. >> reporter: steven bradick specializes in american law. >> the government makes the case there are no other alternatives. his was the case where they didn't have the ability to capture him. >> reporter: but that may cause a dangerous ideology in regard to the treatment of terror suspects in the future. >> how do we draw the line. how do we know if the government has the someone like aw-awlaki that it doesn't have the same thing here in the united states. >> reporter: killing terrorist suspects is a good thing. >> we need to go out there and be aggressive and seek these people out. >> reporter: he's a terrorist. what can you say. >> i mean, you want to kill an american, so we want to kill him. >> reporter: tonight published reports say te was a memo sent out by the department of justice that authorized the targeting of aw-awlaki. there was never any descent over the legality of killing him. an official who spoke on terms of anonymity told the reporters that what constitutes due process in this case "is due process in war". >> we're live, ken molestina, nine the news now. >>> new at