Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

John Owen Brennan the 57 year old American chief counterterrorism advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama whose responsibilities include overseeing plans to protect the country from terrorism and respond to natural disasters has been nominated to fill the position of CIA Director on the resignation of General Petraeus resulting from his affair with his biographer. In an article published in Wired titled ‘If You Thought Obama’s Drone Godfather Was Powerful, Wait ‘Til He’s at the CIA’ Spencer Ackerman and Noah Shachtman states “If confirmed by the Senate to lead the CIA, John Brennan … will be clothed in immense power. He’s already an architect of the CIA’s accelerated counterterrorism campaign, the one that launches drone strikes at suspected terrorists around the world. From his perch at the White House, Brennan has been a major advocate for the CIA, perhaps more effectively than the men running Langley, thanks to his close relationship with Obama. …By putting Brennan at the CIA and former Senator Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon, Obama’s national security predilections come into focus: aggressive but secretive wars with minimal troop and logistics footprints, matched with winding down the long slog in Afghanistan. …Brennan suddenly looks like the most powerful member of Obama’s national security team. Hagel looks like he may face a tough confirmation fight, and in any event is new to the Pentagon, a management challenge like no other. …“Brennan is The Guy now,” Zegart notes. “There’s no more important asset, coming into the head of the agency, than having that kind of trust of the president. Brennan is possibly unique in that respect: I can’t remember an incoming CIA director with that kind of relationship with the president.””

Inspired by Spencer Ackerman and Noah Shachtman, Wired ow.ly/gGS16 Image source White House ow.ly/gGROp

Spencer Ackerman the American national security reporter and blogger has published an article on Wired titled ‘Pentagon: A Human Will Always Decide When a Robot Kills You’. In the article Ackerman states “The Pentagon wants to make perfectly clear that every time one of its flying robots releases its lethal payload, it’s the result of a decision made by an accountable human being in a lawful chain of command. Human rights groups and nervous citizens fear that technological advances in autonomy will slowly lead to the day when robots make that critical decision for themselves. But according to a new policy directive issued by a top Pentagon official, there shall be no SkyNet, thank you very much. …the Pentagon wants to make sure that there isn’t a circumstance when one of the military’s many Predators, Reapers, drone-like missiles or other deadly robots effectively automatizes the decision to harm a human being. The hardware and software controlling a deadly robot needs to come equipped with “safeties, anti-tamper mechanisms, and information assurance.” The design has got to have proper “human-machine interfaces and controls.” And, above all, it has to operate “consistent with commander and operator intentions and, if unable to do so, terminate engagements or seek additional human operator input before continuing the engagement.” If not, the Pentagon isn’t going to buy it or use it. …Human Rights Watch…among the most influential non-governmental institutions in the world, issued a report warning that new developments in drone autonomy represented the demise of established “legal and non-legal checks on the killing of civilians.” Its solution: “prohibit the “development, production, and use of fully autonomous weapons through an international legally binding instrument.”

Inspired by Wired ow.ly/fS3oZ image source Wikipedia ow.ly/fS3eB