The U.S. use of drone strikes to combat terrorism-related threats across the globe has received its fair share of condemnation from the general public amid speculation on the civilian death toll. While the public is notified about of the successes that come about from drone use, we are largely kept in the dark about the deaths of civilians and noncombatants that result inadvertently from the targeted drone strikes.

However, says Lisa Monaco, a counterterrorism and homeland security adviser, the Obama administration is slated to release how many terrorism suspects and civilian casualties the United States has killed in its drone strikes since 2009, which would set a precedent in terms of transparency for the controversial practice.

The pledge to reveal these records comes almost in concurrence with the announcement made by the Pentagon on Monday regarding more than 150 al Shabaab militants killed in Somalia by a U.S. air strike consisting of “both manned aircraft and unmanned MQ-9 Reaper drones.” The site of the air strike was an al Shabaab training camp “about 120 miles north of the capital, Mogadishu,” and the military action was somewhat of a pre-emptive strike; the facility had been under closer surveillance because of officials’ belief that an attack on the United States or U.S. allies was imminent. Given the number of believed casualties the use of military force in this situation could easily be considered a win, but the issue is that we have not been given all of the facts.

When officials announce supposedly successful drone campaigns, it raises the question of what we consider to be a military success. On the one hand, the use of drones removes the need for boots on the ground and needless casualties on the U.S. side. At the same time, war and conflict has at the very least two sides, and we cannot just accept the narrative of the U.S military taking out the bad guys without any losses.

The bottom line is that if we are supposed to be at war with terrorists then we should only be killing terrorists, and omitting the extent to which our nation’s military has deviated from that goal does not negate accountability or excuse wrongdoing.

Monaco said “the expanded transparency would bolster public support for drone strikes,” but the focus should not be on getting the American people on board with a possibly problematic military practice. The goal should cultivating a culture of accountability for the U.S military in its actions both domestic and abroad, and this has been a goal that has been hampered by the withholding of information such as the death toll caused by U.S drone strikes.

That said, releasing the number of casualties as a result of U.S drone strikes is a step in the right direction toward increased transparency that will hopefully result in renewed trust of the U.S military and acknowledgment of necessary improvement in our current practices.