The drone dilemma.

• Author: Singer, Peter
• Position: OPINION

Safely out of harm's way, and sometimes thousands of miles from their targets, American pilots and C.I.A. officers use joysticks and computer screens to fly drones into places like Pakistan or Yemen to strike Islamic militants bent on killing Americans. From the start, the use of these unmanned aircraft has raised questions about the ethics of fighting wars as if they were video games. In this essay, Peter W. Singer questions whether drone warfare is eroding one of the most important powers Congress has--to declare war--and whether that undermines our democracy.

Just 10 years ago, the idea of using armed robots in war was the stuff of Hollywood fantasy. Today, the U.S. military has more than 7,000 unmanned aerial systems, popularly called drones.

Last year, these drones carried out hundreds of strikes in six countries (see box), transforming the way our democracy deliberates on and engages in war.

In democracies like ours, there have always been deep bonds between the public and its wars. Citizens have historically participated in decisions to take military action through their elected representatives, helping to ensure broad support for wars and a willingness to share the costs, both human and economic.

The U.S. Constitution explicitly divides the president's role as commander in chief in war from the role of Congress in declaring war. Yet this division is now under siege as a result of a technology our Founding Fathers couldn't have imagined.

For the first 200 years of American democracy, combat and risk--both personal and political--went hand in hand. In the age of drones, that's no longer so.

We don't have a draft anymore; less than 0.5 percent of Americans over the age of 18 serve in the active-duty military. We do not declare war anymore; the last time Congress actually did so was in World War II. We don't buy war bonds or pay war taxes anymore.

And now we have a technology that removes the last political barriers to war. With drones, we don't have to send someone's son or daughter into harm's way. But when politicians can avoid the political consequences of the condolence letter--and the impact that military casualties have on voters and on the news media--they no longer treat matters of war and peace the same way.

Killing a Radical Cleric

In 2011, drones carried out strikes from Afghanistan to Somalia. Last September, a drone strike in Yemen killed Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen and a radical cleric who preached jihad, or holy...