In his speech at Northwestern's law school, Holder broke the administration's silence on what it says is legal justification for killing American-born al-Qaeda operative Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen last year.
"It is entirely lawful to target specific senior operational leaders of al-Qaeda and associated forces," Holder said.
Anwar al-Awlaki was born in New Mexico and preached at an Islamic center in suburban Washington DC before going to the Middle East.
