Why I won't work on drone program again, ever.

Imagine being a technician in the drone program of the U.S. Air Force -- and then becoming a whistleblower.

That's the experience of Cian Westmoreland, who has been awarded the first Drone Whistleblower Fellowship of the RootsAction Education Fund.

Cian is now doing extensive research and speaking out for alternatives to drone warfare. It's essential work that has taken him to many countries this summer -- and he's just getting started.

To support Cian's vital work as a drone whistleblower, and to strengthen the Drone Whistleblower Fellowship program, please click here.

"Last month," Cian writes, "I sent out a request for support of my endeavors in going forward with my whistleblowing. To all of you who responded, I give my utmost thanks."

He adds:

"When we speak about drones, we are not only speaking of the aircraft itself, but the hyper manned infrastructure that spans the globe to do what it is ultimately tasked to do, which is to kill individuals with total impunity and in total secrecy, often times in undeclared war zones.

"For the people living under drones, the persistent hover of this technology over their homes and families who constantly have to guess whether or not that drone will fire at them in error, because they unknowingly ran into a person who was targeted at a market, is terrifying."

Cian worked on the U.S. drone program in Afghanistan. Now he says: "When people who are not actively engaged in combat are afraid to meet at a tribal jirga, which for centuries has been their method of civil governance in tribal lands, it destroys cultures and societies. For those living under drones, what the United States has chosen as their most ‘humanitarian weapon’ is terrorism of the sort that not any of our allied nations have ever been forced to endure."

At the RootsAction Education Fund, we're proud to be working with Cian Westmoreland. But his international efforts as the first Drone Whistleblower Fellow can only continue with support from people who share his values and sense of urgency. You can help now by making a tax-deductible donation to sustain this fellowship.

As Cian says about the areas where the U.S. is conducting drone attacks, "Generations of young people in these regions will know nothing else of the United States than the worst of our culture and the persistent terror they experienced on a daily basis. As several U.S. generals have acknowledged, there are more 'terrorists' today than when we started droning people.

"So perhaps we should see what the real damage has been? In July, the president of the United States finally released an official count of the numbers of civilians killed outside of areas of active hostilities -- an astonishing 64-112. Perhaps you shared our outrage, as many of us could count 64-112 civilians from a handful of drone strikes.

"The report was a face-saving gesture, because the U.S. government does not actually know how many civilians have died. This information is lost through the language used to define civilians, the limitations in metadata, the fact that many individuals killed aren't even registered to ID them, and the filter of authorities making calls to protect themselves from scrutiny."

Unblinking scrutiny of the drone program and the war policies behind it is what the Drone Whistleblower Fellowship is all about. The Fellowship can continue and get stronger if you help with a tax-deductible contribution now.

"In the last few months," Cian writes, "colleagues and I have traveled to London, Oslo, Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney to share our experiences and knowledge -- with politicians, educators, the technical communities, activist groups, journalists, and concerned citizens. Our presentations have shed light on what drone warfare entails for their nations, how their governments are complicit, and what they can do to help us to make the decision to use lethal force from a drone no longer politically expedient.

"The ways in which we choose to treat this issue -- to include interlocking issues like surveillance, artificial intelligence, automation, and the privatization of our intelligence and military apparatuses -- will be the linchpin that will determine our fate as a nation and a global community for decades to come."

And Cian adds:

"A general rule is that all war technology finds its way back home. We are already seeing this play out within our police forces, and there's a keen interest in military robots at this time.

"The cultural arrogance that has lead our governments into thinking that we can win wars by bombing people and playing half-finished games of human chess is leading us toward a world where a few own all the wealth, our military and intelligence personnel are bought and sold on the stock market, and robots will one day protect whomever the highest bidder is.

"It's really up to us to prevent this nightmare from happening; by 'us' I mean anyone who reads this.

"We need to create strong networks of individuals from the technical, political, media, and activist domains for an effective critical mass. We need to unite. We need to strategize, and devise methodical approaches to push this issue forward. We need to recognize all points of leverage at our disposal and creatively and constructively utilize them.

"As the late great Martin Luther King once said, 'Those who love Peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love War.' This is timeless advice we should all meditate on thoroughly.

"Thank you all for the energy you have put into this. Just know that it does not go in vain, and that we can win.

"Peace and Solidarity,
Cian"

Please help Cian Westmoreland as the first recipient of the Drone Whistleblower Fellowship:
https://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/6503/p/salsa/donation/common/public/?donate_page_KEY=10855