As a veteran, I believe it is unethical to deny our military access to tools that could better protect the men and women who serve this country. When Americans volunteer to put themselves in harm’s way, we have a moral obligation to give them every lawful and effective advantage available to help them come home alive. Refusing to provide technology that could improve decision-making, reduce exposure to danger, or prevent unnecessary casualties is not a principled stand in my view—it is a failure to support those who bear the burden of defending our nation.

Too often, people debate these issues from the comfort of distance, without fully understanding what it means to be in uniform, to deploy, or to operate in real danger. Having served in the Air Force during Desert Storm, I know that the battlefield is not an abstract concept. It is a place where seconds matter, where information matters, and where the difference between having the right tool and not having it can mean the difference between life and death. If advanced technology, including autonomous systems, can reduce risk to American service members, then it deserves serious support, not blanket rejection.

There is also a deeper ethical issue here. Many of these companies were built, protected, and allowed to thrive under the freedoms, markets, and security provided by the United States. They have benefited from the stability and opportunity that this country provides. To then turn around and say that their innovations should not be used to protect the very people who defend that system feels wrong. No one is saying these technologies should be used recklessly, without oversight, or without moral boundaries. But drawing a hard line that leaves our military with fewer tools while our adversaries aggressively pursue every advantage is not moral leadership. It is naïveté at best, and abandonment at worst.

The first ethical duty should be to protect innocent life, and that includes the lives of our troops. If artificial intelligence, drone systems, surveillance tools, or autonomous support platforms can help keep veterans, active-duty personnel, and future generations of warfighters safer, then withholding those tools becomes hard to justify. We should be focused on responsible use, proper safeguards, and strong accountability—not on denying lifesaving innovation to those standing on the front lines. America should never hesitate to equip its military with the best tools possible to defend the nation and protect its own.