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U.S. President Barack Obama has outlined a new policy the controversial use drones to kill suspected terrorists. Drones are unmanned aircraft that can be controlled the U.S. as well as bases in or war zones. Both the U.S. military and the CIA use drones their operations. Around 800 drone strikes have taken place Afghanistan the past two years. The CIA's use drones is shrouded secrecy. Experts believe the agency has conducted 350 drone strikes in Pakistan and fewer than 100 Yemen and Somalia since 2004. Around 3,000 people have been killed drones since 2004. The New America Foundation estimates that roughly 21 per cent of those killed were civilians.

President Obama said the U.S. would now only use drone strikes as a last resort, when there is a “continuing and imminent” threat to the American people, and that there must be “near certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured". Kenneth Roth Human Rights Watch said: “A mere promise that the US will work established guidelines that remain secret provides little confidence that [it] is complying international law.” Shahzad Akbar, a Pakistani lawyer working drone victims’ families, said: “The problem remains the same because there is no transparency and accountability the CIA because it will remain inside the system and not be visible to outsiders.”