since osama bin laden. the breaking news this hour, we're learning more about the air strike in yemen that killed anwar al-awlaki. first, a reminder of why this american born cleric was so dangerous. president obama says he took the lead in planning to murder americans. he's been linked to those terror suspects of the decade including the so-called underwear bomber, the accused ft. hood attacker, three of the 9/11 hijackers and the man who allegedly tried to blow up a car in times square in new york. we have in depth coverage of the mission to kill al-awlaki and the implications. first, to our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. >> several administration officials say it was a cia hit. the cia and pentagon had been working with the yemenese for nearly two years to kill anwar al-awlaki. >> we had always had tremendous concern that after getting bin laden, that someone like al-awlaki was a primary target because of his continuing efforts to plan attacks against the united states. >> several u.s. officials tell cnn it was a joint effort between the pentagon and cia working with the yemenese. a cia drone fired a missed at a convoy driving 80 miles east of the capital. awlaki was in one of the cars. sources say the u.s. military also provided crucial targeting information. essentially trekking al-awlaki at all times through a variety of sensors, officials will not say if u.s. troops were on the ground. also killed, american samir khan, an aide from north carolina who published the jihadist magazine, inspire. two others were killed as well, officials say. >> anwar al-awlaki's great power was his ability to speak to his vulnerable audiences in the west. people who weren't on the radar of authorities or security officials. that's changed now. but all of his material, is sermon, the audiotapes, those are still online. >> but al-qaeda in yemen is still a threat. >> while he was important, he wasn't the leader or even the number two leader, so this al-qaeda arabian peninsula, its leadership and key lawmaker are still out there, so it's not like the threat from this group has ended. >> the men who recovered the bodies say they were burned beyond recognition, but it was very early today that administration officials were publicly saying they were certain that they knew al-awlaki had been killed, so joe, this raises a fascinating question. who was on the ground or who or what t what was flying overhead with what sensors that made the u.s. so certain it had its man? >> absolutely. and sort of asked another way. we know what the united states did. we know they provided the missile. we know they provided the drone. the question is whether the yemeni government simply opened the door and how much more they did than that. >> absolutely. we don't know the answer to it yet. one clue is a yemeni government official said today that this was a joint u.s. intelligence sharing operation between the u.s. and yemen, but let's be clear. the u.s. basically conducted the operation. they want to make sure the yemenis get credit for it due to the difficulties that government is having. so the u.s. doesn't want a heavy footprint in public on this one. >> that may have something to do with why the administration had sort of a muted response to this compared to what happened with osama bin laden. thanks so much r for that reporting, barbara starr. president obama says al-awlaki's death shows there's no safe haven for terrorists, but critics are raising questions about his decision to target and kill an american citizen. let's bring in jessica yellin. >> hi, joe. we are told by national security officials that it is typical in an instance like this that the president after an administration wide review would give the order to capture or kill al-awlaki, but as you have made clear just now, the white house itself is staying mum on this subject. it's president obama's latest successful strike on a wanted al-qaeda terrorist. >> death of al-awlaki is a major blow to al-qaeda's most active operational affiliate. al-awlaki was the leader of extennell operations for al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula. >> but this time, it's different. al-awlaki was an american. this may be the first killing of an american target with no trial or indictment. >> the u.s. has done something i don't think it's done before. it has killed a citizen without any due process. this is about rule of law to keep us all safe. >> warren's organization sued to take al-awlaki off a hit list and lost. >> goes to the assumptions about is circumstances of his death and i'm not going to address that. >> an adviser to the u.s. state department explained the government's logic for killing anyone on the terrorist capture or kill list regardless of nationality. >> a state that is engaged in arm conflict or in legitimate self-defense is not required to provide targets before the state may use lethal force. >> there's no question this administration viewed al-awlaki a threat for some time. >> i consider al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula with al-awlaki as leader, the most significant risk to the u.s. homeland. >> peter king says quote it was entirely legal and from a top democrat. >> it's legal, legitimate and we're taking out someone who has attempted to attack us on numerous occasions. >> i just spoke to a u.s. government official who said in this instance, the legal justification to kill is self-defense. under both international law and under u.s. law. according to this official, here is essentially a man, al-awlaki, who had been linked to all plots. therefore is seen as a true threat to the united states. the first obligation is to attempt to capture the person. but under law, it is, but under international law and under this war of terror law, if you cannot capture, you are therefore allowed to kill. these are unusual times and that is the justification, joe. >> thanks so much for that. the one thing they did not say in that statement clearly is talking about the issue of eminence and whether you can go after a person if they're an imminent threat or not. let's bring in fran townsend, the former homeland security adviser to president bush. she serves on the external advisory boards. there is just so much to talk about here. there is that issue of imminent threat, but perhaps the most important thing is a lot of people talking about no due process here. an american citizen being essentially executed by order, presumably of the president of the united states himself. there's no due process, but you tell me there is a process. >> that's right. and what i would say to you while there's no due process in the sense of an article 3 court, there is inside the government. before any of this would have been authorized by the president, there's an entire both legal and policy process this goes through. the lawyers are involved. they look at all of the intelligence. they've got to satisfy themselves about the credibility, about the imminence of the threat, the legality of it and then by the time it goes all the way through an inner agency process including the lawyers, that's when it goes to the president. if it's approved, a capture or kill, it goes then to the director of the cio or whatever has authority to take action. >> do you think it's easy or hard to make the case that he was an imminent threat? >> i think it's easy. it's nadal hasan. links all the way back to two 9/11 hijackers. you saw the computer cartridge case where he tried to blow up cargo planes. so, this is a guy and the christmas underwear bomber. this is a guy who has consistent and persistently taken action directed against the united states. zbh from your sources, what went into this operation? >> you have the yemeni security services. they're distracted with their own sort of internal strife and chaos. but there's been, i am told by both sides, that the counterterrorism cooperation the last three months is the best it has ever been and there has been a real change of information. that also included i suspect, regional partners. >> now, is there any video? do you have pictures of what happened? you know, we talked so much about this in the case of osama bin laden. which by the way, authorities were much more forthcoming with information than they have been this time. >> i'll say this. if there are videos or pictures, we will never see them. if it was in fact as has been reported, a drone strike, typically, there is a, it's a grainy black and white sort of video, but there will be very precise video that help them assure themselves just before the button got pushed that they were locked on to the right target and got the order probably from the cia director. >> i have to push you just a little bit on this issue of an american being killed. it's created tremendous buzz. first of all, to your knowledge, is this unprecedented? has it happened before? >> i think it is unprecedenunpr. i've tried to think about any other circumstance. i've worked in the bush administration. this was a decision by the informatiobama mrks. john brennan said no one should be able to use the flag to wrap themselves in a shield that prevents us from taking action to prevent all americans and ik that's right. >> thank you so much for coming in. it's great to have you as a resource here at cnn when working our way through a story like this. >> stand by for a loser look at the other look at the other american citizen killed today. and who moves up on the list of america's top terror targets? we'll talk about the next big threat. whoa! hey! 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>> he said i'm going back to virginia and shortly after that, to yemen. i said, well, i do hope you'll be coming back to san diego soon. and he said, no, he said, i won't be coming back. he said in a little while, you'll understand why. >> traveling across-country, al-awlaki become prominent in a church in virginia. one of the hijackers followed him there. he said about pursuing a phd in at washington university. an imam who arrived after he left said the cleric preys on its followers. >> most of the people who have been so-called radicalized, they know little about their religion. they have been mobilized by their passions. by their feelings. by their urges. by their insecurities. >> al-awlaki appears to know nothing about flying planes or building bombs. the counterterrorism experts say his message is his most powerful weapon. >> let's dig deeper now on who anwar al-awlaki really was. joining us is paul, an alum any fellow at the center on law and secure and an investigative reporter specializing in al-qaeda. so, simple question is now that he's dead, just how much a force was he really in the first place or simply a huge symbol here in the united states of an american who became an enemy of this country. >> well, joe, this was a big blow against al-qaeda's yemeni affiliates. he's emerged as the driving force to launch attacks against the united states. his fingerprints were all over the targets, the underwear and the package bomb plot last october. he's also been an inspiring figure for the -- there's been a string of cases where individuals implicated in these terrorism cases were deeply influenced by al-awlaki's message. >> let's dig deeper. why was he so inspirational? >> the key thing here is he that had big mainstream audience before he joined al-qaeda's fold. there was something in the way he spoke. sort of calm, eloquence, which was appealing. he also knew how to push all the right buttons. he was someone who was very influential and inspiring in these pro al-qaeda radical circles in the west. >> you've just described what we in the political world and the united states describe charisma. let's talk also about samir khan. this is the other gentleman who was actually killed with him in this united states attack. he, too, is an american and affiliated with the al-qaeda magazine known as inspire. >> that's right. an american, born in saudi arabia. he came to the united states when he was around 6 years old. he came to new york city. he was radicalized here in new york city. he then moved to north carolina, started a pro jihadist blog and in october of 2009, moved to yemen, joined forces with al-awlaki and from there, started putting out this magazine called inspire, which was put out every few months trying to urge followers in the west to launch attacks in the west and providing a how-to guide in terms of launching these attacks. counterterrorism officials on both sides of the atlantic were really disturbed by this magazine and the practical advice given. this is also a deeply significant blow. >> who is is next big threat to the united states now that he's been eliminated? >> well, i think that al-qaeda and the arabian peninsula is still a significant threat to the united states. the bomb maker is still at large and a lot of the senior leadership is still at large. al-awlaki wasn't the top leader. it's been able to take advantage of political turmoil in yemen to expand operations over there, so a lot of concern about al qaeda and the arabian peninsula, but i think there's fwraet concern that one of his followers may launch a revenge attack. both sides will be really watching out for this in the weeks ahead. in central pakistan is still a threat against the west. still a threat coming from lots of different places, joe. >> thank you so much for that. >> thank you. so, how can anyone be sure al-awlaki is really dead and who if anyone has seen the evidence to document it? i'll ask the chairman of the house homeland security committee. plus, ron paul slamming the attack that took al-awlaki down. why he says it's setting a sad precedent. without warning?es lans or when you're distracted? 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[ male announcer ] join the members of aarp and tell washington to stop cuts to our medicare and social security benefits. president obama says the death of anwar al-awlaki is a significant milestone in the war against al-qaeda. administration officials are not hesitating to say the terrorist recruiter is dead, but as we reported, tribesmen who witnessed the air strike in yemen say the victims were burned beyond recognition. joining us now, the chairman of the house homeland security committee, republican peter king of new york and mr. chairman, off the top, how do we know this man is dead if the bodies were burned beyond recognition, it doesn't sound like there are any photographs. how do you know? >> joe, speaking to top officials and the intelligence community, obviously, in their mind, al-awlaki was tracked, follows. they are convinced he was in the vehicles that were hit and they are so cautious. the last thing they would want to do is to come out and say that he's dead and come out that he's not. obviously, i wasn't there. i didn't see the bodies, but the people i spoke to, i trust, i trust them any way, but in addition to that, they would not say there's even a possibility that al-awlaki could ever show up alive. >> what was he doing while he was killed? >> my understanding he was if a convoy and that was attacked. but that's as far as i'm going to go on that other than to say my understanding is also that in this operation, that the yemenis were extremely cooperative and helpful. that this was a joint operation. we can allocate the responsibility or the credit, maybe one way or the other, but the fact is, yemenis were very much involved. >> have you personally seen any pictures from this scene in yemen? is there any video or pictures that you're personally aware of? >> i have not seen any, but i have no doubt he's dead, knowing how cautious they are and would not have come forward unless they were certain he was the man. >> now, do you have any problem with the notion of the president of the united states ordering the assassination of an american citizen in another country? >> joe, the only problem i would have is if the president had not issued that order. to me, the fact that a man who has american blood on his hand, a man who has sworn to kill americans, a man who is clearly in many ways, he becomes a l