The White House is considering granting the Pentagon more authority to launch time-sensitive anti-terrorism operations, which would give Defense Secretary James Mattis a freer hand to authorize raids against the Islamic State.
President Donald Trump has indicated he wants Mattis to have the ability to launch raids quickly without necessarily needing White House approval as part of the administration's effort to fight ISIS, the Daily Beast reported Wednesday, citing U.S. officials.
This policy change would be a stark contrast to the approach of Trump's predecessor, former President Barack Obama, who insisted on reviewing each anti-terrorism raid regardless of its time sensitivity. This would sometimes stall operations by hours or days, according to critics of the Obama White House process.
While Trump would still retain authority over operations as commander in chief, he would delegate authority to Mattis and his team in the Defense Department to act freely in fast-moving situations, such as drone strikes, counterterrorism raids, and hostage situations.
The Obama administration started giving the military more leeway for launching raids after ISIS came into the national spotlight in 2014, but officials said such delegation was limited, according to the Daily Beast.
Former Obama administration officials tell the Daily Beast they'd already streamlined the approvals process for counterterrorism raids, following the failed 2014 mission to rescue U.S. hostages James Foley, Steven Sotloff, and Kayla Mueller, who were being held by ISIS in Syria. The hostages were moved shortly before U.S. special operators arrived on the scene.
"Obama gave a lot of leash to commanders in the field—but not on everything," said one former senior Obama administration official. "It's all about controlling escalation. Do I want to give someone else the authority to get me deeper into a war?"
Trump made it clear during the 2016 presidential campaign that he was opposed to Obama's restrictions on the rules of engagement against terrorist groups. The president has loosened restrictions on what military personnel can do against ISIS on the battlefield since he was sworn in Jan. 20, the Daily Caller News Foundation noted.
Mattis confirmed to reporters Feb. 20 that U.S. special operators were embedded with Iraqi units in the fight against ISIS in Mosul. U.S. commanders in Iraq told Military Times the current pace of operations against ISIS was unimaginable under the Obama administration.
Pentagon officials also delivered the White House a range of options Monday to defeat ISIS, after a 30 day review ordered in January. These options could range from increasing the number of U.S. ground troops in the Middle East, to increasing the pace of airstrikes, along with a long term plan to ensure a similar group does not rise in its stead.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke at the Brookings Institution, a public policy think tank, on Friday, where he addressed the civil war in Syria and how Trump promised during the campaign that he would conduct a 30 day review of options in the Middle East.
"This plan is a political-military plan," Dunford said. "The grievances of the [Syrian] civil war have to be addressed, the safety and humanitarian assistance that needs to be provided to people have to be addressed, and the multiple divergent stakeholders' views need to be addressed."