US senators remove requirement for disclosure over drone strike victims | World news | theguardian.com

At the behest of the director of national intelligence, US senators have removed a provision from a major intelligence bill that would require the president to publicly disclose information about drone strikes and their victims.

The bill authorizing intelligence operations in fiscal 2014 passed out of the Senate intelligence committee in November, and it originally required the president to issue an annual public report clarifying the total number of “combatants” and “noncombatant civilians” killed or injured by drone strikes in the previous year. It did not require the White House to disclose the total number of strikes worldwide.

But the Guardian has confirmed that Senate leaders have removed the language as they prepare to bring the bill to the floor for a vote, after the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, assured them in a recent letter that the Obama administration was looking for its own ways to disclose more about its highly controversial drone strikes.

“The executive branch is currently exploring ways in which it can provide the American people more information about the United States’ use of force outside areas of active hostilities,” Clapper wrote to the leaders of the Senate committee, Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California and Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, on 18 April.

Complete story at - US senators remove requirement for disclosure over drone strike victims | World news | theguardian.com

Seattle police break promise to return drones to manufacturer — RT USA

Over a year after public outcry led the Seattle Police Department to promise to return its two drones to their manufacturer, the drones remain in its possession, albeit grounded.

The Seattle PD purchased two Draganflyer X-6 Helicopter Tech unmanned aerial vehicles for $82,000 in 2010, funded by grants from the Department of Homeland Security. Neither the city council nor the public knew of the police drone program until a 2012 lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation over the department’s application for operation certificates from the Federal Aviation Administration in 2010.

The EFF lawsuit revealed that Seattle police received Urban Area Security Initiative funding from DHS not only to buy the drones, but to pay for UAV flight training and ground school for police officers. Both of those training programs are required to receive FAA certification. The resulting public outcry over the lawsuit forced the mayor to pull the plug on the program in February 2013.

“It was time to end the unmanned aerial vehicle program, so that SPD can focus its resources on public safety and the community building work that is the department's priority," the mayor said to the media at the time. “The vehicles will be returned to the vendor.”

Seattle police break promise to return drones to manufacturer — RT USA