In the State of the Union address, President Barack Obama made a singular reference to unmanned aerial vehicles, more colloquially referred to as “drones.” During his remarks on American values, Obama said, “As Americans, we respect human dignity, even when we’re threatened, which is why I’ve prohibited torture, and worked to make sure our use of new technology like drones is properly constrained.”

That sounds good in theory, but is it really true in practice? Does the United States “properly constrain” drones?