Radio Smart Talk: Drones — Friend or Foe?

Today’s Radio Smart Talk program originally scheduled to highlight waste in U.S. healthcare spending had to be postponed this morning. In its place, witf rebroadcast an earlier program on the use of drones in military missions.We will work to get the healthcare spending segment rescheduled for later this month.

Radio Smart Talk for Monday, February 4 (repeat of January 2 program)

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) or drones, as they are more often called, has become of the weapon of choice for the U.S. to destroy enemy targets in Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Actually, the drones themselves deliver the bombs and missiles that do the damage while being controlled thousands of miles away. To some, a drone strike looks very much like what one would see while playing a video game.

That’s the dilemma for many. Does targeting and killing the enemy through a technology that doesn’t give that enemy an opportunity to fight back cross some sort of moral boundary? What if an opponent develops a drone and uses it on the U.S.? Or do the drones do what they’re supposed to do and destroy the enemy while minimizing American casualties?

Dr. Jay Parrish, a professor of geospatial intelligence at Penn State University, will appear on Wednesday’s program to address “Drones: Friend or Foe?”

Dr. Parrish will also discuss how drones are and will be used in peaceful settings.

Listen to the program: {mp3remote}http://witf.vo.llnwd.net/o35/smarttalk/radiosmarttalk/RST_January022013.mp3{/mp3remote}