Trump administration alters Obama-era bill on civilian casualties in U.S. airstrikes

The Trump administration has revoked part of an Obama-era executive order mandating an annual accounting of how many civilians have died in military and CIA strikes, reducing the potential for public scrutiny of counterterrorism activities overseas.

The White House said in a statement that the change affected one section of President Barack Obama’s 2016 order on civilian casualties, which was part of an effort to provide a clearer picture of the attacks.

The section that was rescinded required an annual public report tallying how many counterterrorism strikes involving drones or manned aircraft occurred outside war zones, as well as estimating how many civilians were killed.

View the complete March 6 article by Missy Ryan on The Washington Post website here.