National security leaders say war authority sufficient
WASHINGTON — Top U.S. national security officials on Monday warned congressional Republicans and Democrats demanding a new war authorization that existing laws governing combat operations against terrorist groups are legally sufficient and that repealing them prematurely could signal the United States is backing away from the fight.
During testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis urged Congress to tread carefully. If lawmakers are compelled to replace the post-Sept. 11, 2001, laws, the two secretaries cautioned them against imposing restrictions and conditions on American military forces that allow their enemies “to seize the initiative.”
Tillerson and Mattis said President Donald Trump doesn’t have permission from Congress to attack North Korea, but they indicated the U.S. Constitution gives him that power in certain circumstances where U.S. citizens and national security interests are being imminently threatened.
The response troubled several Democrats who have expressed concerns over Trump’s confrontational statements toward North Korea and its budding arsenal of nuclear weapons. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., asked if the act of possessing a nuclear weapon capable of striking the U.S. qualified as an imminent threat, but both witnesses declined to answer.