In recent years, the debate over drone warfare has reached new prominence but, in early 2013, struggled to find any information on the U.S. military鈥檚 drone program outside of commentary and conjecture made by American journalists. That didn鈥檛 sit well with her.
鈥淚 read commentary in the papers 鈥� it sounded so surreal, like science fiction, that these types of weapons are being used, unmanned aircraft,鈥� Kennebeck told St. Louis on the Air host Don Marsh. 鈥淚 wanted to know more about it. The one piece of information didn鈥檛 really match up: the count of civilian casualties. In early 2013, they were only talking single-digit casualties and to me it did not seem realistic, especially seeing that drones were being used at that time already pretty heavily.鈥�
So she began her research, using FOIA requests and insights with three whistleblowers from within the U.S. military. Her documentary, called 鈥�," about the U.S. drone war was recently released. It was executive produced by acclaimed documentary filmmaker .
The documentary follows three lead 鈥渃haracters,鈥� military veterans who were all at some point involved in operating, analyzing or working with technology on drones used in Afghanistan and other foreign lands.
The first person highlighted, Heather, is in her mid-20s and works as an 鈥渋magery analyst.鈥�
鈥淗er job was to analyze live video feed coming from drones and make the call: is this person carrying a weapon vs. a shovel?鈥� Kennebeck said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a far-reaching decision that she had to make. She really is struggling. She has a lot of nightmares and trauma. While on the job, she was on a suicide watch list. Her journey is trying to get help and support, psychological help. That was not easy.鈥�
Kennebeck鈥檚 film also gives the viewer insight into the life of Daniel, a 鈥渟ignals intelligence analyst,鈥� who works with technology on a drone, tracking down targets and people. Interestingly, Daniel is also a peace activist who attends protests against war. He faces government backlash in the film.
The third character is Lisa, who has worked for the U.S. military for 20 years, her latest deployment in the drone program. She works on the surveillance system behind drones and travels to Afghanistan to study how people perceive drones in countries where the drones are actually in use.
Kennebeck said she created the film in order to bring transparency to the U.S. government鈥檚 use of drone technology in warfare. She wanted to show how humans are impacted by the use of technology. She hopes it will spur further change in national and international laws about drone use.
鈥淭here are a lot of problems with this weapon and the way it is being used,鈥� Kennebeck said. 鈥淭here are some who say it is not covered by international law. This is one of the times where technology has outpaced rules and regulations and, to a certain extent, even our moral standards. It is upon us to catch up. In order to do that, we need more information, we have to understand how many people are being killed, how many are civilians, to even judge the efficiency of this weapon and if it is as safe as people say.鈥�
鈥淣ational Bird鈥� screened for the first time in St. Louis . It will premiere on PBS stations across the country, and Nine Network, on May 1 at 10 p.m. More information on screenings can be found .
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