White House Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco announced during a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations on Mar. 7 that the statistics on number of people killed by U.S. drone strikes will become public.
By United States Air Force [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Monaco said the policy shift is the “best way to maintain the legitimacy of (U.S.) counter-terrorism actions and the broad support of (U.S.) allies.”
Information will be backdated to the beginning of President Barack Obama’s administration in 2009 and includes casualty totals from the Central Intelligence Agency’s drone program in Yemen and Pakistan. Data from Iraq and Syria are excluded as those countries are considered “areas of active hostilities.”