Key Findings
- The CIA drone campaign began in Yemen in 2002 and in Pakistan in 2004.
- Drone strikes in Pakistan rose steadily under President Barack Obama in 2009, to their peak of 122 in 2010.
- Starting in 2011, strikes in Pakistan began to decline, while they spiked in Yemen, particularly as the Obama administration began using drones to support the Yemeni government's battles against al Qaeda-linked militants in 2012.
- The civilian and "unknown" casualty rate from drone strikes has fallen steadily over the life of the program.
- The casualty rate in Pakistan for civilians and "unknowns" -- those who are not identified in news reports definitively as either militants or civilians -- was around 40% under President George W. Bush. It has come down to about 7% under President Obama.
- Only 58 known militant leaders have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan, representing just 2% of the total deaths.
- In 2012, 2% of the drones' victims were characterized as civilians in news reports and 9% were described in a manner that made it ambiguous whether they were militants or civilians.
- In 2013, civilian casualties were at their lowest ever. That is partly the result of a sharply reduced number of drone strikes in Pakistan -- 26 in 2013, compared with a record 122 in 2010 -- and also more precise targeting.
- The five and a half month pause in drone strikes at the beginning of 2014 was the longest pause in the campaign’s history since 2006.
- Of the strikes with a discernable target, drones targeted the Taliban the most frequently -- killing between 693 and 1,288 Taliban militants as of June 25, 2014. Between 215 and 397 al Qaeda militants and between 162 and 275 Haqqani network militants were killed in the campaign as of the same date.
- The CIA drone campaign began in Yemen in 2002 and in Pakistan in 2004.
- Starting in 2011, strikes in Pakistan began to decline, while they spiked in Yemen, particularly as the Obama administration began using drones to support the Yemeni government's battles against al Qaeda-linked militants in 2012.
- The civilian and "unknown" casualty rate from drone strikes has fallen steadily over the life of the program.
- The civilian and "unknown" casualty rate over the life of the drone campaign averages 14-15%.
- U.S. drones have killed at least 35 key al Qaeda militants, including the Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki on September 30, 2011, and Fahd al-Quso, who was suspected of involvement in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.
- In 2013, civilian casualties are at their highest ever. This is largely due to a single drone strike that killed between 11 and 15 people as they headed to a wedding on December 12.
- Of the strikes with a discernable target, drones targeted al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula the most frequently, killing between 592 and 769 militants as of June 25, 2014. Ansar al-Sharia was the next most-targeted group in Yemen, with between 73 and 114 militants killed by drone strikes so far.
- U.S. operations began in Somalia in 2003 but drone strikes did not start until 2011.
- Under President Bush, operations in Somalia were ground raids and non-drone air strikes but once President Obama took office, the number of other operations trailed off in favor of drones.
- There have only been 2 instances where civilian deaths were report, and both were non-drone strikes under President Bush.
- 2007 and 2015 are the most active years for each type of strike; 2007 had the most non-drone strikes and 2015 has had the most drone strikes.
