Index/Topics/Drone strike methodology

Drone strike methodology

Different organizations and fact-checks report varying figures due to differing definitions and disclosure sets, with some including only strikes in areas of active hostilities and others including covert CIA operations.

Fact-Checks

5 results
Jan 13, 2026
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Obama killed citizens in overseas strikes, and the mainstream media didn't report it

Barack Obama’s administration conducted hundreds of drone strikes that independent researchers and rights groups say killed civilians overseas and acknowledged that U.S. citizens were among those kill...

Jan 31, 2026
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How many people died in U.S. drone strikes during Obama's presidency according to independent monitors?

Independent monitors do not agree on a single death toll for drone strikes during ’s presidency, but authoritative NGO tallies cluster in the multiple-thousands: several independent trackers and analy...

Jan 30, 2026

What definitions and sources report counts of US drone strikes during the Trump administration?

The count of "" under the administration depends on who is counting, (drone-only, airstrikes, counterterrorism raids, or special-operations strikes), and the legal designation of the battlefield—facto...

Jan 24, 2026

How have legal authorities and policies for US drone strikes changed under each president since 2009?

From 2009 onward drone strike policy moved from the secretive expansion begun under Bush to a partly codified , then to a looser, more operationally permissive -era posture, and into a that has oscill...

Jan 14, 2026

How do official US casualty figures compare with independent investigations (e.g., Bellingcat, Airwars) for Obama's drone strikes?

Official U.S. tallies of civilian deaths from Obama-era drone strikes are consistently and substantially lower than independent investigations’ estimates, with watchdogs and OSINT teams finding higher...