What happens in a drone strike?
Who gets the final say in a drone strike? Who is targeted?
There is little official data on how many people have been killed by U.S. drone strikes, and the numbers that investigative journalists come up with vary pretty widely.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reports that there have been a minimum of 4,926 confirmed strikes. It estimates that these strikes have killed 7,715–11,067 people, including 751–1,555 civilians and 252–345 children.
According to The Intercept, the U.S. has launched 500 drone strikes in Libya alone since 2011 — more than the number of strikes it has led in either Somalia (98), Yemen (322), or Pakistan (430) since 2001.
And the watchdog group Airwars reports that 2017 was the deadliest year yet for civilians in Syria and Iraq, with an estimated 3,923–6,102 noncombatant fatalities of U.S. — led coalition airstrikes.
The numbers aren’t crystal clear, but what’s certain is that drones have become a key component of U.S. military tactics and they have tremendous consequences for innocent bystanders. So do manned airstrikes, but once again, it’s difficult to find reliable data on whether manned or unmanned airstrikes are less likely to kill innocent bystanders. The prevalence of, and lack of transparency in, drone strikes — from how many have actually occurred to who exactly they target — make it all the more important for U.S. residents to be informed about their use and understand as much as we can about them.
Who has permission to launch a drone?
A redacted document released in 2016 revealed that targets are proposed by a government agency like the Defense Department or the CIA and are reviewed by a variety of analysts and officials. Final approval comes from either the president himself or the unanimous approval of the agencies in the National Security Council along with confirmation that the president is aware of the strike.
President Trump overturned a 2013 reform that transferred much of the CIA’s authority over drone strikes to the Defense Department. As strikes are once again considered covert operations under the CIA, the government is even less accountable for providing transparency about the targets and outcomes of its drone operations.
The legality of U.S. drone strikes is questionable. First of all, presidential authority to carry out drone strikes is often rationalized as a counterterrorism response to 9/11, supported by the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). Since drone strikes are now used to combat armed forces and terrorists — including U.S. citizens — that are not affiliated with the 9/11 attack, it’s not clear that their use is still protected by AUMF. Furthermore, the use of drone strikes in areas that are not currently in an armed conflict may run afoul of international law.
Who can be targeted in a drone strike?
Anyone deemed a terrorist threat by one of the eight agencies approved to nominate drone strike targets could end up on the final “kill list”. This includes U.S. citizens like Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in 2011.
The same document Obama released in 2016 to provide some clarity on the approval process for strikes also laid out the criteria for approval of a target. They include:
“near certainty that an identified [high-value terrorist] or other lawful terrorist target… is present;
“near certainty that non-combatants will not be injured or killed;
“an assessment that capture is not feasible at the time of the operation;
“an assessment that the relevant governmental authorities in the country where action is contemplated cannot or will not effectively address the threat to U.S. persons; and
“an assessment that no other reasonable alternatives to lethal action exist to effectively address the threat to U.S. persons.”
The U.S. can also approve drone strikes — called “signature strikes” — against individuals who behave in a way the agencies deem similar to a terrorist without actually knowing who these people are. American journalist Bilal Abdul Kareem has filed a lawsuit to clear his name after five attempts on his life, alleging that he was mistakenly put on the list for reporting closely on militants associated with al-Qaeda.
Who pilots a drone?
A common criticism of drone strikes is that it’s an easier call to send in a drone versus a manned airstrike when you don’t have any skin in the game, but it still takes a heavy psychological toll on pilots. The intelligence analysts who monitor war zones from afar and pilot drones are forced to watch, and often contribute to, the horrors of war for long remote shifts. Many struggle to transition quickly back to civilian life in their off-hours and are conflicted by the lack of context they’re given for some of the strikes they’re directed to lead.
What is a drone strike like from the ground?
Reading through the accounts of drone strike survivors is not for the faint of heart. The violence is sudden and terrible.
But as a common terror for civilians in parts of the Middle East and Africa, it’s important to understand the trauma that innocent men, women, and children face as a result of U.S. drone strikes. The Intercept reported at-length on a particularly harrowing account of a strike in Afghanistan that killed an entire family and mangled their four-year-old daughter.
It’s easy to read over reports of drone strikes and death tolls when they seem so far removed from the U.S. But as voters and engaged citizens, it’s important to be as aware as possible of the U.S. government’s military and paramilitary activities, no matter how far across the globe they stretch.
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