Distributed networks of autonomous unmanned systems are designed to increase data collection capacity and enhance situational awareness for the decision maker. One of the driving requirements for the design of future US Navy ships is reduced manning. There is a need to address the trade-offs associated with the relationship between autonomous unmanned vehicles and human performance. The human systems designer is challenged to provide tools and technologies that will meet the level of performance essential for the task, as well as considering the impact of such systems on attention and cognitive workload of the human decision maker. The thoughts presented here will focus on the costs/benefits of autonomous unmanned systems, highlight the complexities of decision making and address the impact of these technologies on decision making. This topic has implications for the design of future platforms that will integrate autonomous unmanned systems as part of their overall distributed network design.