In his May 28 foreign policy address to the graduating Army cadets at West Point, President Barack Obama said the U.S. “must be more transparent about both the basis of our counterterrorism actions and the manner in which they are carried out.” He further promised to “turn to our military to take the lead and provide information to the public about our efforts.”

There is, in fact, an easy way for the Department of Defense to fulfill the president’s wishes. It could release redacted investigations of incidents in which civilians were killed during combat engagements involving the U.S. military. Although this is not well known, the DoD has conducted thousands of these investigations, generally in a thorough and professional manner. More important, most of them are already releasable by request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Releasing the investigations promises several benefits. It would contradict the claims that the U.S. isn’t concerned about civilian casualties or holding its service members accountable. It would also counter terrorist propaganda. In the wake of a drone strike, if the military fails to provide its version of events — an accurate and thorough version that it takes great pains to obtain — those hostile to U.S. interests inevitably will. It’s past time for the U.S. to regain the reputation for accountability and transparency that it need not have lost in the first place.

For the U.S. military, conducting investigations while in an active combat zone is nothing new. Civilian colleagues are often surprised when they learn from me that I spent my time in Iraq as an Army JAG conducting investigations. In fact, about 40 percent (if not more) of my time was devoted to ensuring that investigations were properly initiated, conducted, reviewed and completed.

What did our unit investigate? Per our commander’s directive, we investigated any incident that involved our unit and serious injury to or death of a civilian. It didn’t matter whether U.S. forces or insurgents caused the alleged injury or death. The primary purpose of the investigations was to document as fully and accurately as possible what happened, where, when, how and why and whether there were any lessons learned or other follow-on action warranted.