This week saw a fount of new information come to light about the US government's controversial and secretive drone program. Brooke talks to Stanford Law professor James Cavallaro, author of the Living Under Drones project, in which law students conducted interviews in northwest Pakistan to better understand the full impact of our lethal drone strikes.

Yo La Tengo - Cornelia and Jane

The Obama administration's use of unmanned drones is under intense scrutiny this week, culminating in the hearings to confirm new CIA director John Brennan, which begin this afternoon. Two drone skeptics, Omar Shakir, of the International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic at Stanford Law School, and co-author of the report Living Under Drones, and Zeke Johnson, director of Amnesty International's Security with Human Rights campaign, discuss the practice, and the leaked memo detailing the legal parameters by which drones could be used to target American citizens.

→Tune In: WNYC will stream live coverage of the Brennan hearings on our website beginning at 2:30pm today. Listen here.

Karen Greenberg, director of Fordham Law School’s Center on National Security, discusses the controversial legal theories behind the Obama Administration’s targeted killing program.

Experienced as John Kerry is with diplomacy, negotiating foreign policy in regions volatile to the U.S. will not be an easy task. Journalist Stephen Kinzer offers a few theories for how Kerry will confront the crises of the moment, including Iran and the ever-expanding drone war.

Lev Grossman, senior writer for TIME, discusses his recent cover story on the rise of drone usage - both in military operations and domestically.

As the Department of Defense gradually shifts to drone strikes in lieu of manned missions, many contractors are also hoping to revolutionize the drone for domestic uses, such as police surveillance. The United States will need a number of pilots, certified to operate these unmanned vehicles and Nickolas Macchiarella, professor of Aeronautical Science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, has developed a Bachelor's of Science program to train the next generation of drone pilots.

Peter Yost talks about his NOVA documentary “Rise of the Drones.” Drones are the next chapter in aviation history and are revolutionizing warfare.  NOVA gains unprecedented access to engineers and labs, military experts, pilot training facilities to show how engineers are taking the pilot out of the cockpit with stunning new advances in this game-changing technology to explore if these could become part of our everyday lives here at home.  “Rise of the Drones” airs on PBS at 9 pm January 23.

Earlier this month, NYU graduate student Josh Begley began tweeting every reported American drone strike — starting in 2002. His feed highlights the growing prevalence of a lethal tactic known as the "double tap." The tactic involves bombing a target repeatedly in relatively quick succession. It often results in the death of rescuers responding to the initial attack.

Scott Shane, reporter for The New York Times, discusses his report that the Obama Administration has been working on writing a rule book for U.S. drone use.

During Monday's Presidential debate, moderator Bob Schieffer asked just one question about U.S. drone-strikes, despite the fact that the controversial drone program is now one of the cornerstones of the country's counter-terrorism policy. Washington Post intelligence reporter Greg Miller tells us about his investigation of a next-generation targeting list called the “disposition matrix.” He's written about it in the Washington Post's special report, the Permanent War.

30 Issues in 30 Days is our election year series on the important issues facing the country this election year. Today: Emerging issues of modern warfare and the near future of the U.S. military. Visit the 30 Issue home page for all the conversations.

 David Sanger, Chief Washington Correspondent for the New York Times, discusses President Obama’s use of new tools and weapons—cyberwar against Iran, drone attacks in Pakistan, and increasing reliance on the Special Forces to hunt al-Qaeda. Sanger’s new book, Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power, provides a look inside the Obama adminis­tration’s national security decisions.

A report from the New America Foundation has found that the Obama Administration has dramatically escalated its drone war in Yemen. Peter Bergen talks about the report’s findings and their regional implications.

The White House announced this week that they’d killed Al Qaeda’s number 2 operative, but, following standard operating procedure, would not tell reporters how they'd killed him. Why? Because they killed him by targeted drone strike, a program which is widely known about but still technically classified. The New York Times reporter Scott Shane tells Bob that the administration's coy attitude towards classified secrets is stifling public debate.

Members of congress met yesterday with the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, to discuss recent government leaks about two of America’s newest weapons: computer worms (like Stuxnet) and drones. They asserted that each leak puts lives at risk and makes America's allies less likely to trust our government with their secrets.

Scott Shane, reporter for the New York Times, discusses his recent series of pieces on the use of drone warfare by the United States—and how some of that reporting has been misconstrued.

Nick Paumgarten, staff writer for The New Yorker, explains what drones are, how they work, and the technological advancements that are making drones more prevalent in military and civilian life. He’s the author of “Here’s Looking at You” in the May 14 issue of The New Yorker.

"Drone" is becoming an increasingly common word in our 21st-century vocabulary, and to many it strikes a fearful note: It conjures images of stealth Predator drones, or incites concerns about Big Brother–esque surveillance techniques. But are these worries well founded? And how did we get to the point that UAVs are becoming an ever-readier part of quotidian life in the United States?

The CIA and the Pentagon have been granted new and broader authority to carry out drone strikes in Yemen. The Obama Administration reportedly approved the clandestine campaign's expansion earlier this month, reflecting growing concern over Yemen being a safe haven for Al Qaeda operatives. Greg Miller, national security correspondent for The Washington Post explains what this policy shift will mean for the US's overseas drone campaign.