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Jesse Kirkpatrick

George Mason University, Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, Assistant Director and Research Faculty

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Jesse Kirkpatrick is a Research Associate Professor, the Acting Director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at George Mason University, and International Security Fellow, New America. Jesse received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. Prior to joining the Institute, Jesse was an Assistant Professor at Radford University and a Research Fellow at the US Naval Academy. Jesse is an expert on the ethics of peace and security, the study of emerging military technologies, counterinsurgency, asymmetric warfare, and biosecurity. His work has appeared in numerous journals including, Ethics; Journal of Military Ethics; Journal of Human Rights. Jesse's work has also appeared in Special Warfare Magazine, Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, and Slate. His current book, Drones, Robots, and Super Soldiers: Emerging Technologies and Military Virtue, is under contract by Harvard University Press.
Supervisors: Karol Soltan , C. Fred Alford, James Glass, Ian Ward, and Christopher Morris

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Papers by Jesse Kirkpatrick

Biotechnology Risk Assessment: Landscape and Options

George Mason University, Mar 1, 2018

After the Fire the Embers Still Burn: A Theory of Jus Post Bellum

Nancy Sherman, Afterwar. Oxford University Press, 2015 ISBN: 9780199325276. £16.99

Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 2016

A Modest Proposal: A Global Court of Human Rights

Journal of Human Rights, 2014

Despite significant gains, the majority of the global population still lacks the right to effecti... more Despite significant gains, the majority of the global population still lacks the right to effective judicial remedy for rights violations. Scholars have recently considered the possibility that creating a Global Court of Human Rights could remedy this problem. This article proceeds in three sections. It begins with a discussion of the most prominent historical proposal for an International Court of Human Rights, underscoring the early recognition that a Global Court of Human Rights was needed. The next section assesses the need for the Court by reviewing the current human rights enforcement and monitoring mechanisms. It then turns to concerns with the creation of a Global Court of Human Rights. After considering these arguments, the article identifies three key benefits of creating the Court and proposes a sketch of a Global Court of Human Rights.

Drones and the Martial Virtue Courage

Journal of Military Ethics, 2015

ABSTRACT This article explores the relationship between the operation of combat drones and the ma... more ABSTRACT This article explores the relationship between the operation of combat drones and the martial virtue courage. The article proceeds in three parts. Part one develops a brief account of virtue generally, and the martial virtue courage in particular. Part two discusses why critics suggest that drone operation does not fit the orthodox conceptualization of courage and, in some instances, even erodes the virtue. Part three explores how these criticisms are flawed. This section of the paper goes on to argue that the criticisms are predicated on a twofold misunderstanding. The first involves improperly truncated conceptualizations of courage, which are, in part, predicated upon a narrow definition of risk. From this narrow definition of risk springs the conclusion that drone operation must be riskless. The second misunderstanding follows from the first and involves the failure to grasp properly how courage can be cultivated and required in drone operation. The paper concludes with a discussion of how, properly understood, courage may be required by and developed in successful drone operators.

Reply to Sparrow: Martial Courage – or Merely Courage?

Journal of Military Ethics, 2015

Rob Sparrow raises some valid concerns and objections to my article ‘Drones and the Martial Virtu... more Rob Sparrow raises some valid concerns and objections to my article ‘Drones and the Martial Virtue Courage’; I am very grateful for his taking the time to do so. I should also add that Sparrow was gracious enough to read an earlier draft of my article; his comments and criticism have been invaluable. I am especially appreciative to the editors at the Journal of Military Ethics for offering the space in which to provide a reply to Sparrow’s commentary. Instead of attempting an exhaustive blow-by-blow defense of my arguments, I will focus on two interconnected key issues. Sparrow’s central objection to my argument is that I fail to demonstrate that drone operators can cultivate and exercise martial courage. While Sparrow concedes that I show successfully that drone operators face risks, and that courage may even be required to do so, he contends that I am incorrect in concluding that this courage is of the martial type. As Sparrow argues, ‘While drone operators may fight wars, they don’t “go to war”, and while they may kill people, they do not engage in combat [...]. For this reason, the courage they display does not appear to be an especially “martial” courage’ (Sparrow 2015b: 224). Consequently, Sparrow and I converge on a narrow area of agreement: drone operators may be able to cultivate and exercise types of courage, but where we disagree is on the central questions of whether this courage is martial and whether drone operators actually engage in combat. Sparrow notes rightly that the kinds of risks drone operators face, and the corollary types of courage needed to face these risks, are different from other warfighters. Sparrow begins by observing that drone operators typically operate drones from relatively safe environments and that drone operators face substantially less physical risks than most combatants. It is important to note that despite the commonly held view that US combat drones are flown almost exclusively from the relative safety and comfort of the US, many drones (just how many remains an elusive figure) are operated by soldiers stationed at bases outside of the US, some of which are located in potentially hostile territory or active war zones (Turse 2011). It is, then, possible that more drone operators than we commonly think are, in fact, subject to physical risk and thus may be required to have physical courage. But to be fair, the central concern of my article is whether combat drone operators who are physically removed from the battlespace can develop and exercise the martial virtue courage. Sparrow begins his commentary by agreeing with me (although with

On John MacCunn’s “Cosmopolitan Duties”*

Ethics, 2014

Published in 1899, John MacCunn’s oft-neglected “Cosmopolitan Duties” demands revisiting. The art... more Published in 1899, John MacCunn’s oft-neglected “Cosmopolitan Duties” demands revisiting. The article is remarkable for the fact that it anticipates some of the knottiest philosophical issues debated by cosmopolitans today. These issues include cosmopolitanism and humanitarian intervention, the concept of equal cosmopolitan respect for all, and the doctrine of nonintervention. But most important, and to which MacCunn devotes the majority of his attention, is the now-familiar topic concerning the relationship between the demands of national citizenship and those of cosmopolitan duties. MacCunn treats these issues with a deft analytical rigor; his prose is eloquent and peppered with vivid imagery. Given that reading some of today’s work in analytic philosophy can feel like sailing through the horse latitudes—seemingly interminable periods of prosaic writing punctuated by small gusts of brilliance—MacCunn’s style is refreshing. And while it is true that the article is a good read and lays bare perennial issues that continue to bedevil contemporary cosmopolitans, the reason the piece remains relevant is because it offers a novel prescription for how some of these issues might be overcome. MacCunn begins by establishing the justificatory grounds for both cosmopolitan duties and duties to compatriots. Central to this justification is the “recognized authority of . . . 1⁄2the moral ideal” that all individuals should be able to develop, to their fullest extent practicable, the requisite “capacities for a good life” ð155Þ. According to MacCunn, recognizing this moral ideal commands certain conduct, the core of which is the duty to help others realize their capacities. At its heart, MacCunn’s justification rests upon a simple parity argument: duties to our compatriots share identical justificatory grounds as duties to foreigners. If we ac-

Moral Injury and Revisionist Just War Theory

Ethics & International Affairs, 2022

As part of the roundtable, “Moral Injury, Trauma, and War,” this essay explores the relationship ... more As part of the roundtable, “Moral Injury, Trauma, and War,” this essay explores the relationship between revisionist just war theory and moral injury. It proceeds in four sections. First, it offers a brief overview of the just war tradition, focusing on traditionalist and revisionist accounts, respectively. Next, it explores the relationship between moral injury and armed conflict. Then, it explores the links between moral injury and revisionist accounts of just war theory. Finally, by way of conclusion, the essay signals two potential complementary paths forward that future research could use to clarify the revisionist position and its link with moral injury.

After the Fire the Embers Still Burn: A Theory of Jus Post Bellum

United States Army Special Operations Command Assessing Revolutionary and Insurgent Strategies CASE STUDIES IN INSURGENCY AND REVOLUTIONARY WARFARE—

Reproduction in whole or in part is permitted for any purpose of the United States government. No... more

State Responsibility and Drone Operators 1

The CRISPR revolution and its potential impact on global health security

Pathogens and Global Health, 2021

Global health security is constantly under threat from infectious diseases. Despite advances in b... more Global health security is constantly under threat from infectious diseases. Despite advances in biotechnology that have improved diagnosis and treatment of such diseases, delays in detecting outbreaks and the lack of countermeasures for some biological agents continue to pose severe challenges to global health security. In this review, we describe some of the challenges facing global health security and how genome editing technologies can help overcome them. We provide specific examples of how the genome-editing tool CRISPR is being used to develop new tools to characterize pathogenic agents, diagnose infectious disease, and develop vaccines and therapeutics to mitigate the effects of an outbreak. The article also discusses some of the challenges associated with genome-editing technologies and the efforts that scientists are undertaking to mitigate them. Overall, CRISPR and genome-editing technologies are poised to have a significant positive influence on global health security over...

Biotechnology Risk Assessment: State of the Field

Editing Biosecurity: Needs and Strategies for Governing Genome Editing

Editing Biosecurity: Needs and Strategies for Governing Genome Editing, Executive Summary

Trust and Human–Robot Interactions

Oxford Scholarship Online

The concept of trust can take various forms, from interpersonal trust to institutional trust to t... more The concept of trust can take various forms, from interpersonal trust to institutional trust to trust in oneself or one’s government. As robotic technologies approach autonomy, and in increasing cases achieve it, scholars have turned their attention to the relationship between trust and human–robot interactions. This chapter explores that relationship using a multidisciplinary approach that includes philosophy, law, and neuroscience. The first section explicates the concept of human–robot interaction. The second articulates a normative account of interpersonal trust in service of the third section’s exploration of whether human–robot interactions could approach or achieve interpersonal trust. In answering this question in the affirmative, the fourth section flags some of the potential deleterious consequences of facilitating interpersonal trust in human–robot interactions. The fifth concludes with a call for future scholarship to address the philosophical, empirical, legal, and poli...

Drones and the Martial Virtue Courage

This article explores the relationship between the operation of combat drones and the martial vir... more This article explores the relationship between the operation of combat drones and the martial virtue courage. The article proceeds in three parts. Part one develops a brief account of virtue generally, and the martial virtue courage in particular. Part two discusses why critics suggest that drone operation does not fit the orthodox conceptualization of courage and, in some instances, even erodes the virtue. Part three explores how these criticisms are flawed. This section of the paper goes on to argue that the criticisms are predicated on a twofold misunderstanding. The first involves improperly truncated conceptualizations of courage, which are, in part, predicated upon a narrow definition of risk. From this narrow definition of risk springs the conclusion that drone operation must be riskless. The second misunderstanding follows from the first and involves the failure to grasp properly how courage can be cultivated and required in drone operation. The paper concludes with a discussion of how, properly understood, courage may be required by and developed in successful drone operators.

Reply to Sparrow: Martial Courage – or Merely Courage?

My reply to Rob Sparrow's extended commentary on my Drones and courage article in Journal of Mili... more

A Modest Proposal: A Global Court of Human Rights

Journal of Human Rights, Jun 1, 2014

The year 2013 marks sixty-five years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rig... more The year 2013 marks sixty-five years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Despite significant gains, the majority of the global population still lacks the right to effective judicial remedy for rights violations. Scholars have recently considered the possibility that creating a Global Court of Human Rights could remedy this problem. This article proceeds in three sections. The article begins with a discussion of the most prominent historical proposal for an International Court of Human Rights, underscoring the early recognition that a Global Court of Human Rights was needed. The next section assesses the need for the Court by reviewing the current human rights enforcement and monitoring mechanisms. In the final section, the paper turns to concerns with the creation of a Global Court of Human Rights. After considering these arguments, the paper identifies three key benefits of creating the Court and proposes a sketch of a Global Court of Human Rights.

Biotechnology Risk Assessment: Landscape and Options

George Mason University, Mar 1, 2018

After the Fire the Embers Still Burn: A Theory of Jus Post Bellum

Nancy Sherman, Afterwar. Oxford University Press, 2015 ISBN: 9780199325276. £16.99

Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 2016

A Modest Proposal: A Global Court of Human Rights

Journal of Human Rights, 2014

Despite significant gains, the majority of the global population still lacks the right to effecti... more Despite significant gains, the majority of the global population still lacks the right to effective judicial remedy for rights violations. Scholars have recently considered the possibility that creating a Global Court of Human Rights could remedy this problem. This article proceeds in three sections. It begins with a discussion of the most prominent historical proposal for an International Court of Human Rights, underscoring the early recognition that a Global Court of Human Rights was needed. The next section assesses the need for the Court by reviewing the current human rights enforcement and monitoring mechanisms. It then turns to concerns with the creation of a Global Court of Human Rights. After considering these arguments, the article identifies three key benefits of creating the Court and proposes a sketch of a Global Court of Human Rights.

Drones and the Martial Virtue Courage

Journal of Military Ethics, 2015

ABSTRACT This article explores the relationship between the operation of combat drones and the ma... more ABSTRACT This article explores the relationship between the operation of combat drones and the martial virtue courage. The article proceeds in three parts. Part one develops a brief account of virtue generally, and the martial virtue courage in particular. Part two discusses why critics suggest that drone operation does not fit the orthodox conceptualization of courage and, in some instances, even erodes the virtue. Part three explores how these criticisms are flawed. This section of the paper goes on to argue that the criticisms are predicated on a twofold misunderstanding. The first involves improperly truncated conceptualizations of courage, which are, in part, predicated upon a narrow definition of risk. From this narrow definition of risk springs the conclusion that drone operation must be riskless. The second misunderstanding follows from the first and involves the failure to grasp properly how courage can be cultivated and required in drone operation. The paper concludes with a discussion of how, properly understood, courage may be required by and developed in successful drone operators.

Reply to Sparrow: Martial Courage – or Merely Courage?

Journal of Military Ethics, 2015

Rob Sparrow raises some valid concerns and objections to my article ‘Drones and the Martial Virtu... more Rob Sparrow raises some valid concerns and objections to my article ‘Drones and the Martial Virtue Courage’; I am very grateful for his taking the time to do so. I should also add that Sparrow was gracious enough to read an earlier draft of my article; his comments and criticism have been invaluable. I am especially appreciative to the editors at the Journal of Military Ethics for offering the space in which to provide a reply to Sparrow’s commentary. Instead of attempting an exhaustive blow-by-blow defense of my arguments, I will focus on two interconnected key issues. Sparrow’s central objection to my argument is that I fail to demonstrate that drone operators can cultivate and exercise martial courage. While Sparrow concedes that I show successfully that drone operators face risks, and that courage may even be required to do so, he contends that I am incorrect in concluding that this courage is of the martial type. As Sparrow argues, ‘While drone operators may fight wars, they don’t “go to war”, and while they may kill people, they do not engage in combat [...]. For this reason, the courage they display does not appear to be an especially “martial” courage’ (Sparrow 2015b: 224). Consequently, Sparrow and I converge on a narrow area of agreement: drone operators may be able to cultivate and exercise types of courage, but where we disagree is on the central questions of whether this courage is martial and whether drone operators actually engage in combat. Sparrow notes rightly that the kinds of risks drone operators face, and the corollary types of courage needed to face these risks, are different from other warfighters. Sparrow begins by observing that drone operators typically operate drones from relatively safe environments and that drone operators face substantially less physical risks than most combatants. It is important to note that despite the commonly held view that US combat drones are flown almost exclusively from the relative safety and comfort of the US, many drones (just how many remains an elusive figure) are operated by soldiers stationed at bases outside of the US, some of which are located in potentially hostile territory or active war zones (Turse 2011). It is, then, possible that more drone operators than we commonly think are, in fact, subject to physical risk and thus may be required to have physical courage. But to be fair, the central concern of my article is whether combat drone operators who are physically removed from the battlespace can develop and exercise the martial virtue courage. Sparrow begins his commentary by agreeing with me (although with

On John MacCunn’s “Cosmopolitan Duties”*

Ethics, 2014

Published in 1899, John MacCunn’s oft-neglected “Cosmopolitan Duties” demands revisiting. The art... more Published in 1899, John MacCunn’s oft-neglected “Cosmopolitan Duties” demands revisiting. The article is remarkable for the fact that it anticipates some of the knottiest philosophical issues debated by cosmopolitans today. These issues include cosmopolitanism and humanitarian intervention, the concept of equal cosmopolitan respect for all, and the doctrine of nonintervention. But most important, and to which MacCunn devotes the majority of his attention, is the now-familiar topic concerning the relationship between the demands of national citizenship and those of cosmopolitan duties. MacCunn treats these issues with a deft analytical rigor; his prose is eloquent and peppered with vivid imagery. Given that reading some of today’s work in analytic philosophy can feel like sailing through the horse latitudes—seemingly interminable periods of prosaic writing punctuated by small gusts of brilliance—MacCunn’s style is refreshing. And while it is true that the article is a good read and lays bare perennial issues that continue to bedevil contemporary cosmopolitans, the reason the piece remains relevant is because it offers a novel prescription for how some of these issues might be overcome. MacCunn begins by establishing the justificatory grounds for both cosmopolitan duties and duties to compatriots. Central to this justification is the “recognized authority of . . . 1⁄2the moral ideal” that all individuals should be able to develop, to their fullest extent practicable, the requisite “capacities for a good life” ð155Þ. According to MacCunn, recognizing this moral ideal commands certain conduct, the core of which is the duty to help others realize their capacities. At its heart, MacCunn’s justification rests upon a simple parity argument: duties to our compatriots share identical justificatory grounds as duties to foreigners. If we ac-

Moral Injury and Revisionist Just War Theory

Ethics & International Affairs, 2022

As part of the roundtable, “Moral Injury, Trauma, and War,” this essay explores the relationship ... more As part of the roundtable, “Moral Injury, Trauma, and War,” this essay explores the relationship between revisionist just war theory and moral injury. It proceeds in four sections. First, it offers a brief overview of the just war tradition, focusing on traditionalist and revisionist accounts, respectively. Next, it explores the relationship between moral injury and armed conflict. Then, it explores the links between moral injury and revisionist accounts of just war theory. Finally, by way of conclusion, the essay signals two potential complementary paths forward that future research could use to clarify the revisionist position and its link with moral injury.

After the Fire the Embers Still Burn: A Theory of Jus Post Bellum

United States Army Special Operations Command Assessing Revolutionary and Insurgent Strategies CASE STUDIES IN INSURGENCY AND REVOLUTIONARY WARFARE—

Reproduction in whole or in part is permitted for any purpose of the United States government. No... more

State Responsibility and Drone Operators 1

The CRISPR revolution and its potential impact on global health security

Pathogens and Global Health, 2021

Global health security is constantly under threat from infectious diseases. Despite advances in b... more Global health security is constantly under threat from infectious diseases. Despite advances in biotechnology that have improved diagnosis and treatment of such diseases, delays in detecting outbreaks and the lack of countermeasures for some biological agents continue to pose severe challenges to global health security. In this review, we describe some of the challenges facing global health security and how genome editing technologies can help overcome them. We provide specific examples of how the genome-editing tool CRISPR is being used to develop new tools to characterize pathogenic agents, diagnose infectious disease, and develop vaccines and therapeutics to mitigate the effects of an outbreak. The article also discusses some of the challenges associated with genome-editing technologies and the efforts that scientists are undertaking to mitigate them. Overall, CRISPR and genome-editing technologies are poised to have a significant positive influence on global health security over...

Biotechnology Risk Assessment: State of the Field

Editing Biosecurity: Needs and Strategies for Governing Genome Editing

Editing Biosecurity: Needs and Strategies for Governing Genome Editing, Executive Summary

Trust and Human–Robot Interactions

Oxford Scholarship Online

The concept of trust can take various forms, from interpersonal trust to institutional trust to t... more The concept of trust can take various forms, from interpersonal trust to institutional trust to trust in oneself or one’s government. As robotic technologies approach autonomy, and in increasing cases achieve it, scholars have turned their attention to the relationship between trust and human–robot interactions. This chapter explores that relationship using a multidisciplinary approach that includes philosophy, law, and neuroscience. The first section explicates the concept of human–robot interaction. The second articulates a normative account of interpersonal trust in service of the third section’s exploration of whether human–robot interactions could approach or achieve interpersonal trust. In answering this question in the affirmative, the fourth section flags some of the potential deleterious consequences of facilitating interpersonal trust in human–robot interactions. The fifth concludes with a call for future scholarship to address the philosophical, empirical, legal, and poli...

Drones and the Martial Virtue Courage

This article explores the relationship between the operation of combat drones and the martial vir... more This article explores the relationship between the operation of combat drones and the martial virtue courage. The article proceeds in three parts. Part one develops a brief account of virtue generally, and the martial virtue courage in particular. Part two discusses why critics suggest that drone operation does not fit the orthodox conceptualization of courage and, in some instances, even erodes the virtue. Part three explores how these criticisms are flawed. This section of the paper goes on to argue that the criticisms are predicated on a twofold misunderstanding. The first involves improperly truncated conceptualizations of courage, which are, in part, predicated upon a narrow definition of risk. From this narrow definition of risk springs the conclusion that drone operation must be riskless. The second misunderstanding follows from the first and involves the failure to grasp properly how courage can be cultivated and required in drone operation. The paper concludes with a discussion of how, properly understood, courage may be required by and developed in successful drone operators.

Reply to Sparrow: Martial Courage – or Merely Courage?

My reply to Rob Sparrow's extended commentary on my Drones and courage article in Journal of Mili... more

A Modest Proposal: A Global Court of Human Rights

Journal of Human Rights, Jun 1, 2014

The year 2013 marks sixty-five years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rig... more The year 2013 marks sixty-five years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Despite significant gains, the majority of the global population still lacks the right to effective judicial remedy for rights violations. Scholars have recently considered the possibility that creating a Global Court of Human Rights could remedy this problem. This article proceeds in three sections. The article begins with a discussion of the most prominent historical proposal for an International Court of Human Rights, underscoring the early recognition that a Global Court of Human Rights was needed. The next section assesses the need for the Court by reviewing the current human rights enforcement and monitoring mechanisms. In the final section, the paper turns to concerns with the creation of a Global Court of Human Rights. After considering these arguments, the paper identifies three key benefits of creating the Court and proposes a sketch of a Global Court of Human Rights.

On John MacCunn's "Cosmopolitan Duties"

This piece is a retrospective essay on John MacCunn's article, "Cosmopolitan Duties." The article... more

Review of "Aftwerwar" in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice

Book review of Nancy Sherman's "Afterwar".

Review of "Drone Wars" in Defense and Security Analysis

After the Fire the Embers Still Burn: A Theory of Jus Post Bellum

I am currently revising my dissertation into a book manuscript. I expect a completed draft by sum... more

Assessing Revolutionary and Insurgent Strategies: CASE STUDIES IN INSURGENCY AND REVOLUTIONARY WARFARE— COLOMBIA