![Trump signs order lifting reporting requirements for airstrikes in noncombat conflict zones](https://www.jurist.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/11/predator-drone.jpg)
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday reversing an Obama-era order requiring intelligence agencies to report deaths from airstrikes in noncombat conflict zones.
The new order revokes the requirement put into place by Barack Obama’s executive order that was originally intended to increase transparency between the government and the public after the Obama administration received heavy criticism for its use of drone strikes. The Director of National Intelligence was previously required to report the number of deaths from US operations in noncombat zones like Somalia.
However, Trump’s executive order left in the provision requiring the reporting for deaths in active conflict areas like Syria. The 2017 report indicated that there were 54 airstrikes outside of Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan with one civilian death resulting.
The lifting of the Obama-era order has been criticized as an attack on government transparency and holding the government accountable for its use of drone strikes in counter terrorism efforts.