The News Items Podcast Episode Seven: Jeffrey Stern
On this episode of The News Items Podcast, host John Ellis sits down with award-winning journalist Jeffrey Stern, author of Warhead, for a sweeping conversation about how precision-guided bombs reshaped not only modern warfare but also its very moral terrain.
Stern traces the surprising origins of “smart” weapons back to World War II, when early guided bomb experiments, including the ill-fated mission that killed Joseph Kennedy Jr., hinted at a future of remote-controlled destruction. The technology lay dormant until the Cold War and Vietnam era, when the Eisenhower administration’s emphasis on precision found an unlikely partner in Texas Instruments. What began as tinkering with guidance systems evolved into the laser-guided bombs that defined the Gulf War and transformed America’s military image into one of surgical, high-tech dominance.
But the story doesn’t end with Desert Storm. Stern and Ellis examine how drone warfare and autonomous weapons have complicated the promise of precision. Has technology reduced civilian casualties, or simply made war easier to wage? And what happens when algorithms, not pilots, make life-and-death decisions?
Along the way, Stern reflects on the human stories behind the machinery, the evolution of war coverage in the media age, and his own move into film production.
Hosted by John Ellis
Produced by Dale Eisinger