Understanding the Loop: Regulating the Next Generation of War Machines 36 Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy 2013

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36 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol'y 1139 (2013)
Understanding the Loop: Regulating the Next Generation of War Machines

handle is hein.journals/hjlpp36 and id is 1163 raw text is: UNDERSTANDING THE Loop:
REGULATING THE NEXT GENERATION OF
WAR MACHINES
WILLIAM C. MARRA* & SONIA K. MCNEIL*
INTRODUCTION: AUTOMATION AND
A UTONOMY ......................................................... 1140
I. MACHINE FUNCTIONING AND THE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AUTONOMY AND
A UTOM ATION ...................................................... 1144
A. Understanding the Loop: OODA
and How Machines Work ......................... 1144
FIGURE 1-Boyd's OODA Loop ..................... 1146
B. Toward a Distinction Between
Autonomy and Automation ............. 1149
1. The First Attribute of Autonomy:
Frequency of Operator Interaction ..... 1152
2. The Second Attribute of Autonomy:
Tolerance for Environmental
U ncertainty ............................................ 1153
3. The Third Attribute of Autonomy:
Level of Assertiveness .......................... 1154
C. The Autonomy Spectrum ........................... 1155
II. DRONE WARFARE: YESTERDAY, TODAY,
AND TOM ORROW ....................................................... 1160
A. Yesterday's Drones ..................................... 1160
B. Today's D rones ............................................ 1165
1. A erial D rones ......................................... 1167
* Law Clerk, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit; J.D. 2012,
Harvard Law School.
** Law Clerk, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; J.D. 2012,
Harvard Law School.
The authors thank Kenneth Anderson, Gabriella Blum, Jack Goldsmith, Troy
Jones, Jana Schwartz, Benjamin Wittes, and Juan Zarate for their helpful com-
ments and conversations. All views and errors are the authors' own.