Thomas Cassidy
AGE: 74
OCCUPATION: President of Aircraft Systems Group
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 0
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 0
PRO: The man behind the Predator, the remote-controlled, Hellfire missile-armed spy planes that have become a key asset of the U.S. in its global hunt for terrorists, and its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
CON: The $4.5 million Predator is still just a tool: it can't identify terrorists, only help find and fire at them. Human intelligence remains crucial.