Cora Currier, ProPublica

At a recent conference on drones, manufacturers argue that drones don’t kill; the people ordering them around do.

Last year, legislators in the House drafted a bill that would require more transparency and evaluation of security and all foreign aid programs. But the Obama administration successfully pushed to have security assistance exempted from the bill’s requirements

Last month, the White House told ProPublica it was still “looking into” the apparent massacre at the hands of U.S.-allied Afghan fighters in late 2001. Now it says it has concluded its investigation—but won’t make it public.

In a major national security speech this spring, President Obama said again and again that the U.S. is at war with “Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their associated forces.” So who exactly are those associated forces? It’s a secret.

The U.S. drone war remains cloaked in secrecy, and as a result, questions swirl around it. Who exactly can be targeted? When can a U.S. citizen be killed? Another, perhaps less frequently asked question: What happens when innocent civilians are killed in drone strikes?

The CIA says it is "out of the detention business," as John Brennan, Obama's pick to head the agency, recently put it. But the CIA's prisons left some unfinished business.

The details of the U.S. campaign against militants in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia — a centerpiece of the Obama administration's national security approach — remain shrouded in secrecy. Here's a guide to what we know — and what we don't know.

The carriers instead insist that emergency standards should be voluntary, an approach the Federal Communications Commission has gone along with.

Administration officials regularly celebrate the drone war’s apparent successes— often avoiding details or staying anonymous, but claiming tacit credit for the U.S. And when it comes to details of that process, the administration clams up. 

Inspired by The New York Times' exposé on Obama's "secret 'kill list,'" we collected some of the best pieces of watchdog journalism on Obama's national security policies.