Amid a growing debate over U.S. policies for using drones, the Air Force has reportedly reversed its policy of sharing the number of drone strikes in Afghanistan and erased previously published statistics from its website.
The Air Force Times reports that the Air Force began publishing monthly data on airstrikes launched from remotely piloted aircraft in Afghanistan in October and made the statistics available in November, December and January.
The statistics report for February contained an “empty space” where the data on drone strikes had previously been and reports from previous months had been scrubbed of drone strike data, according to the paper.
Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Bill Speaks told the Air Force Times the Defense Department was not involved in the policy change. Air Forces Central Command did not respond to a request for comment.
