There was more attention this week to the ethical debate surrounding America’s use of weaponized drones in the war on terror. The discussion came amid a Senate intelligence committee confirmation hearing for John Brennan, nominated to be the next head of the CIA. Brennan helped lead the Obama administration’s largely secret drone program. A leaked memo revealed the Justice Department’s view that it is legal for the government to kill US citizens overseas if it believes they pose an “imminent threat,” even if there is no evidence of an immediate, specific attack. Some ethicists say that amounts to illegal targeted killings.

PROF. MARY ELLEN O’CONNELL (University of Notre Dame Law School): “They are not the best strategy, they are not ethically right, and they are not morally right.”