What is the total number of drone strikes attributed to the Obama administration by country?
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Executive summary
Public tallies of strikes under President Barack Obama vary by tracker and by definition: the Bureau of Investigative Journalism counts 563 air strikes "largely by drones" against Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen during his two terms [1], while U.S. intelligence reports tallied 473 strikes between Jan. 20, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2015 in areas the government labeled "areas of active hostilities" [2]; available reporting does not provide a single, uncontested per-country breakdown across all types of strikes and agencies in the sources provided.
1. The headline numbers — two competing public tallies
The most-cited public figures diverge because they use different methodologies: the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reports a total of 563 strikes "largely by drones" focused on Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen across Obama’s two terms [1], while the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (reported via secondary coverage) counted 473 strikes during 2009–2015 in zones the U.S. characterized as active combat areas, a tally that included strikes in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria as well as the other theaters [2].
2. What "by country" means — definitions and limits matter
Sources emphasize that disagreement is often definitional: some tallies count only CIA drone strikes outside declared battlefields (which focused heavily on Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia), other counts include military airstrikes in active war zones such as Afghanistan, Iraq and later Syria, and still others combine different strike authorities and platforms into a single figure [2] [1]. Because the provided reporting mixes "air strikes largely by drones" with broader "strikes in areas of active hostilities," there is no single per-country breakdown that can be asserted from these sources alone without adopting one tracker’s methodology [1] [2].
3. Country patterns the sources agree on
Despite methodological differences, the sources converge on the geography: Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia were the primary theaters for covert, CIA‑style drone strikes attributed to the Obama years, and those three countries account for the bulk of the Bureau’s 563‑strike total [1]. U.S. government reporting and analysts also highlight Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria for strikes conducted under military authorities in active combat zones during parts of Obama’s presidency, which explains ODNI’s inclusion of those countries in its 473‑strike figure [2].
4. Civilian tolls, secrecy and competing agendas
Trackers disagree not only on counts but on casualty tallies and transparency: the Bureau estimated between 384 and 807 civilian deaths in the three main countries it tracked [1], New America and other trackers maintain databases that expand or contract totals depending on whether they include certain military operations or only covert strikes [3]. Critics argue U.S. official counts understate civilian harm because of narrow combatant definitions and secrecy surrounding CIA operations, while defenders point to legal and operational constraints and the claimed effectiveness of targeted strikes [2] [4].
5. What can be stated with confidence from the provided reporting
From the sources supplied: one reputable investigative tracker (the Bureau of Investigative Journalism) attributes 563 largely‑drone air strikes to the Obama administration focused on Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen [1]; U.S. intelligence reporting summarized by public outlets recorded 473 strikes from 2009–2015 in areas the government designated as active hostilities, which encompassed Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria alongside other theaters [2]. Beyond those reported aggregates, the provided documents do not supply a single, authoritative per‑country breakout that reconciles different definitions and agencies, so any precise country-by-country totals require choosing a specific tracker and accepting its methodological limits [1] [2].