President Joe Biden signed a classified policy to add restrictions on how the United States approves counterterrorism drone strikes.
The White House sent the policy to the Pentagon and the CIA on Friday, the New York Times reported later that day. It institutionalizes various temporary limits Biden implemented in the first days of his administration.
Moving forward, Biden will have to approve before a suspected terrorist can be added to the list of those who can be targeted for “direct action.” This is similar to how President Barack Obama handled his second term, while President Donald Trump had given greater power to commanders in the field.
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Officials will have to have “near certainty” that a target is a terrorist and “near certainty” that no civilians will be hurt or killed before they can launch a strike. It also promotes the capturing instead of killing of terrorists, which affects the feasibility of such an operation.
“President Biden’s formal counterterrorism guidance directs his Administration to be discerning and agile in protecting Americans against evolving global terrorist challenges,” Liz Sherwood-Randall, Biden’s homeland security adviser, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “Additionally, the President’s guidance on the use of lethal action and capture operations outside areas of active hostilities requires that U.S. counterterrorism operations meet the highest standards of precision and rigor, including for identifying appropriate targets and minimizing civilian casualties.”
Sherwood-Randall oversaw a 20-month review that led to these changes, though they only apply to strikes in areas that the U.S. does not consider to be “areas of active hostilities.”
Only Iraq and Syria, where U.S. forces and their partner are fighting against the remaining Islamic State militants, are currently deemed to be one of those areas where these changes will not apply. It also does not apply to strikes that are carried out in defense of partner forces. It also does not apply to strikes that are carried out in defense of partner forces.
It will, however, apply to countries where drone strikes have been conducted in recent years, including Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen.
The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.
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The administration has touted its over-the-horizon capabilities — the ability to launch drone strikes without having people present to collect real-time intelligence — specifically in Afghanistan, following the president’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces after just about two decades.
The U.S. has conducted one such strike in the year since U.S. troops departed in August 2020, and it led to the death of Ayman Al Zawahiri, the successor of Osama bin Laden in al Qaeda’s leadership.
