August 22, 2018

Resisting Magical Thinking: Drones and National Security

By Loren DeJonge Schulman

In the latest episode of FPRI’s Back Channel, Templeton Fellows Ron Granieri, Dominic Tierney, and Nada Bakos welcome special guest Loren DeJonge Schulman, Deputy Director of Studies and Leon E. Panetta Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Schulman is also co-Host of the bi-weekly Bombshell Podcast at War on the Rocks and the author of a fascinating new report for CNAS entitled: “Behind The Magical Thinking: Lessons from Policymaker Relationships with Drones.” The program begins with a conversation between Bakos and Schulman on the background and implications of her work, followed by a discussion among the Templeton Fellows about the continuing challenges of relating technology to policy. Building on Schulman’s warnings about “magical thinking,” the conversation addresses the dangers of assuming that any form of warfare can be considered bloodless or cost-free, or of assuming that technology can save policy makers from the moral and practical burdens of strategic thinking. The show concludes with the three Templeton Fellows discussing not only current issues they think deserve greater public attention but also the books, movies, and television programs that currently interest and inspire them.


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