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14 Apr, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Drones podcast: An ethics special

Ethicists and drone experts discuss the morality of drone warfare in the latest episode of the Bureau’s podcast Drone News. Dr Alex Leveringhaus of Oxford University and Dr Peter Lee, Portsmouth University lecturer of military ethics who teaches at the RAF College Cranwell, spoke to the Bureau about what they see as the key ethical […]
10 Apr, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

US should gather accurate drone civilian casualty data, says military analyst

The US should gather accurate figures of civilians killed in its drone strikes and subject them to Congressional oversight, a leading US military analyst has said. Dr Larry Lewis, principal research scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), a federally funded military research organisation, also called for better training and intelligence analysis in order […]
5 Apr, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

New bill would force Barack Obama to publish US drone strike casualties

A bill before the House of Representatives could force Washington to be more transparent about drones (Architect of the Capitol). A bipartisan Bill that would force President Obama to reveal casualties from covert US drone strikes has been put before the US Congress. If successful, the bill would require the White House to publish an […]
1 Apr, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

March 2014 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

US drones were under scrutiny at the UN Human Rights Council this month (UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré) There have been no reported drone strikes in Pakistan for more than three months Strikes hit Yemen at an intensity not seen since July 2013 Another month without a US operation in Somalia, while African Union forces make advances Naming […]
25 Mar, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

UK government must clarify position on drone intelligence-sharing, MPs say

The £1bn Watchkeeper drone will not be used in Afghanistan, the report reveals (Photo: Defence Images) The British government should be more transparent about intelligence-sharing that leads to covert drone strikes, say MPs in a report published today. The call for greater transparency ‘in relation to safeguards and limitations the UK Government has in place […]
12 Mar, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Countries must investigate civilian drone death claims, says UN investigator Ben Emmerson

UN investigator Ben Emmerson said investigating civilian casualties is a legal obligation (United Nations). Yesterday UN investigator Ben Emmerson presented his latest report on drone strikes to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva. Emmerson, a British lawyer and UN special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, said countries are under a ‘present and […]
11 Mar, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

John Brennan marks first year at CIA amid no confirmed civilian drone deaths in Pakistan

John Brennan accepted President Obama’s nomination as CIA director on January 7 2013. (Peter da Souza/White House) John Brennan has now completed his first year as director of the CIA. In that time there has not been a confirmed report of a civilian casualty from a CIA drone strike in Pakistan, according to an analysis […]
4 Mar, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

February 2014 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

US drones launched no attacks in Pakistan for the second month in a row (Photo: US Air Force photo/Senior Airman Andrew Lee). Pakistan military attacks Pakistan Taliban as the pause in drone strikes enters its third month. One possible drone strike hits Yemen. More details of December 12 wedding strike emerge. No US operations are reported in […]
1 Mar, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

UN report identifies 30 drone strikes that require ‘public explanation’

A UN counter-terrorism expert has published the second report of his year-long investigation into drone strikes, highlighting 30 strikes where civilians are reported to have been killed. The report, by British lawyer Ben Emmerson QC, identifies 30 attacks between 2006 and 2013 that show sufficient indications of civilian deaths to demand a ‘public explanation of the […]
5 Feb, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

CIA chief pressed to support annual count of drone casualties

The CIA director and other intelligence chiefs were urged to increase transparency over covert drone operations by members of the House intelligence committee yesterday. Adam Schiff, a Democratic Party congressman, called on CIA director John Brennan, to support an annual report detailing the number of alleged militants and civilians killed each year. This would enable […]
3 Feb, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

January 2014 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

Noor Khan’s legal challenge to drones in the English courts was rejected this month (Photo: Reprieve). January was the first month in two years without a drone strike in Pakistan. The first civilian casualty of the year was reported in a possible drone strike in Yemen. A rare drone strike – the second in three […]
23 Jan, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

More than 2,400 dead as Obama’s drone campaign marks five years

Obama has launched over 390 covert drone strikes in his first five years in office (Pete Souza/White House). Five years ago, on January 23 2009, a CIA drone flattened a house in Pakistan’s tribal regions. It was the third day of Barack Obama’s presidency, and this was the new commander-in-chief’s first covert drone strike. Initial […]
6 Jan, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

A changing drone campaign: US covert actions in 2013

2013 saw fewer drone strikes than previous years (Photo: US Air Force/Airman 1st Class Jason Epley) In 2013 the number of drone strikes to hit Pakistan fell to the lowest levels of Obama’s presidency: 27 strikes reportedly hit the country’s tribal areas, down from a peak of 128 in 2010. And for the first time since Pakistan […]
6 Dec, 2013
Update
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

The Bureau talks to Jeremy Scahill about Dirty Wars and drones

‘I don’t think we’ve scratched the surface of what’s happened’, Jeremy Scahill tells the Bureau (Photo: Civic Bakery) Journalist and filmmaker Jeremy Scahill says that handing control of CIA drone operations to the military could lead to ‘very serious abuses’, in Drone News, the Bureau’s new drones podcast. Scahill met the Bureau’s Alice K Ross when […]
5 Dec, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

UK complicity in US drone strikes is ‘inevitable’, Emmerson tells parliament

Conflict experts told British lawmakers the UK is probably complicit in the secret drone war (Jim Trodel/Flickr) It is ‘inevitable’ British spies are sharing intelligence with the US that is then used in drone strikes, a prominent UN expert told UK politicians yesterday. Ben Emmerson QC, who is leading an ongoing drones investigation for the UN, […]
3 Dec, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

November 2013 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

CIA drones destroyed part of a madrassa in Hangu district – the first strike outside Pakistan’s tribal areas. (Reuters/Syed Shah) CIA drones kill one of the most senior militants in Pakistan. The first reported airstrikes in Yemen in three months kill alleged foreign fighters. More African peacekeepers will go to Somalia as al Shabaab remains […]
26 Nov, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

New analysis questions constraint on US drone strikes

The Bureau analyses President Obama’s drone strike guidelines six months on from his speech setting out the rules. (Pete Souza/White House). Six months after President Obama laid out US rules for using armed drones, a Bureau analysis shows that covert drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan have killed more people than in the six months […]
2 Nov, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

October 2013 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

Relatives hold photographs of victims of a January drone strike (Letta Tayler/Human Rights Watch). A single strike kills up to five in Pakistan, at the end of a month of sharp criticism of the US drone war. There are no reported drone attacks in Yemen for the second month running. The US military attacks Somalia twice, the […]
26 Oct, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Consensus grows among UN states for greater transparency on drone civilian deaths

UN members call for greater transparency (Image: Chris Woods) Key members of the United Nations – including some of Washington’s closest allies – broke with a decade of tradition on Friday when they endorsed calls for greater transparency over drone civilian deaths. The European Union, the United Kingdom and Switzerland were joined by the Russian Federation and China in calling for […]
22 Oct, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Human rights groups say civilian drone deaths violate international law

Rafeequl Rehman and his children showing a picture of Mamana Bibi, killed by a drone in Pakistan. (Image: Amnesty International) Leading human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have raised serious concerns about the legality of drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen. The two organisations have conducted separate investigations into specific strikes to highlight […]
18 Oct, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

US must release data on civilian drone casualties, says UN report

Emmerson: Drones operate in an ‘accountability vacuum’ (Photo: United Nations) A report by a UN expert urges the US to ‘release its own data on the level of civilian casualties’ caused by drone strikes and attacks the lack of transparency surrounding CIA and US special forces drone operations. Ben Emmerson, a British barrister and UN […]
17 Oct, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

UN expert calls for increased transparency over armed drones

Heyns warns about a ‘lack of consensus’ over the international law governing drone strikes (Photo: United Nations) A UN expert has called for nations that operate armed drones to be more transparent and ‘publicly disclose’ how they use them. In a report prepared for the UN, Christof Heyns, the special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, points […]
1 Oct, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

September 2013 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

Multiple drone strikes hit Pakistan, but no confirmed US attacks in Yemen (Senior Airman Larry E. Reid Jr/US Air Force). CIA drones strike Pakistan four times in September. Drone attacks pause for a month in Yemen. No strikes in Somalia. Al Shabaab violence grabs the world’s attention. Pakistan September 2013 actions Total CIA strikes in […]
2 Sep, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

August 2013 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

Secretary of State John Kerry meets President Asif Ali Zardari in Pakistan.(State Department photo/Public Domain). One strike in Pakistan ends 34-day stretch without an attack. Yemen sees more strikes in a month than any time since March 2012. Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières pulls out of Somalia. Pakistan August 2013 actions Total CIA strikes in August: 1 […]
2 Aug, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

July 2013 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

A US Air Force Predator on patrol (US Air Force Photo/Lt Col Leslie Pratt). The CIA killed more people in Pakistan per strike than at any point since July 2012. US drones return to Yemen‘s skies and al Qaeda confirms the death of its deputy leader. UN report finds indications of increased US and UK involvement […]
1 Aug, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Is Congressional oversight tough enough on drones?

Dianne Feinstein (centre) and members of the Senate intelligence committee grill John Brennan (Photo: SenRockefeller via Flickr) In the Bureau’s latest investigation into the tactic of ‘double-tap’ strikes on rescuers, our field researcher’s findings appear to directly contradict an account of a strike attributed to staffers of the Congressional bodies charged with overseeing CIA drone […]
25 Jul, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

US officials attack ‘far from authoritative’ leaked drone report

A Pakistani soldier in FATA, where there have been 370 CIA drone strikes. (Photo: Chris Woods) US officials are claiming that an internal Pakistani assessment of civilian deaths from US drone strikes – obtained and published in full by the Bureau –  is ‘far from authoritative.’ The secret document was obtained by the Bureau from […]
1 Jul, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Six-month update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

In May, President Obama admitted for the first time US drones have caused civilian casualties in the covert drone war (Image: Peter Souza/White House). Bureau data suggests the CIA is killing fewer people in each strike in Pakistan. Lack of official transparency means it remains unclear who is carrying out strikes in Yemen. No reports of US […]
3 Jun, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

May 2013 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

A US drone crashed in al Shabaab-controlled southern Somalia this month (Photo: Twitter) The Pakistan Taliban’s deputy commander is killed in a CIA drone strike A CIA drone attack in Yemen kills four, reportedly including a senior leader in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula The Pentagon admits a US surveillance drone has crashed in Somalia Pakistan May […]
24 May, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

White House briefings lay out new drone rulebook – but questions remain

Clarity from the White House (Photo: Michael Baird/ Flickr) Two of the most controversial aspects of the US covert drone campaign – CIA control of strikes in Pakistan, and the use of so-called signature strikes – look set to continue until at least 2014, papers released by the White House indicate. In the wake of […]