Summary Expected to announce more judicious use of drone attacks and new engagement with allies.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is set to at least partially bring out into the open some components of the US-directed drone program, a key component of counterterrorism strategy, as he outlines the contours of the continuing threat to American security.
On the eve of the president s speech at the National Defense University, the Obama administration revealed for the first time that a fourth American citizen had been killed in secretive drone strikes abroad.
The killings of three other Americans in counterterror operations since 2009 were widely known before a letter from Attorney General Eric Holder to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy acknowledged the four deaths.
The speech Thursday also is expected to reaffirm his 2008 campaign promise to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, where terror suspects have been held. The speech will announce the resumption of transfers from the prison to other countries.
The White House said Wednesday that Obama s speech coincides with the signing of new "presidential policy guidance" on when the U.S. can use drone strikes.
Drafts of the guidance reviewed by counterterrorism officials gave control of drone strikes outside Pakistan and Yemen to the U.S. military, enshrining into policy what is already common practice, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the proposed changes. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the changes publicly.
Chief among the speech s topics, officials said, is the administration s expanded use of unmanned spy drones to kill hundreds of people in Pakistan, Yemen and other places where terrorists have taken refuge.
Obama has pledged to be more open with the public about the scope of the drone strikes. But a growing number of lawmakers in Congress are seeking to limit U.S. authorities that support the deadly drone strikes, which have targeted a wider range of threats than initially anticipated.
The president is expected to talk generally about the need for greater transparency in the drone strikes and may allude to the desire to give greater responsibility for those operations to the military. But he is likely to tread carefully on an issue that involves classified CIA operations.
The speech comes amid growing impatience in Congress with the sweeping authority it gave the president after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in light of the targeting of suspected terrorists with lethal drone strikes.
Republicans and Democrats fear that they have given the president a blank check for using military force worldwide.
Shifting the responsibility of some of the drone program from the Centaral Intelligence Agency to the military has given Congress greater oversight of the secretive program and members say they want even more.
Under the draft guidance, the CIA drone program would remain up and running, to target al-Qaida in Pakistan s tribal areas, with U.S. troops drawing down in Afghanistan and concern rising that al-Qaida might return in greater numbers to the region.
The military and the CIA currently work side by side in Yemen, with the CIA flying its drones over the northern region out of a covert base in Saudi Arabia, and the military flying its unmanned aerial vehicles from Djibouti.
Obama "believes that we need to be as transparent about a matter like this as we can, understanding that there are national security implications to this issue and to the broader issues involved in counterterrorism policy," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Wednesday.
"He thinks (this) is an absolutely valid and legitimate and important area of discussion and debate and conversation, and that it is his belief that there need to be structures in place that remain in place for successive administrations," Carney said.
"So that in the carrying out of counterterrorism policy, procedures are followed that allow it to be conducted in a way that ensures that we re keeping with our traditions and our laws."
