthplace of the country and David Bushnell’s famed kegs of floating gunpowder then to the Civil War when, first Confederate and then Union generals experimented with land and naval mines and tethered torpedoes, and finally, how the invention of aircraft, the radio, and two World Wars ushered in a new age of autonomy. Paul Scharre, executive vice president at the Center for a New American Security, joins the conversation.
Listen to the full episode on Hoover Institution.
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