Drone Strike Deaths Raise Questions

Published April 24, 2015 at 1:33 PM EDT

President Barack Obama makes a statement in the Brady Briefing room at the White House April 23, 2015 in Washington, DC. President Obama talked about a US drone strike that targeted a suspected al Qaeda compound in Pakistan but inadvertently killed an American and Italian being held hostage by the group. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Italy says it wants more information from the United States about how an Italian aid worker was killed in a U.S. drone strike on the Afghan-Pakistani border.

President Barack Obama revealed yesterday that Italian Giovanni Lo Porto and American Warren Weinstein, both held hostage by al-Qaida, were accidentally killed during the drone strikes in January.

Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni says Italy takes note of Obama’s “maximum transparency” in assuming responsibility for the deaths, but he says Italy wants more information about what happened.

Here & Now’s Robin Young speaks to security analyst Jim Walsh with MIT’s Security Studies Program about the issue of unintended drone casualties and whether this incident will change the way the U.S. uses drones.

Guest

Jim Walsh, Here & Now security analyst, an expert in international security at MIT’s Security Studies Program. He tweets @DrJimWalshMIT.