CENTCOM Improves Transparency of Yemen War Civilian Casualties, But Gaps Remain

David Sterman wrote an article for Just Security on the US Central Command's moves towards transparency in counterterrorism action in Yemen.

On January 7, United States Central Command (CENTCOM) published a press releasetitled “CENTCOM counterterrorism strikes in Yemen 2018 rollup,” providing data on the various counterterrorism strikes CENTCOM carried out in Yemen during 2018. The release, and CENTCOM’s reporting throughout the year in response to requests, represented an important step towards transparency compared to 2017. But it also revealed the extent to which even with better government reporting, the ability to understand the war the United States is waging in Yemen has deteriorated in recent years due to both U.S. policy and the character of the war itself.

According to CENTCOM, “U.S. Central Command conducted 36 total air strikes in Yemen in 2018, targeting al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and ISIS-Yemen.” Over the past year, CENTCOM repeatedly provided individualized date and location information (at least at the provincial level) for its strikes. Indeed, New America was able to obtain date and location information from CENTCOM for all 36 strikes CENTCOM said it conducted. This represents a major improvement in transparency compared to 2017, when CENTCOM routinely did not release individualized strike date and location information despite conducting 131 strikes over the year; more than twice the previous highest yearly number of strikes. Instead CENTCOM provided bulk numbers that could not be disaggregated by date and location, and did not respond to New America’s requests to provide such individualized information.