Drones
320 Articles
Senators Call on Obama Administration to Provide the Public More Information on Drone Strikes
Last week, just before the Thanksgiving break, Senators Wyden, Udall and Heinrich sent Attorney General Eric Holder an important Thank You note. In their Nov. 26 letter, the senators…
Decision Time: Key Issues in the U.S.-Afghan Bilateral Security Agreement
The U.S. and Afghanistan agreed this week on the terms for an extended U.S. military presence in Afghanistan after 2014.The Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), which the Loya Jirga…
HPSCI Rejects Drone Reporting Requirements in Intel Authorization Act
As Sarah Knuckey covered earlier this month in a post here on Just Security, the Senate Intelligence Committee included in the 2014 intelligence authorization bill requirements…
State Department Concludes Review of NGO Drone Strike Reports, Offers Public Response (Sort of)
The U.S. Department of State told reporters late last week that it had concluded its review of the Amnesty International and HRW targeted killing and drone strike reports. The…
Anonymous US Officials Admit CIA Accidentally Killed a Yemeni Child in a Drone Strike
Buried in a Los Angeles Times article yesterday was this remarkable government admission: In June, a drone-launched missile hit an SUV carrying an Al Qaeda commander in Yemen.…
Drone Reporting Requirement in the Intelligence Authorization Act and Congress’ Ability to Compel Public Disclosure
Last week, the Senate Intelligence Committee voted 13-2 to approve the 2014 Intelligence Authorization Act. Included in this appropriations bill is a new measure that would require…
Key Issues in the New Senate Bill to Require White House Drone Strike Casualty Reports
This week, the Senate Intelligence Committee approved the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014. The legislation contains an important section which would…
Pakistan Test Fires Missile to Take Down Drones
It might have been easy to doubt the veracity of the Pakistan government’s public protestations against US drone strikes in light of secret agreements between the two governments…
The Process of Transferring Drone Operations from the CIA to the Pentagon: Slow Track, Just Stalled, or Terminal?
On Tuesday evening, Foreign Policy published an exclusive report, with a headline suggesting that the administration has terminated the idea of transferring drone operations from…
Spy v. Spy?: The coming push to create an EU spy agency to counteract the NSA
In an interview on Monday, a senior EU official, Commissioner of Justice Viviane Reding unveiled, in broad brushstrokes, a proposal to create a spy agency to counteract the NSA.…
Report to the General Assembly on Armed Drones and the Right to Life (or drones should follow the law, not the other way around)
[Editorial note: Last week, the United Nations discussed two major reports on drones. Just Security’s coverage included posts by Philip Alston, Ryan Goodman (here, here), Kevin…
Invented (and Real) Criticisms of the Human Rights Watch Report on Targeted Killings in Yemen
The major reports by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) on targeted killings make valuable contributions to public debate (see Sarah Knuckey’s Guide to the…