Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
How many drone strikes have been conducted under President Biden's administration?
Executive summary
Available sources do not provide a single, definitive tally of how many drone strikes occurred during President Biden’s term; independent trackers report that U.S. strikes dropped to historic lows under Biden and a handful of high-profile strikes (for example the 2022 killing of Ayman al‑Zawahiri) are repeatedly cited [1]. Major outlets and watchdogs describe Biden’s 2021 policy changes that tightened rules and slowed strike rates, but they stop short of a consolidated total number of strikes [2] [1].
1. Biden presided over far fewer strikes than his predecessors
Multiple independent trackers and reporting indicate that U.S. air and drone strikes fell sharply during Biden’s presidency compared with the peaks under Obama and Trump; Airwars reports total declared U.S. airstrikes across monitored theatres fell from 441 in 2021 to a minimum of 36 in 2022, and notes only one acknowledged U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan in 2022 — the CIA strike that killed al‑Qaeda leader Ayman al‑Zawahiri — which Airwars highlights as a rare acknowledged action [1]. New America also frames the Biden years as lower‑intensity for drone operations overall, noting reduced activity in Pakistan and a low point in other theatres [3].
2. Administration policy changes explain much of the decline
Reporting explains the decline as partly deliberate: Biden ordered a classified policy to tighten approvals for lethal counterterrorism strikes outside traditional war zones, setting a “near certainty” civilian‑harm standard and requiring additional interagency signoffs — changes designed to limit strikes in places like Somalia, Yemen and Afghanistan [2]. The administration’s “over the horizon” approach and an internal review produced new Presidential Policy Memorandum (PPM) guidance intended to reduce the frequency and expand oversight of such strikes [2] [4].
3. Trackers disagree on counts, and no single source gives a comprehensive Biden total
Available sources emphasize that counting strikes is difficult and different organizations use different methods; Wikipedia’s overview points to Long War Journal, New America and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism as separate trackers that compile different tallies and casualty estimates, and warns precise counts are effectively impossible [5]. New America and Airwars present trend data and theatre‑specific counts rather than an administration‑wide total, so a single authoritative number for “drone strikes under Biden” is not published in these sources [3] [1] [5].
4. Some individual strikes and incidents are well documented
While aggregate tallies are unclear, some specific Biden‑era strikes are well documented in reporting: for example the July 2022 CIA drone strike that killed Ayman al‑Zawahiri is singled out as an acknowledged operation with no apparent civilian casualty allegations in Airwars’ account [1]. Other incidents, like the botched August 2021 strike in Afghanistan that the Pentagon later acknowledged killed 10 civilians including seven children, are likewise documented and raised political scrutiny of Biden’s counterterrorism methods [6].
5. Legal and civil‑liberties debate colors the reporting
Civil liberties groups and some analysts argue that the new PPM falls short of meaningful restraint because it leaves open permissive definitions (for example “imminence” or “collective self‑defense”), and called for more transparency; the ACLU framed the policy as incomplete and criticized exemptions for strikes in “collective self‑defense” [4]. Brookings scholars suggested even stricter “near certainty” standards to reduce civilian harm, underscoring that policy design — not just strike counts — matters to critics and advocates alike [7].
6. Regional patterns matter more than a single number
Reporting shows regional variation: Pakistan and Yemen saw long pauses predating Biden (no U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan since 2018 and Yemen since 2019 per some trackers cited by CNN), while Somalia saw fewer strikes under Biden compared with the Trump peak though activity did not drop to zero [2] [3]. That geographic detail is crucial: measuring Biden’s drone footprint requires aggregating disparate theatres tracked by different groups, which the available sources do not consolidate into one figure [2] [3].
Conclusion — what the sources allow you to say with confidence
Available reporting and trackers agree Biden oversaw a meaningful reduction in U.S. drone and airstrike tempo and instituted tighter internal rules [2] [1]. Available sources do not provide a single, authoritative total number of drone strikes during his administration; count estimates vary by tracker and theatre and are not combined into one definitive Biden‑era figure in these materials [5] [3] [1].