[obama flag]White House Photo The Obama administration plans to disclose how many people have been killed by US drones and counterterrorism strikes since 2009, the White House said Monday, in a bid to bolster credibility for the controversial programs. An assessment to be released in the coming weeks will cover both combatants and civilians the US believes have died as a result of strikes from the skies since President Barack Obama took office. It won't cover areas of "active hostilities" like Iraq and Syria, where US airstrikes are targeting the Islamic State, or Afghanistan. Instead, the report aims to illustrate the fatal toll of other US actions overseas to go after disparate terrorism threats. In recent years, the US has conducted counterterrorism strikes in Pakistan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia, among other places. Lisa Monaco, Obama's counterterrorism and homeland security adviser, was to announce the decision in a speech Monday at the Council on Foreign Relations. She called the forthcoming report part of Obama's "commitment to transparency" and added that the numbers would be disclosed annually in the future. "We know that not only is greater transparency the right thing to do, it is the best way to maintain the legitimacy of our counterterrorism actions and the broad support of our allies," Monaco said in excerpts of her speech obtained in advance by The Associated Press. [A U.S. Air Force MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle assigned to the California Air National Guard's 163rd Reconnaissance Wing flies near the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, California in this January 7, 2012 USAF handout photo obtained by Reuters February 6, 2013. REUTERS/U.S. Air Force/Tech. Sgt. Effrain Lopez/Handout ]White House Photo US lawmakers have long pressed for more transparency about how many civilians the US kills in drone strikes each year, but those calls for more disclosure have traditionally faced opposition from the US intelligence community. In 2014, senators dropped a demand for a public declaration. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said at the time that the administration was exploring ways to provide more information about the strikes while protecting classified information and confidential sources. NOW WATCH: IAN BREMMER: Greece is headed for a humanitarian disaster
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