US President Barack Obama is expected to deliver a major speech on national security when Thursday arrives in America.  In advance, his administration is formally acknowledging that four American Citizens were killed in Drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan.

One of them was deliberately targeted by the drone strike, according to Attorney General Eric Holder in a letter to senior lawmakers.  Radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in a drone strike in September 2011 in Yemen.  It’s the first time the US has acknowledged responsibility.

The letter also said that the United States had killed three other Americans: Samir Khan, who was killed in the same strike; Mr. Awlaki’s son Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, who was also killed in Yemen; and Jude Mohammed, who was killed in a strike in Pakistan.

“These individuals were not specifically targeted by the United States,” Holder wrote.

Critics aren’t swallowing Holder’s explanation.  “The Obama administration continues to claim authority to kill virtually anyone anywhere in the world under the ‘global battlefield’ legal theory and a radical redefinition of the concept of imminence,” said Amnesty International’s Zeke Johnson, who has advice for the President before his speech.

“President Obama should reject these concepts in his speech tomorrow and commit to upholding human rights, not just in word but in deed.”

President Obama is also expected to address the future of the Guantanamo Bay prison, where dozens of alleged terrorists are being held without trial.