editor's corner.

• Author: Ervin, Sandra J.
• Position: US military and the 'war on drugs' - Brief Article - Editorial

The ongoing national debate surrounding U.S. military participation in the so-called "war on drugs" takes center stage this month.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has hinted that the Defense Department will be working to define the role that the military services should play in this arena. This is highly controversial, because in the war on drugs, the lines between national defense and domestic law enforcement often are blurred.

In a poignant analysis, National Defense contributing writer John J. Stanton explains why many experts believe that the U.S. government has mismanaged the drug-war effort, and why it may undermine the combat readiness of U.S. military forces. Senior U.S. officials also give their side of the story. Stanton's report begins on page 18.

In the realm of defense technology, one high-profile field today is robotics. The Defense Department is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to develop unmanned systems, for ground, air and sea platforms. Among the most visible programs in the services are the Army's and the Navy's tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The Army's Shadow 200 and the Navy's Firescout--specifically the challenges associated with packing lots of advanced sensors on small tactical UAVs--are the subject of a special report by contributing writer Frank Colucci. His story is on page 24. In our editorial package on robotics, we also cover trends in ground-based and underwater unmanned systems.

In our feature on military tactical...