Which specific drone strike incidents during Obama's presidency lacked prior congressional notification and what were their targets?

1. The legal and political framing: executive authority versus Congress

The core fact in reporting and scholarship is that Obama’s administrations treated many overseas drone and airstrike operations as legally permissible under existing authorizations—chiefly the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF)—rather than seeking fresh congressional approval for each campaign or strike; analysts and fact-checkers show the administration did not obtain contemporaneous congressional approval for many strikes and broader air campaigns, a practice later presidents continued ^{[1] [2]}.

2. How scholars and watchdogs described the pattern

Policy research and investigative outlets document a large increase in strikes under Obama, arguing the administration carried out many covert and overt strike operations with limited legislative oversight; the Center for a New American Security, for example, highlights that drone strikes grew dramatically and that Congress largely acquiesced while occasional efforts increased transparency and oversight after 2013 ^[2].

3. Public reporting and fact-checks on scale and authorization

Fact-checking and summaries published after Obama’s presidency state he “did not get congressional approval at the time” for many strikes and air campaigns and relied on older AUMF statutes as legal cover; Snopes summarizes that Obama ordered operations—including large numbers of air and drone strikes—without seeking new Congressional votes and that this legal approach persisted into later administrations ^[1].

4. What the sources say (and do not say) about specific incidents

Available sources discuss the broader practice—large numbers of strikes, reliance on the 2001 AUMF, and tensions over oversight—but do not provide a sourced, incident-by-incident roster of strikes that explicitly lacked prior congressional notification. The reporting cites aggregate numbers and programmatic critiques rather than listing individual strikes with documented non-notification (not found in current reporting; ^[1]; p1_s3).

5. Examples often referenced in public debate (context, not a definitive list)

Coverage points to major theaters where the Obama administration conducted strikes—Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and later campaigns in Iraq and Syria—and notes that Obama authorized strikes in Iraq and Syria without seeking separate congressional approval in some high-profile moments; these are cited as representative of the administration’s approach rather than as an exhaustive catalog of unnotified incidents ^{[3] [1] [2]}.

6. Congressional response and oversight politics

Scholarly work finds that Congress pushed for more oversight after public controversies (for example around CIA drone program disclosure and confirmation hearings), achieving incremental transparency but not full, case-by-case control; the tug-of-war resulted in limited changes rather than a wholesale shift to requiring congressional pre-approval for strikes ^{[2] [4]}.

7. Interpretations and competing perspectives

One perspective, reflected in legal commentary and administration statements, held that limited strikes and counterterror operations fall within the president’s war powers and existing authorizations; critics argue this enabled “perpetual” or expansive use of force without democratic debate. Sources document both the administration’s legal rationale and scholars’ concerns about democratic accountability ^{[3] [2]}.

8. Limitations and where the record is thin

Existing reporting and the provided sources give strong evidence of a pattern—widespread reliance on older AUMFs and limited contemporaneous congressional approval—but they do not offer an authoritative, sourced list of each drone strike that lacked prior congressional notification. Any definitive incident-by-incident list would require primary government records or investigative databases not present in the supplied material (not found in current reporting; ^[1]; p1_s3).

9. What a careful next step would require

To answer “which specific drone strike incidents lacked prior congressional notification and what were their targets” definitively, researchers need declassified strike logs, internal White House/DoD/CIA notification records, or independent databases cross-referenced with contemporaneous congressional notifications—materials beyond the scope of the sources provided here (not found in current reporting; ^[1]; p1_s3).

Sources cited: Snopes fact-check/overview of strikes and authorization practice ^[1]; CNAS analysis of drone program, oversight, and congressional politics ^[2]; PBS reporting on Obama’s authority to act without new congressional approval in Syria/Iraq contexts ^[3].