"How do you keep war accountable to the American people when war becomes invisible and virtual?"

Michael Ignatieff’s question speaks to the profound transformation of modern warfare and its relationship to democratic oversight. War today increasingly occupies a domain of screens and simulations, drones piloted from thousands of miles away, cyber-attacks executed in code, intelligence operations unfolding in the hidden circuits of global communication networks. For the vast majority of citizens, these conflicts lack the visceral immediacy that once accompanied images of draft calls, returning coffins, and televised battles. The physical costs, the destruction, and the casualties are often distant abstractions, digitized into statistics or erased from public consciousness altogether.

This invisibility poses a challenge to democratic governance. Accountability in war traditionally relies on public awareness and engagement. When people see the true impacts, suffering, heroism, loss, they can debate, protest, or demand a change in policy. Political leaders must answer to voters for casualties and expenses. But when war becomes virtual, casualties are hidden, operations are classified, and the legal and ethical frameworks become blurred. Decisions are made by a narrow circle of officials, with little transparency or oversight, justified by the exceptional nature of new, intangible threats.

The invisibility of war also alters the moral calculus. Distance and technology risk desensitizing both political leaders and the public. Collateral damage becomes a technical error, not a tragedy. The language of “surgical strikes” and “precision” obscures the reality of violence. This erodes the capacity of citizens to make informed judgments and undermines mechanisms that hold governments to account.

Ignatieff’s question underscores the urgency of rethinking democratic procedures in an era where war can be waged in silence, shielded from scrutiny. How can informed consent and accountability be preserved when the reality of war is hidden by its very technology? Without visibility and debate, the link between citizens and the nation’s use of force risks being severed, a dangerous prospect for any democracy.