“In this first-rate history, Andrew Cockburn takes readers from the Pentagon's mainframe-driven dreams of the Vietnam War era through today's visions of stealth super-drones, exposing the dark realities of twenty-first-century robotic warfare. Richly informative, superbly researched, and utterly illuminating, Kill Chain shines much-needed light on the shadowy theories and theorists, secret military and intelligence programs, and classified technologies that spawned our current age of remote-controlled assassination.” ―Nick Turse, author of Kill Anything that Moves

“Thisbrilliant book tells us how computers killsoldiers and civilians, andexplains with bone-chilling clarityhow generalship gave way to microchips from Vietnam to Afghanistan. A blood-curdling account of the rise of robot warfare, a great story, and a prophecy to be read and heeded.” ―Tim Weiner, author of Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

“A compellingly readable book that not only tells us why drones cannot live up to the overblown expectation of politicians but lucidly explains the vulnerability of intelligence, either robotic or human, better than any book I have ever read.” ―Edward Jay Epstein, author of Deception: The Invisible War Between the KGB and the CIA

“In this riveting book, Cockburn puts the reader in the pilot's seat as kill teams go on their deadly hunts before dashing home for their children's soccer games. Wrapped in enormous secrecy, the only way past the armed guards and cipher-locks and into this new world of Hellfire diplomacy is Cockburn's great new read. Rather than voter IDs, people should prove they have read this book before being allowed to vote in the next election.” ―James Bamford, author of The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America

“It's not just the technology that makes a difference on the modern battlefield. It is, by Harper's Washington editor Cockburn's account, the development of a doctrine that augments--and sometimes replaces--the old order of battle with the notion that enemy leaders are objects fit for assassination, adding a necessarily political dimension to the military one…Sharp-eyed and disturbing, especially Cockburn's concluding assessment that, nourished by an unending flow of money, ‘the assassination machine is here to stay.'” ―Kirkus

“A report that is both enlivening and terribly troubling.” ―Booklist