The Obama administration will soon tell the world how many casualties of U.S. air and drone strikes there have been since 2009.
Lisa Monaco, President Obama’s top counterterrorism aide, said the first-of-its-kind report would tally up the number of targets and civilians killed by air and drone strikes.
The assessment of combatant and noncombatant casualties “will account for all counterterrorism actions outside the area of active hostilities, across the board,” Monaco said in a speech in Washington, D.C. She declined to list exactly which countries and areas will be included, but did say the report will be issued annually and updated regularly.
The assessment “is the best way to maintain the legitimacy of our counterterrorism actions and the broad support of our allies,” Monaco said. Additionally, it goes to Obama’s pledge to make his administration the most transparent in history.
The assessment has been in the works for a while and will be released in the next few weeks, she said. The administration has consulted with humanitarian groups to try and reach the most accurate figures, she said.
Monaco said coalition airstrikes against the self-proclaimed Islamic State have reached 11,000 since beginning in the summer of 2014, and now take out “one to two key” figures of the terrorist group daily.
“Our operations are keeping ISIL guessing,” she said. Monaco said the group, which now presents the gravest terrorist threat to the U.S., has lost 40 percent of the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria and approximately 10,0000 foot soldiers since the 66-nation, U.S.-led coalition began targeting the radical Sunni group.
Monaco’s publicizing of the upcoming casualty report coincides with a Pentagon announcement that it killed 150 terrorists in Somalia in a weekend airstrike.
Human Rights First welcomed news of the report but called on the White House to go even further.
“The targeted killing program has been shrouded in secrecy since its inception,” said Human Rights First’s Elisa Massimino. “Perhaps even more importantly, Americans must understand the legal basis on which these life-and-death judgments rest.”
For the data “to be meaningful, the administration must provide more than numbers,” the humanitarian group stated. “The administration should also provide information on how it defines and assesses who is a civilian and who is a combatant, which terrorist group the killed combatants were members of, and where the strikes occurred.”
California Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called for legislation making the new report mandatory.
“I do believe, however, there is still value in considering a statutory requirement to make this executive action permanent, ensuring that our commitment to transparency extends beyond the term of the current administration,” stated Schiff, who previously introduced legislation to require such a report.
