# Obama issues Presidential Policy Guidance on targeted strikes outside war zones

Date: 2013

## The fact

On 23 May 2013 President Obama addressed the National Defense University and put in place Presidential Policy Guidance on procedures for lethal action against terrorist targets outside areas of active hostilities.

## Context

CIA and JSOC strikes sat as parent practice from the first term. Neighbouring NSA June 2013 is a neighbour secrecy file. He did not sit as every drone operator. Brennan and DoD share the file.

Afghan surge 2009 is a parent force file. NSA June 2013 is a neighbour disclosure. Libya 2011 is a neighbour declared campaign.

A United States president proposes, signs, vetoes, and directs the executive. Congress enacts statutes. The Federal Reserve, states, courts, and later presidents share later series. Office-holding is not authorship of every later outcome. Allegation is not a completed judgment. Legislative achievements require shared congressional attribution. He does not set the federal funds rate, write a state Medicaid waiver by himself, or convert a 2009 oath into a unique 2016 uninsured coefficient. A signature is not unique authorship of a House and Senate text. A troop order is not authorship of every later round. He is not president as of 27 August 2026. [Donald Trump](/people/mig-donald-trump) is president from 20 January 2025. [Joe Biden](/people/env-person-joe-biden) was president 2021–2025.

## Evidence and sources

White House (archives) carries the official instrument or communique. BBC records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is [humanitarian access](/drivers/humanitarian-access): a completed targeting-guidance instrument that continued strikes outside declared theatres.

## What is established and what is not

Established: 23 May 2013 PPG/NDU counterterrorism instrument, independently reported.

Not established: a unique later Yemen or Pakistan civilian-death coefficient from that Thursday, or that every later strike uniquely sat outside the PPG.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

CIA and DoD execute. Partner governments share airspace weather.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Obama issues Presidential Policy Guidance on targeted strikes outside war zones, not a later speech about Obama issues Presidential Policy Guidance on targeted strikes outside war zones.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Obama issues Presidential Policy Guidance on targeted strikes outside war zones on 2013-05-23 is not a licence to treat every later White House (archives) communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Obama issues Presidential Policy Guidance on targeted strikes outside war zones into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He issued the guidance. CIA and DoD execute. Partner governments share airspace weather. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Barack Obama: https://factrail.ai/people/barack-obama

## Drivers

- Humanitarian Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/humanitarian-access
- Political Polarization: https://factrail.ai/drivers/political-polarization

## Sources

- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-22632083
- https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/05/23/remarks-president-national-defense-university

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/us-obama-drones-2013