All I want for Christmas is a drone.

Not really. But it is the hot item of our times. Nearly every day we see another news story about a drone. Amazon owner Jeff Bezos wants to use drones for home deliveries. So does Google. Martha Stewart loves hers. Photographers see the world from a whole new perspective offering realtors, artists, developers, farmers,and scientists literally a bird’s eye view.

And then there are those for military use.

The Predator drone flew over Afghanistan for the first time on September 7, 2000. The unmanned, unarmed plane buzzed over Tarnak Farms, a major al Qaeda camp. The U.S. says the video footage was necessary for counter terrorism. According to the Council of Foreign Relations, the first known killing by an armed drone occurred on November 2001, taking the life of al Qaeda’s military commander, Muhammad Atef, in retaliation of the September 11 attacks on the U.S.

The possibilities are endless, and there’s no turning back with these remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicles that raise a number of questions in regards to security, safety, and privacy. Who knows what the future will bring with a sky full of drones buzzing overhead?

©2014, Mary K. Doyle