#solatia

The Defense Department — which also conducts drone strikes — has long paid "solatia," or condolence payments, to civilian victims of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. But the CIA's willingness to make such payments seemed to be acknowledged, if glancingly, for the first time only last year by agency director John Brennan during his confirmation hearing. In a written response to questions from the Senate Intelligence Committee, Brennan said that "in those rare instances" in which civilians are killed or injured from lethal strikes, "the U.S. government" will undertake "after-action reviews" and "where possible" work with local governments "to provide condolence payments to families of those killed."