Hoover fellow and Director of the Hoover Institution’s Wargaming and Crisis Simulation Initiative Jacquelyn Schneider launched her new book, The Hand Behind Unmanned: Origins of the US Autonomous Military Arsenal, at the Hoover Institution in Washington, DC on Wednesday, March 26, from 5:30 – 7:15pm ET.
Following the release of her new book, Jacquelyn Schneider will debut a podcast this April exploring the people who design, direct, and deploy America’s arsenal of unmanned weapons. The limited series podcast tells stories about their beliefs, identities, and the ways in which human ideas about warfare created and continue to shape today’s drone revolution. It is a history of US investment in mines, torpedoes, missiles, satellites, bombs, and drones from the point of view of the generals, admirals, career bureaucrats, academicians, politicians, and entrepreneurs that guided, dictated, and sometimes manipulated technology to create autonomous systems.
– Pick up a copy of “The Hand Behind Unmanned”: https://www.hoover.org/research/hand-behind-unmanned-origins-us-autonomous-military-arsenal
– Join our mailing list to get notified when the podcast is released: https://www.hoover.org/publications/hand-behind-unmanned
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Jacquelyn Schneider is the Hargrove Hoover Fellow at the Hoover Institution, the Director of the Hoover Wargaming and Crisis Simulation Initiative, and an affiliate with Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation. Her research focuses on the intersection of technology, national security, and political psychology with a special interest in cybersecurity, autonomous technologies, wargames, and Northeast Asia. She was previously an Assistant Professor at the Naval War College as well as a senior policy advisor to the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. Dr. Schneider is an active member of the defense policy community with previous positions at the Center for a New American Security and the RAND Corporation. Before beginning her academic career, she spent six years as an Air Force officer in South Korea and Japan and is currently a reservist assigned to US Space Systems Command. She has a BA from Columbia University, MA from Arizona State University, and PhD from George Washington University.
Julia Macdonald is a Research Professor at the Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver, Director (Research and Engagement) at the Asia New Zealand Foundation, and a Senior Fellow at Victoria University of Wellington’s Centre for Strategic Studies. Her teaching and research focus on nuclear politics, use of force decisions, and military strategy and effectiveness. Dr Macdonald has held research fellowships at MIT, Harvard University, and the University of Pennsylvania. She has previously worked for the New Zealand government on national security and defense issues, most recently in New Zealand’s Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet leading work on New Zealand’s first national security strategy. She holds a PhD from George Washington University, an MA (Hons) from the University of Chicago.
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The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hoover Institution or Stanford University.
© 2025 by the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University.
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