The future of US drone policy: A conversation with International Law Professor Mary Ellen O’Connell

Mary Ellen O’Connell, the University of Notre Dame’s Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law and Research Professor of International Dispute Resolution in the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, is a longtime outspoken critic of drone strikes, calling them a grave violation of international law.  

O’Connell is the author of “Forever Air Wars and the Lawful Purpose of Self-Defence,” “The Crisis in Ukraine” and “Seductive Drones: Learning from a Decade of Lethal Operations,” co-author of “Self-Defence Against Non-State Actors” and editor of “What is War?” She has served as a professional military educator for the U.S. Department of Defense and chair of the International Law Association’s Committee on the Use of Force.