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jim miklaszewski our pentagon correspondent has the story from there this evening. jim, good evening. >> good evening, brian. this repeal of don't ask don't tell, which prohibited gays from openly serving in the u.s. military is nothing short of historic. it's estimated that as many as 65,000 gays and lesbians actively serve in the u.s. military, including on the battlefields of iraq and afghanistan. but today, for the first time ever, they no longer have to live a lie. at the pentagon, joint chiefs chairman mike mullen said for him, repeal of don't ask don't tell is all about integrity. >> it's fundamentally against everything we stand for as an institution, to force people to lie about who they are just to wear a uniform. >> reporter: in 1993, the new president bill clinton, wanted to lift the ban against gays in the military all together. but faced with stiff opposition from both congress and the pentagon, he was forced to accept don't ask don't tell. on capitol hill today, lawmakers say the repeal marks an end to 18 years of official discrimination and the beginn

jim miklaszewski is live at the pentagon with the latest. this is a very big deal. they must be celebrating at the pentagon and the white house and elsewhere in the administration. >> absolutely. it wasn't but a week or so ago that a senior u.s. intelligence official told me that anwar al awlaki and al qaeda in the arab peninsula there in yemen were, in fact, and still, in fact, considered the most serious deadly threat, terrorist threat against the united states homeland today. and taking out anwar al awlaki in this manner is a significant blow to al qaeda's ability to recruit, because awlaki ooze an american-born cleric could communicate over the internet to thousands of possible foot soldiers in the united states without ever getting any feedback, he had the ability to communicate and reach out to them in a language that they understood in an effort to gather some support, and, in fact, encourage attacks against the united states here at home. >> and he used to have a congregation, he was an imam here in suburban washington in virginia. he was known to the pentag

. >> from that morning, that was our pentagon correspondent, jim miklaszewski. then two wars would be launched in the name of 9/11. jim is with us tonight. again, from the pentagon. jim, of course, there's news from one of those fronts again today. >> reporter: that's right. a grim reminder that the war in afghanistan still goes on. a massive truck bomb exploded at a coalition base just outside of kab kabul, wounding 77 nato forces, most of them american. fortunately, the injuries were only minor. but it's a grim reminder, too, and the u.s. military and pentagon officials are well aware that this war has dragged on for ten years. america's patience, money, and, in fact, is running out. and so the u.s. military has -- has buckled down to meet president obama's 2014 deadline for the withdrawal of all american troops. which means, according to military officials, they only have three more years, brian, to get it right. >> jim miklaszewski at the pentagon ten years later. thanks. >>> "nightly news" will continue from ground zero here in new york in just a moment. yo

>> jim miklaszewski at the pentagon. thank you. >>> until recently michael lighter headed up the national terrorism center, a top adviser who was in the room on key decisions the last few years including the raid on osama bin laden. he joins us now. good to have you here. >> nice to be here. >> the u.s. took a shot at him back in may, missed. they thought they were close again on the anniversary of 9/11. why was the u.s. so determined to get this terrorist? >> i think because al-awlaki combined two things and he combined them better than anyone else. he was an operational commander and he was inspirational to english speakers in the united states and across the west. that made him a really important target. >> you mentioned he was seeking weapons of mass destruction. >> that's right. not only was he an operational planner behind what happened on christmas day but he was seeking cyanide and we think he was doing it to attack the united states. >> taking stock of al qaeda now, bin laden is gone, al-awlaki is gone. is this

our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski joins us with the latest. jim, good evening. >> reporter: awlaki was considered so dangerous, president obama put him on the u.s. kill or capture list. the only american to be specifically targeted by american forces in the war against al qaeda. [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> reporter: u.s. intelligence officials considered anwar al-awlaki, the american-born cleric, the most serious terrorist threat to america. president obama said awlaki's death dealt a major blow to al qaeda. >> awlaki was the leader of external operations for al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. in that role he took the lead in planning and directing efforts to murder innocent americans. >> reporter: u.s. officials tell nbc news that based on recent intelligence the cia and u.s. military have been closely tracking awlaki for weeks. today, the americans zeroed in on awlaki, traveling in a two-vehicle convoy through central yemen. at approximately 10:00 a.m., as many as three missiles fired from american drones slammed into the convoy, de

. >> the very latest on the breaking news this morning, jim miklaszewski, thank you as always. >> okay, richard. >> now more perspective on this. how big of a catch is this, secretary? >> well, as jim miklaszewski said, it's very big in terms of this individual being one of the most important and most inspirational. and having moved from the inspirational to the operational made him a significant threat but i think we should not be misled by this. the fact we killed him and assuming that's the case and confirmed, others will come forward. this is not a war such where you have an end. it will not be an end to terrorism as long as you have desperate poverty in some countries, radical religious inspiration to take up arms, access to arms. we are going to face terrorism for a long time as john kennedy, president kennedy said, it is against terrorism in this case and it's important but not the end. >> secretary, if you could, talk about al qaeda of the arabian peninsula. how strong they are and how the strength concerns the united states here on u.s. soil. >> well, it's been marked as one o

jim miklaszewski, nbc news, the pentagon. >>> that is our broadcast for this monday night. you for being with us. i'm kate snow in for brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com wang. i'm raj mathai. we begin with irony. honoring jobs and growth in a climate unfor giving for millions of americans. job growth has ground to a halt and the job market is sobering to say the least. a 9.1% national unemployment rate, about 12% in california.

nbc's jim miklaszewski is live at the pentagon. one of the more complicated features of targeting him is that he is a united states citizen. >> absolutely. the obama administration took the unprecedented step of putting anwar al awlaki on the cia's and u.s. military's kill or capture list. the first american to be put on such a list and targeted for what some would call an execution, what others would call probably a response in this act, in this conduct of the war, particularly against al qaeda. and u.s. officials are declaring this today almost as significant as the killing of osama bin laden because unlike bin laden who was more inspirational in the last many years, and he had all these ideas to attack u.s. targets but had no ability to do that, anwar al awlaki could get it done as we heard in his attempt from john brennan on the underwear bomber, christmas day bomber, the packing ink cartridges with explosives, and the like. but what made -- what made awlaki more insidious a threat to many in the u.s. intelligence community was

jim miklaszewski, thank you so much, and a reflective weekend for you certainly this weekend.s. >>> and reflective time as well for my next guest, joseph camrada who lost his brother on 9/11. he is a former police officer and first responder on 9/11, and he is the author of "face of courage, rise from the rubble." thanks for coming, joe. >> thank you, alex. >> you know i asked jim miklaszews miklaszewski, what is the first thing you remember? >> i remember getting a call headed into work to the new york police department that the world trade center had been hit by a small plane. >> and when you realized that, that days what struck you what was happening? >> i could not believe that america was under attack. i could not believe it. >> after ten years of reflecting and having lost your brother, how did it change your life? >> well, it changed my life in a lot of ways. you value things that you may have taken for granted in the past. every conversation with your family may be the last, so you should cherish every moment you have with your family and i look back on 9/11, and right

jim miklaszewski is live at the pentagon. what can you tell us? >> u.s. officials tell us and confirm the american military launched a drone strike at a convoy in the eastern province of yellen aimed at killing anwar al awlaki. nbc has been told by a senior official that in fact anwar al awlaki is dead. he has been an elusive target for years, many drone strikes and other missile strikes were aimed at awlakiie but he always managed to escape and with this news today this would be a huge victory in the war against al qaeda. senior u.s. military and intelligence officials have said for some time now that al qaeda in yemen and the arabian peninsula poses the most serious terrorist threat to the united states, because not only are they committed to attacking americans in the u.s., but they also have the wherewithal to do that. matt? >> mik, let's make sure we understand awlakiie's role in the terrorist network. do american officials say he actually took part in the planning of attacks against u.s. interest or did he merely inspire some of those attacks by his

. >> nbc's jim miklaszewski live at the pentagon this afternoon. jim, how did they track down this guy? >> well, you know, quite frankly, u.s. intelligence has been on his trail pretty hot and heavy since the killing of osama bin laden, there was a missile strike launched in his direction within a week after osama bin laden was killed. but that missile went awry, slammed into a cliff, and never got anywhere close to anwar al awlaki according to sources we're talking to. one of the other reasons is that the yemeni military has been so aggressive in going after al qaedas aa whole there, in yemen, that the fact is that, some u.s. officials think that, quite frankly, awlaki was probably, you know, not on his best of game, and he let his guard down. which allowed u.s. officials to track him better. >> what do we know about the number of plots that he was behind in this country? the number of attacks that he had been involved in? >> well, you know, the president talked about how significant the killing of awlaki is. and it's for two reasons. one, unlike o

campaign to attack al qaeda affiliates in somalia as well as yes, ma'am yechbl joining me now know jim miklaszewski of this conversation come from wikileaks? >> reporter: that's right. this may be one of the worst kept secrets in the world. this issue that was raised by documents that were released that had been originally obtained by wikileaks was referring to diplomatic cables between the u.s. and the islands. about the u.s. establishing a drone there. and the fact that the government wanted to keep that secret. although the u.s. did have jones there earlier and they removed that in the spring of this year. they've now put them back. in fact, according to some people we've talked to, the seychelles had a media day to announce they were coming back. the larger issue about all this is, of course, the u.s. has a white hot focus now on both yemen and somalia in terms of al qaeda. terrorist operations are considered a very serious potential threat in the case of yemen. the most serious al qaeda threat to the united states. and it is no secret that since the war in afghanistan began, the united states

nbc's jim miklaszewski joining me from the pentagon and appears from the notes here, mick, that he ishe first cabinet member to have seen the finished memorial at ground zero? >> that is what we understand, tamron. and defense secretary panetta was interested in paying his respects in advance of the observance on 9/11 next sunday, and in advance of what he thinks would be a crush of dignitaries of visitors to the sites both in shanksville, and of course at the world trade center. we are told that there was a private discussion between him and mayor bloomberg there in new york. but, at the same time, on that trip, reporters were accompanying the secretary, there was some actual -- a little bit off news that the white house has decided to reduce the number of iraqi troops in iraq, or u.s. troops in iraq to 3,000 by the end of the year, and he insisted that no decisions have been made and talks continue with the iraqis, but i can tell you that after talking to some people here in the building, there may be a kernel of truth or at least an indication that the white house is going to drast