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As he prepares to leave office in the next week or two, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. called for new civil rights legislation, warned of the mounting threat of terrorism and described his worst day in office in a round of farewell media interviews Friday.

Noting that the Justice Department said this week it would not prosecute George Zimmerman for shooting Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black youth in Sanford, Fla., Holder said the law needed to be changed to make such prosecutions easier.

Before he steps down, Holder is expected to announce that the Justice Department will not seek to prosecute Darren Wilson, the police officer in Ferguson, Mo., who shot and killed Michael Brown last year in a confrontation over a jaywalking offense. The case sparked widespread public protests and clashes with police.

Im going to say that I think we do need to change the law, that the standard [of proof] is too high, he told NBC News. We need to allow the federal government to be a better backstop in examining these cases.

Holder said U.S. authorities have hundreds of people under surveillance as the risk of terrorism has increased from the Islamic State and other groups, but said federal agencies have improved their capacity to deal with the danger of domestic extremism.

James Comey, the FBI director, said in a speech earlier this week that the bureau has investigations open in all 50 states of people in varying stages of radicalization.

On Wednesday, the FBI arrested three men living in Brooklyn, N.Y., on charges of aiding Islamic State after one of them used an Uzbek-language website to try to join the group. The case highlighted both the terrorist group's ability to recruit online, as well as government efforts to mine websites for signs of radicalization.

Holder refused to confirm widespread media reports that identified the Islamic State executioner in Syria known as "Jihadi John" as Mohammed Emwazi, a 26-year-old Kuwait-born man who was raised in London.

But Holder vowed on ABC News to hold accountable ... the people who are responsible for these barbaric acts.

Holder said his worst day on the job was Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman killed 20 children and six adults in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.

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Atty. Gen. Eric Holder backs change in civil rights law to ease prosecution

In this Feb. 11, 2015 file photo, Attorney General Eric Holder speaks to law enforcement officers and guests in the Old Executive Office Building on the White House Complex in Washington. The share of federal drug offenders who received harsh mandatory minimum sentences has plunged in the past year, said Holder Feb. 17, 2015 in arguing for the success of his criminal justice policies. Experts credit Holder for helping raise sentencing policy as a public issue, but they also say it's hard to gauge how much of the impact is directly attributable to his actions.

PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS AP

WASHINGTON Federal drug prosecutions have dropped, Attorney General Eric Holder disclosed Tuesday in a valedictory speech that foreshadowed some Capitol Hill fights awaiting his designated successor.

With the Justice Department now steering prosecutors away from nonviolent, low-level drug offenses, the overall number of federal drug prosecutions dropped 6 percent between 2013 and 2014; from 22,215 to 20,824. Holder called the decrease a success.

Not every case should be brought in federal court, Holder said in a speech at the National Press Club, adding that our prosecutors are focusing their attention, and their resources, on the most serious cases.

Federal prosecutors have also eased up on harsh mandatory minimum sentences, Holder disclosed. Since his Smart on Crime initiative began in August 2013, he said, prosecutors filed charges that carried a mandatory minimum in 51 percent of the drug cases. In prior years, mandatory minimum sentences were sought in about 64 percent of federal drug cases.

This figure, perhaps more than any other, shows the significant impact that our policy reforms are having, Holder said. These are extremely encouraging results.

The attorney generals hour-long appearance is likely to be one of his last big public presentations in his current position. His focus on sentencing and criminal justice reform underscored where he thinks his legacy might be as the nations 82nd chief law enforcement officer.

Loretta Lynch, Holders designated successor and currrently the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, now has her delayed Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation vote scheduled for next week. While some Republican lawmakers, including Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, publicly oppose her, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, sought to actively block a vote, Lynchs eventual confirmation appears all but certain.

Holders work, in the meantime, is not done. Several acutely sensitive decisions remain in the Justice Department pipeline, which Holder hopes to clear so Lynch can start with a clean desk.

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Drug cases down as feds sharpen focus, Holder says

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