OSI – Liberty and Security (C3)

Obama’s ISIL AUMF: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly This morning, the White House sent Congress the text of its proposed Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) against the Islamic State. The proposed legislation includes strengths and weaknesses that deserve careful analysis and debate. Overall, the proposal would set important, if imperfect, limits on the war against the Islamic State, including: a three-year sunset clause, a careful definition of associated forces, and the repeal of the 2002 AUMF. But the proposal also includes a number of significant problems, including: a faux prohibition on large-scale ground combat operations that is effectively meaningless because of extremely poor wording, a lack of geographic limits, the potential application to ill-defined future “successors” of the Islamic State, and… Read More ›

We Need a New AUMF By John Bradshaw, Executive Director of the National Security Network October 08, 2014 | The Hill As military action expands against the Islamic State, legislative proposals for authorizing the use of military force are proliferating on Capitol Hill. While there is no consensus on how Congress should approach an authorization for the use of military force (AUMF), most of the proposals demonstrate that lessons have been learned since passage of the open-ended 2001 AUMF.  The proposed language is generally cautious about giving the president unrestricted authority and includes constraints such as geographic limitations, prohibitions on ground troops, and sunset clauses.  All of the proposals circulating so far, though, fail to include a component that will be essential to preventing the… Read More ›

Since President Obama outlined his plan to confront the Islamic State last Wednesday, critics have pounced on the proposal. Though the President’s strategy has many shortcomings, some of which NSN addressed last week, many of the President’s critics have in fact agreed with the principles of the plan – but then claimed differently. These critics have yet to articulate a credible alternative to the Administration’s stated plan to provide training, assistance, and air support to partner forces on the ground, while also bolstering the legitimacy of the Iraqi government and undermining the Islamic State’s shadow economy. The lack of seriousness from the President’s critics is hardly surprising – many of them also still inflate the threat posed by the Islamic State and fail to engage… Read More ›

August 11, 2014 | John Gambling Show NSN Senior Advisor Major General Paul Eaton (Ret.) interviewed on the John Gambling Show. To listen to the full interview, click play below. /wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Paul-Eaton-on-the-John-Gambing-Show-Aug-11-2014.mp3. Read More ›

Think Tank Lays Out Steps To ‘Cap’ Then ‘Roll Back’ Post-9/11 Military Force Resolution By John T. Bennett August 12, 2014 | DefenseNews.com WASHINGTON — A group of US national security experts is pushing a piecemeal plan to update the measure authorizing the war against violent extremist groups for the first time since September 2001. The left-leaning National Security Network (NSN) on Tuesday released a report that proposes “an incremental approach … that would cap the scope of the authorization now and roll back its scope over time, ending in its eventual expiration.” The think tank sees a “realistic window of opportunity … emerging to refine the law by bringing [the 2001 authorization of the use of military force, or AUMF] in line with historical… Read More ›

Report urges phased AUMF repeal By Philip Ewing August 12, 2014 | Politico Pro   POLITICO’s Morning Defense: Iraq’s Al-Maliki digs in — Obama’s messaging problem — In Ukraine, new fears of a Russian attack — Report urges phased AUMF repeal PRO FIRST LOOK – REPORT URGES PHASED AUMF REPEAL, via POLITICO’s Ewing: “Congress should ‘cap’ its post-Sept. 11 authorization for the use of military force and then roll back the power it awarded to the president, the left-leaning National Security Network argues in a new report. Eventually, they write, the bill should expire altogether. “Policy analyst Bill French and NSN executive director John Bradshaw argue that lawmakers can achieve the much-discussed goal of scaling back the authorization by breaking it into smaller pieces and… Read More ›

Ending the Endless War: An Incremental Approach to Repealing the 2001 AUMF Policy Report By Bill French with John Bradshaw August 2014, Updated February 2015 This paper was updated in February 2015. The Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF)  passed in 2001 is unique among other such authorizations in American history in that it includes no limitations in time, geography, operations, or a named enemy, as this report documents in detail. The lack of limits in the 2001 AUMF has set America adrift on an unreflective course toward perpetual war, increasing the risks of blowback against American national security objectives. The lack of limits in the AUMF has also facilitated an expansion of combat operations far beyond the scope envisioned by the lawmakers that… Read More ›

  Photo from Islamic State Media’s twitter profile, 7/2/14. On Sunday, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) declared that it had established itself as a new nation, the Islamic State, and restored the caliphate, led by ISIS’ ruthless leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In its announcement, the organization now known as the Islamic State demanded all Muslims swear their allegiance to Baghdadi and his ultraconservative Salafist regime. In principle, the announcement seems threatening: The Islamic State, the most active jihadist organization in the world and a rival to al-Qaeda, claims to have established its own emirate, a terrorist state with the goal of extending its empire across the Middle East from its foothold in western Iraq. But that overstates the Islamic State’s strength –… Read More ›

Department of Justice declassified drone memo. [6/23/14]Earlier in the week, a classified Department of Justice memo was released by court order that laid out the legal reasoning for the targeting of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen and accused member of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) who was killed in 2011 by a drone strike in Yemen. Despite its heavily-redacted format, the release of the memo is an important step forward toward greater transparency and ensuring rule of law in U.S. counterterrorism operations, especially with respect to the targeted killing of American citizens. Nonetheless, the redacted memo leaves a number of crucial questions unanswered that require closer inspection by the public and greater transparency on behalf of the government. Until these issues are addressed, a… Read More ›

U.S. Hopes for Unified Iraqi Response: Katulis June 20th, 2014 | Bloomberg Bloomberg interviews NSN Board Member Brian Katulis on Iraq // Read More ›