In the early 2000s, military and intelligence use of unmanned aircraft systems (UASs)1 in
Afghanistan and Iraq spurred interest in potential domestic use of these systems. The safe
integration of unmanned aircraft in the crowded airspace above the United States poses a number
of regulatory challenges for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and raises some unique
legal and ethical questions. These issues have come to the forefront following enactment of the
FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-95), which requires FAA to begin
integrating unmanned aircraft into the national airspace system by the end of FY2015