In an exclusive interview with LIGNET.com, former CIA Director Michael Hayden does not agree with critics from the right and left who have questioned the killing of Yemeni-American al Qaeda member Anwar al-Awlaki as unconstitutional and an abuse of presidential power. Hayden believes the strike on Awalki was appropriate and fell well within presidential and constitutional authorities.

CIA Director Hayden says is very comfortable with the U.S. airstrike that killed al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula radical cleric and leader Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen on September 30 because he believes the U.S. Constitution gives the Commander in Chief significant authority in times of war.  He said the declaration of war against terrorism by Congress gave the president this authority and believes that is how this issue would be viewed by the courts if it was ever brought there.