Kenneth Roth to Lecture on Drones and the "War" on Terrorism

PRESS CONTACT: Christine Ferrara, (609) 734-8239

Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, will give a public lecture, “What Rules Should Govern Drones and the Broader ‘War’ on Terrorism?” on Friday, October 18, at 5:00 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute campus.

Roth will discuss how the increasing use of drones has become the most controversial aspect of the U.S. “war” on terrorism—more so than even the failure to close Guantanamo. Yet, within proper legal limits, drones can be potentially more effective than alternatives in striking terrorist targets while avoiding harm to people nearby. However, the Obama administration has scrupulously avoided recognizing what those legal limits are. Roth will describe how this hesitancy reflects broader problems with the war paradigm as a guide to current efforts to address terrorism.

Human Rights Watch, one of the world’s leading international human rights organizations, operates in more than 90 countries. Prior to joining Human Rights Watch in 1987, Roth served as a federal prosecutor in New York and for the Iran-Contra investigation in Washington, DC. A graduate of Yale Law School and Brown University, Roth has conducted numerous human rights investigations and missions around the world. He has written extensively on a wide range of human rights abuses, devoting special attention to issues of international justice, counterterrorism, the foreign policies of the major powers and the work of the United Nations.

The talk is part of Lectures on Public Policy, an annual series at the Institute that addresses issues of broad import relevant to contemporary politics, social conditions and scientific matters. The lecture is free and open to the public.

For further information about this lecture and other public events at the Institute, visit www.ias.edu/news/public-events. Past Lectures on Public Policy may be viewed online at https://www.ias.edu/video/public-policy-lectures.

About the Institute for Advanced Study

The Institute for Advanced Study is one of the world’s leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. The Institute exists to encourage and support curiosity-driven research in the sciences and humanities—the original, often speculative thinking that produces advances in knowledge that change the way we understand the world. Work at the Institute takes place in four Schools: Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Social Science. It provides for the mentoring of scholars by a permanent Faculty of approximately 30, and it ensures the freedom to undertake research that will make significant contributions in any of the broad range of fields in the sciences and humanities studied at the Institute.

The Institute, founded in 1930, is a private, independent academic institution located in Princeton, New Jersey. Its more than 6,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership throughout the academic world. Thirty-three Nobel Laureates and 40 out of 56 Fields Medalists, as well as many winners of the Wolf and MacArthur prizes, have been affiliated with the Institute.