In a stunning reversal that comes amid intense scrutiny on the U.S. government’s secretive drone program, the U.S. Air Force said late Friday that it will no longer disclose the number of drone strikes it launches in Afghanistan.
According to the Air Force Times, the Air Force Central Command (AFCENT) stopped disclosing information and statistics regarding drone strikes in Afghanistan. AFCENT has also apparently erased several months’ worth of data regarding the unmanned strikes in Afghanistan, the report alleges.
AFCENT began releasing monthly updates in October, in which authorities disclosed the number of “weapons releases” from remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), otherwise known as drones, in Afghanistan, as part of an effort to “provide more detailed information on RPA ops in Afghanistan.”
AFCENT had maintained that policy for November, December and January, but the February report, which was released Thursday, was reportedly scrubbed of that information, the Air Force Times reported.
In addition, data regarding drone strikes was removed from reports from prior months that had been posted to the Air Force website.
A Department of Defense spokesperson told the Air Force Times that it was not involved in the decision to remove the reports.
An AFCENT representative did not immediately return a request for comment.
The allegations come amid several weeks of significant scrutiny for the government’s controversial drone program.
Newly confirmed CIA Director John Brennan faced an intense confirmation hearing, as senators opposed to the agency’s use of drone strikes drilled him with questions about the legality of the strikes.
During the hearing, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) staged a 13-hour filibuster, in which he vocalized his concerns over the program and the potential for the government to utilize it against American citizens inside the U.S.
Paul took to the floor Wednesday morning to begin making his lengthy argument about what he has claimed is an unconstitutional expansion of the executive branch’s power.
Paul had threatened to block Brennan’s nomination unless the Obama administration responded to his concerns over whether there were any circumstances under which the administration believes it would be legal for the government to kill an American citizen on U.S. soil without due process of law.
Attorney General Eric Holder responded in a letter to Paul on Monday that the government could take such a step, if it were necessary to stop an attack on the U.S. that would be on the scale of 9/11 or Pearl Harbor.
