Post by Origanalist on Jul 28, 2014 18:15:44 GMT -8
By JOSH GERSTEIN | 7/26/14 6:57 PM EDT
ASPEN, Colo.—A top White House official suggested Saturday that Congress pass new legislation to support President Barack Obama's authority to act against an array of terrorist groups not clearly linked to the September 11 attacks.
White House counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco said the Authorization for the Use of Military Force passed three days after the 2001 strikes is dated and becoming less useful as radical groups with an anti-American bent metastasize to various parts of the world.
"The 2001 AUMF has provided us authority to go after terrorist actors and address the threats that they pose that fit within that definition. We are now 13, 14 years on from that and we’re seeing the emergence of other actors," Monaco said during an appearance at the Aspen Security Forum. "I think there absolutely is a reason to have an authority to enable us to take the fight to these evolving terrorists that we’ve talked about."
In a speech last year, Obama said the U.S. shouldn't be "on a perpetual wartime footing" and he appeared to call for a wind-down of the 2001 measure, which was akin to a declaration of war.
"Groups like [Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula] must be dealt with, but in the years to come, not every collection of thugs that labels themselves al Qaeda will pose a credible threat to the United States," the president said at the National Defense University in May 2013. "Unless we discipline our thinking, our definitions, our actions, we may be drawn into more wars we don’t need to fight, or continue to grant Presidents unbound powers more suited for traditional armed conflicts between nation states. So, I look forward to engaging Congress and the American people in efforts to refine, and ultimately repeal, the AUMF’s mandate. And I will not sign laws designed to expand this mandate further."
However, Monaco indicated Saturday that White House views refining the use-of-force measure as potentially encompassing a definition of the enemy that would actually be expanded from the current measure, which is limited to entities linked to the 2001 attacks and associated forces.
"What the president said at NDU was that he wanted to refine and ultimately repeal that authority. It does not mean, however, that we wouldn’t want to seek a narrowed, potentially narrowed version of that to allow us to go after and address emerging terrorist threats that may not come under this current 2001 authority—because I think it is his preference to always be acting with Congressional and statutory authority whenever possible," Monaco said.
Civil liberties and human rights groups were pleased with Obama's remarks last year because they appeared to signal a desire to return to something closer to a law enforcement model to deal with terrorist threats. Monaco's comments suggest that the White House wants to retain military authority and refocus it on newly-emerging extremist groups. That didn't sit well will some who've been pressing for the AUMF's repeal.
continued at...www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2014/07/white-house-wants-new-ok-for-evolving-terror-fight-192895.html#.U9WxznGIV70.twitter
ASPEN, Colo.—A top White House official suggested Saturday that Congress pass new legislation to support President Barack Obama's authority to act against an array of terrorist groups not clearly linked to the September 11 attacks.
White House counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco said the Authorization for the Use of Military Force passed three days after the 2001 strikes is dated and becoming less useful as radical groups with an anti-American bent metastasize to various parts of the world.
"The 2001 AUMF has provided us authority to go after terrorist actors and address the threats that they pose that fit within that definition. We are now 13, 14 years on from that and we’re seeing the emergence of other actors," Monaco said during an appearance at the Aspen Security Forum. "I think there absolutely is a reason to have an authority to enable us to take the fight to these evolving terrorists that we’ve talked about."
In a speech last year, Obama said the U.S. shouldn't be "on a perpetual wartime footing" and he appeared to call for a wind-down of the 2001 measure, which was akin to a declaration of war.
"Groups like [Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula] must be dealt with, but in the years to come, not every collection of thugs that labels themselves al Qaeda will pose a credible threat to the United States," the president said at the National Defense University in May 2013. "Unless we discipline our thinking, our definitions, our actions, we may be drawn into more wars we don’t need to fight, or continue to grant Presidents unbound powers more suited for traditional armed conflicts between nation states. So, I look forward to engaging Congress and the American people in efforts to refine, and ultimately repeal, the AUMF’s mandate. And I will not sign laws designed to expand this mandate further."
However, Monaco indicated Saturday that White House views refining the use-of-force measure as potentially encompassing a definition of the enemy that would actually be expanded from the current measure, which is limited to entities linked to the 2001 attacks and associated forces.
"What the president said at NDU was that he wanted to refine and ultimately repeal that authority. It does not mean, however, that we wouldn’t want to seek a narrowed, potentially narrowed version of that to allow us to go after and address emerging terrorist threats that may not come under this current 2001 authority—because I think it is his preference to always be acting with Congressional and statutory authority whenever possible," Monaco said.
Civil liberties and human rights groups were pleased with Obama's remarks last year because they appeared to signal a desire to return to something closer to a law enforcement model to deal with terrorist threats. Monaco's comments suggest that the White House wants to retain military authority and refocus it on newly-emerging extremist groups. That didn't sit well will some who've been pressing for the AUMF's repeal.
continued at...www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2014/07/white-house-wants-new-ok-for-evolving-terror-fight-192895.html#.U9WxznGIV70.twitter