Houthi drone strike on Tel Aviv illustrates unstoppable “democratization” of high-technological capabilities

The recent Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv, which struck an Israeli apartment building near the Embassy of the United States, killing at least one person, should surprise no one. And the fact Israel’s state-of-the-art air defense could not prevent it will probably embolden future attempts.

Of course, no defensive system is perfect. Given the enormous volume of rocket, missile, and drone attacks directed against Israel, it is inevitable that some percentage of them, launched by the Houthis, Hezbollah, or other Iranian-related factions, including Iran itself, will succeed. This recent attack also serves as a sharp reminder for those engaged in multi-national efforts to defend commercial shipping in the Red Sea that they cannot protect everything, as was the case recently with the successful Houthi strike on another Greek cargo vessel. Despite the international coalition’s ongoing and heroic efforts, inevitably some number of these technologically sophisticated attacks will find and strike lucrative targets.

All of this should serve as a powerful reminder to the US and all its allies that the ongoing emergence globally of dazzling new technologies, such as autonomous drones, is not just proliferating and expanding. Just as importantly, the costs of acquiring and employing such technology-based instruments as useful tools of war and influence is rapidly falling. The “barriers to entry” are diminishing everywhere, and any global actor can have access to weaponizable modern technology.

Indeed, the story of the “digital age” is largely about how ever more powerful tools (artificial intelligence, high speed data processing, ubiquitous communication, etc.) are becoming increasingly affordable for anyone who wishes to use them, and for any purpose. And as has been true since the dawn of mankind, any powerful tool that was originally intended for peaceful purposes is also very likely to be used as an instrument for advancing a security or military interest, including the interests of a malign actor. This unstoppable and ongoing “democratization” of global availability of dazzling new technologies will continue providing adversaries of Israel, the US, and all other countries a new and powerful set of tools for threatening their interests.

The sobering reality is that this trend is unstoppable because global technology proliferation is unstoppable. The challenge for the US and like-minded governments is whether they can adopt and employ cutting-edge technology faster, more broadly, and more effectively than their adversaries can. This race by all contestants, both friendly and adversary, cannot be stopped, it can only be won or lost.