The New York Times had gotten hold of a letter from Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. disclosing that the Obama administration, on purpose, killed Anwar al-Awlaki in a drone strike in Yemen and Pakistan, September 2011. Mr. Al-Awlaki is a radical Muslim member of the clergy.

The disclosure happened just in time before President Barack Obama was set to give an important speech about national security.

The controversy had been extensively reported through different media, but the administration kept mum on the issue. It had been adamant not to pay attention to the controversy.

The letter by Mr. Holder went into details of Mr. Awlaki's death. He said that the operation that caused the life of the cleric remained classified and strict effort was done from leaking it to the public. According to Mr. Holder, the Obama administration targeted Mr. Awlaki for his "direct actions in planning the attacks against the United States and not merely for his violent words against the U.S.

Mr. Holder explained that Mr. Awlaki "not only planned the attempted bombing of Detroit-bound airliner on December 25, 2009, but also played a key role in an October 2010 plot to bomb cargo planes bound for the United States." This allegation had been extensively argued about in courts including the accusations that Mr. Awlaki had also participation in the development and testing of the bombs.

As Mr. Holder puts it, "Moreover, information that remains classified to protect sensitive sources and method evidences Awlaki's involvement in the planning of numerous other plots against U.S. and Western interests and makes clear he was continuing to plot attacks when he was killed. The decision to target Anwar al-waki was lawful, it was considered, and it was just."

Mr Obama acknowledged the death of Mr. Awlaki on September 30, 2011, and gave credit to the United States intelligence agencies. He, however, did not mention that the method of killing Mr. Alwaki was through a drone strike.

The letter by Atty. Holder also revealed that the administration killed three other Americans namely, Samir Khan, Mr. Awlaki's son Adburahman al-Awlaki and Jude Mohammed. Mr. Khan and Adburahman al-Awlaki were both killed in Yemen, while Mr. Mohammed was killed in a drone strike in Pakistan.

Mr. Holder wrote that "These inviduals were not specifically targeted by the United States."

Meanwhile, Mr, Mohammed's death was reported by local media in Raleigh, North Carolina, but his death was never acknowledged by the administration until Wednesday. According to local reports, Mr. Mohammed was killed in a November 2011 drone strike in South Waziristan, one of Pakistan's tribal regions. It was his wife who called his mother and confirmed his death.

In a speech given at the Northwestern University Law School in 2012, Mr. Holder said that the administration's fundamental view is to target American citizens "who are deemed to be operational terrorists, who pose an imminent threat of violent attack and whose capture is almost impossible."

Zeke Johnson, an official with Amnesty International, expressed doubt about Mr. Holder's letter. "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. President Obama should reject these concepts in his speech tomorrow and commit to upholding human rights, not just in word but in deed."