Submitted by Mike Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg [7]
The 1984 Playbook Has Arrived: U.S. Air Force Deletes Drone Strike Data
If you recall, Winston Smith’s job in George Orwell’s classic novel 1984 was to go into historical records and literally change history. He would alter photographs and text in the archives so that history would always portray “The Party” in a positive light and as omniscient. Well folks, this behavior has arrived in America and we better nip it in the bud fast before one of these drones is flying right over our heads. [8] From the Air Force Times:
As scrutiny and debate over the use of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) by the American military increased last month, the Air Force reversed a policy of sharing the number of airstrikes launched from RPAs in Afghanistan and quietly scrubbed those statistics from previous releases kept on their website.
Last October, Air Force Central Command started tallying weapons releases from RPAs, broken down into monthly updates. At the time, AFCENT spokeswoman Capt. Kim Bender said the numbers would be put out every month as part of a service effort to “provide more detailed information on RPA ops in Afghanistan.”
The Air Force maintained that policy for the statistics reports for November, December and January. But the February numbers, released March 7, contained empty space where the box of RPA statistics had previously been.
Additionally, monthly reports hosted on the Air Force website have had the RPA data removed — and recently.
On Sunday, U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the decision was made to remove the statistics because the data disproportionately places emphasis on the airstrikes. The majority of the RPA missions are for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, with a small percent involving airstrikes.
The data removal coincided with increased scrutiny on RPA policy caused by President Obama’s nomination of John Brennan to head the CIA. Brennan faced opposition in the Senate over the use of RPAs and his defense of their legality in his role as Obama’s deputy national security adviser.
Nothing to see here folks, move along. Literally.
Full article here [9].