The 5 biggest takeaways from leaked documents about America's drone war

A U.S. "Predator" drone.
(Image credit: JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)

Classified documents detailing the Obama administration's process of creating kill lists and initiating drone strikes were leaked to The Intercept by "a source within the intelligence community" and published online Thursday.

"This outrageous explosion of watchlisting — of monitoring people and racking and stacking them on lists, assigning them numbers, assigning them 'baseball cards,' assigning them death sentences without notice, on a worldwide battlefield — it was, from the very first instance, wrong," the source, who remained anonymous for fear of prosecution, told The Intercept.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.