as a leader of aqap he was responsible for that.t something i will do here. >> his focus was primarily international because of his english language capability and his abilities on the internet and speaking to moslems. what affect do you think his death will have on a fax by aqap to destabilize the government of yemen and saudi arabia? >> this is a serious blow to al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula. we remain extremely vigilant. that organization remains very dangerous and has proven itself to be operational and cable. -- capable. the vigilance continues as it has in the wake of a successful mission against osama bin laden. al-qaeda remains a serious threat and one that we continue to confront in a variety of ways. while this is an important milestone, it is not the end of aqap and it doesn't change our posture toward the organization. >> do you sense in the many government that they are helping the u.s. government or is this something that has been going along? >> i was asked is because of the unrest in yemen as to how that has affe

and as a leader of aqap he was responsible for that. again, going into the circumstances of his death is not something i'm going to do from here. >> well, his focus was primarily international, though, because of his english language capabilities, his abilities on the net in radicalizing english- speaking muslims. what effect do you think his death will have on efforts by aqap to destabilize the governments of yemen and saudi arabia? >> well, there is no question that this is a serious blow to al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. but we remain extremely vigilant. that affiliate, that organization remains very dangerous and very -- has proven itself to be operational and capable. so the vigilance continues -- as it has in the wake of the successful mission against osama bin laden. obviously al qaeda remains a threat, and a serious threat, and one that we continue to confront in a variety of ways. so while this is an important milestone, it is not the end of aqap and it doesn't change our posture, if you will, towards that organization. >>

recruiting lone wolves and homegrown extremists than he is as a military official within or in support of aqap. >> so basically al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, this guy goes, gets on the air, gets on the internet, and stirs up people who may possibly be leaning against u.s. policy in the mideast, turns them into radicals. >> they see him as a rock star. the guy's out in ft. dix in new jersey, who were scoping out terrorist targets, they were listening to anwar al awlaki on their car stereo system while they were pointing out various targets and saying, this the guy, this guy knows how to do it. we need to follow exactly what this guy is telling us to do. >> looks like an enemy in the field to me. today, the president said that the death of anwar al awlaki was a significant milestone in the broader effort to defeat al qaeda and its affiliates. let's watch the president. >> the death of awlaki is a major blow to al qaeda's most active operational affiliate. but make no mistake. this is further proof that al qaeda and its affiliates will find no safe haven anywhere in the world. working with y

it does the end the threat from aqap.ed about the group's intent to attack targets and western -- and its ability to find like-minded western extremists. the evolution and the versification of the terrorist threats since 9/11 is the rise of home grown, violent extremists. these individuals are inspired by al qaeda's global extremist agenda. a key feature of this has been the development of the narrative that raises the big concerns for u.s.-based extremists. there is a blend of al qaeda inspiration, perceived bit in my station, and the glorification of past homegrown plotzing. they can plan attacks with no direction from associates in the united states or overseas. they have the ability to the fans -- to a dance plotting with little or no warning. nctc has proven to be a vital element of the government-backed effort. i would like to mention a few ways nctc is contributing to that effort. it investigates all international terrorism issues. it spans geographic boundaries. it has a " catalog of terrorism reporting. the work

aqap was behind these big attempts we have heard of lately.o killing al awlaki is a big blow to them. he said it marks another significant milestone in the broader effort to defeat al qaeda and it's affiliates. so we have that larger reaction. we have not had a reaction about people like al asiri because we are still trying to -- they're looking into what happened regarding him. >> switching gears a bit, let's talk about president obama, what he's doing tonight. the president has said right now, as of now, he supports civil unions, but not same-sex marriage. tonight he is addressing thousands on that topic. >> well, that's right. he will go to a dinner, the human rights campaign. their 15th international dinner. nearly 3,000 people will be there. we expect it to be a good reception for him. the human rights campaign endorsed his re-election a couple months ago. they don't expect to hear him make any news on the marriage topic. we heard from the president that he is evolving on that topic. i wouldn't expect big announcements today. you probably

al qaeda faction in terms of mounting attacks against us, even though al awlaki was not the head of aqapms of his external reach into the united states, the fact that he harbored two of the 9/11 terrorists and knew others and that he helped with plots to kill 13 at a recruiting station in texas and the shahzad plot in new york or recruited or at least involved with the underwear bomber and the parcel bomb plot, all of those things make him operationally capable and highly sophisticated. add to that samir khan was affecting youth to become home-grown terrorists, and add to that the bombmaker, the saudi national, al ansari, this was a trifecta i think has enormous reach in terms of reducing, degrading the capability of al qaeda to attack us. >> it is huge but let's talk about the manner in which they died which is a drone attack. because the president has almost quadrupled the number of drone attacks, especially into pakistan, that the bush administration launched and been quite successful. they have wiped out -- not just with drone attacks but in other ways, a lot of top terrorists. do yo

now, we need to exercise, use our military assets against aqap which was not in existence at the time we want specific congressional authorization to use military force there, and with that will go a lot of wars, detention authority, targeting authority, et cetera. and should there be a another such that the administration again returns to congress and tells congress the contours of the authority that it needs, rather than bring it up and sing you can have a for the whole world whenever you want. >> okay. a couple of things. one, what i said was that i thought that our authorities were adequate to address the threats i've had occasion to evaluate. that's one. and without getting into specific groups, the concern that we have is that the congressional legislative process is a sausage making process. we have two competing versions of that effort in the house and senate right now that looks very, very different from one another. and so, i become very nervous when congress decided to undertake, to rewrite the authorities that i believe i have now, and i do not know how it's going to look

aqap claimed responsibility for the attack and said abdulmutallab had been trained and tasked to carry out the plot. in both cases the f.b.i. arrested each al qaeda operative in the midst of an unfolding terrorist plot and was able to obtain useful intelligence through interrogation. just most recently the d.e.a. and the f.b.i., through shared human and signals intelligence were able to interrupt the plot to kill the saudi ambassador right here in washington, d.c. and that man will be tried in federal court. and that man was interrogated by the f.b.i. and that man spilled his guts, as they say, in the vernacular, to the f.b.i. to go back to abdulmutallab, he phr*ed guilty last week to all counts charging him for the role of the christmas day 2009 bombing of northwest airlines flight 253. he cooperated. he provided intelligence. and he will probably spend the rest of his life behind bars when he is sentenced in january. by comparison, two out of the six individuals convicted in military commissions over a six-year period are already out of prison living freely in their home countries of

>> aqap was and continues to be a threat. there. i'm not aware of active threat involving ae ining awe locky, b a persistent threat to the united states. >> jay carney joining us from san francisco. see you back in washington, jay. safe travels. >> thanks, wolf. >>> moving on to libya, gadhafi was buried in a secret location along with painful memories of his 42-year rule. five days africa daf was killed, there are growing concerns that libyans could face a new era of strict islamic rule. brian todd is taking a closer look. >> libya's new leader have declared their new constitution is going to be based on sharia law. in some countries, that means punishment that harkens back to the middle ages. right now, many are watching closely which way libya will go. it took eight months of slug it out warfare and bloodshed to end four decades of gadhafi's rule. a huge investment of nato fire power and western resources. in the first major signal of what direction the government may take, the leader laid down what would be the basis of l

now, we need to exercise, use our military assets against aqap and we want specific congressional authorization to use military force there. and with that we will go law of war, targeting authority and et cetera. should there be another such group that the administration again return to congress and tell congress the contour of the authority that it needs rather than leaving it up to congress to say you can have it for the whole world whenever you want. >> ok. a couple of things. one, what i said was that i thought that our authorities were adequate to dress the -- address the threats i had occasion to evaluate. without getting into specific groups, the concern that we have is that the congressional legislative process is a sausage making process. we have two competing versions of that effort in the house and senate that look very, very different from each other. so, i become very nervous when congress decides to undertake to rewrite the authorities that i believe that i have now. and i do not know how it will look at the end of this process. you know, if in the abstract i can be king of the le

now we need to exercise military assets i grant -- against aqap which was not in existence at the time, and we will specific congressional authorization to use military force that, and with that we will go with military detention center targeting, in should there be another such group that the administration again turns to congress until congress the contours of the authority that it needs, rather than leaving it up to congress to say, you can have it for the whole world and everywhere? >> a couple of things. one, what i said was is that i thought our authority was adequate to address the threats that i have had a chance to evaluate. and without getting into specific groups, the concern that we have is that the congressional legislative process is a sausage-making process. you have two competing versions of that effort in the house and senate right now that look very different from one another. nervous whene very congress decides to undertake to rewrite the authority that i believe that i have now. and i do not know how it is going to look at the end of this process. if in the abstract