President Barack Obama has signed an executive order intended to better prevent non-combatants from being killed in drone strikes after releasing figures Friday that between 64 and 116 civilians have been killed by drone and other U.S. strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Africa since 2009, when he took office.
The long-awaited report on U.S. airstrikes provides the most detailed official accounting to date on the number of civilian casualties caused by the controversial use of unmanned drones to target terrorists. But the numbers are still unclear— reported in a range of 64 to 116 — and don’t include deaths in areas with active combat operations.
Conflict zone experts say estimates are hundreds lower than estimates from independent groups, which generally range from 200 to 1,000.
“The numbers reported by the White House today simply don’t add up, and we’re disappointed by that,” Federico Borello of the Center for Civilians in Conflict said.
“We’re concerned that as more countries gain access to armed drone technology, it’s more likely that drones will be used as a first response in conflicts and more likely civilians will pay the price,” Borello said.
Previously, while announcing the plan to release the report Obama’s top homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco had described increased transparency was “the right thing to do” and “the best way to maintain the legitimacy of our counter-terrorism actions and the broad support of our allies.”
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest says the report still reflects an unprecedented level of transparency.
“The president believes that our counter-terrorism strategy is more effective and has more credibility when we’re as transparent as possible. There are obviously limitations for transparency when it comes to matters as sensitive as this,” he said.
The operations behind the report “are the kinds of operations that just a couple of years ago we wouldn’t even confirm existed,” Earnest said.
Immediate media accounts say the report released by the Obama administration provides a less-than-complete picture of how the U.S. military uses drones. It includes only strikes “taken outside areas of active hostilities,” meaning it doesn’t include data from active war zones like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. And it provides no detail on when or where those strikes happened.
The executive order, the president signed Friday, directs future administrations to release annual numbers by May 1 of the next year. It details U.S. policies to limit civilian casualties and makes protecting civilians a central element in U.S. military operations planning.
The order says the government should include “credible reporting” by non-government groups when it reviews strikes to determine if civilians were killed.
