WASHINGTON _ After escalating one of the most lethal covert operations in U.S. history, President Barack Obama finally made a public estimate of the civilian cost of the nation's secret drone program, which has targeted Islamic militants in remote corners of the globe.
The White House said Friday that somewhere between 64 and 116 civilians had been wrongly killed in 473 drone strikes launched by CIA and U.S. military special operators between Jan. 20, 2009, when Obama was inaugurated, and Dec. 31 of last year. The disclosure shed light on the shadowy counterterrorism campaign that has revolutionized modern warfare.
Those strikes killed between 2,372 and 2,581 militants, officials said.
"We acknowledge these assessments may be imperfect," said a senior administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. Determining exact figures is difficult because drone strikes frequently take place in 'nonpermissive environments,' " the official said.
The administration also shed light on the legal underpinnings of how the U.S. government is authorized to remotely kill militants based on top-secret evidence in countries where the U.S. has not declared war: Yemen, Pakistan, Libya and Somalia.
Until now, those matters were all hidden from public view. The administration had, in most cases, refused to acknowledge the existence of the drone program or answer questions about how determinations were made about who is targeted for death by drone.
The only disclosures of innocent people killed have come from independent sources or people on the ground, which has presented a challenge because strikes occur almost exclusively inside poor, isolated and politically powerless areas.
At the same time the casualty estimate was released, Obama issued an executive order that calls for protective measures for civilians and requires future administrations to release an estimate of civilian casualties each year.
