Destroying ISIL requires more than words

On December 6, President Obama gave an unprecedented speech calling for the destruction of ISIL, going so far as to refer to them as a “cult of death” and articulating the challenges to peace around the world coming from other radical, militant Islamists who imitate the ISIL apocalyptic theology of murder. 

He also laid out the core elements of a national strategy to both take the battle to the doorsteps of the enemy and to defend the homeland. He called for unity and an overarching commitment to our American values placing freedom over fear. In sum, it was the right speech at the right time. But the single-most important thing the President asked for on that Monday evening was a new Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) against ISIL. 

{mosads}It is time for Congress to back up their own words with action in renewed military authorities and investment in intelligence capabilities. 

It is farcical to believe that a fourteen-year-old Congressional authorization for the President “to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons” should now be the legal basis for a new global campaign to eliminate ISIL’s hold on any safe haven in the Middle East, to kill or capture their leaders and imitators anywhere in the world, and to ultimately destroy their ability to conduct attacks in our homeland. 

Some of the brave Americans fighting in Special Operations Forces against these new ISIL terrorists in the Middle East today, were too young for kindergarten when the current military authorization was passed into law. Before our next president finishes their first term, there will be U.S. service members in active combat who were not born yet on 9/11. It is past time for Congress to own up to their Constitutional role as the sole arbiters of when, where and how the U.S. is at war. 

Second only to the president’s request for authorities was his stated need for new intelligence capabilities that will break the technological and policy edges that terrorists are using to hide their small group attacks in cities far from the battlefields of Iraq, Syria or the Levant region. 

After the attacks in Paris, many members from both parties criticized the President for being slow to lead as the commander-in-chief of the free world’s most persuasive power, or being too academic in his response. Never mind that those same critics have been hamstringing national security programs with years of sequester budgets that prevent intelligence and defense agencies from effectively leading a long-term, global counterterrorism campaign. 

After the Southern California murders last weekend, the calls of Congressional leaders for action are reaching a fever pitch, yet the measurable effects of Congressionally-induced Budget Control Act challenges include declining future U.S. capabilities needed to break encrypted terrorist communication, connect multiple-source intelligence points for targeting ISIL leadership, modernize weaponry, purchase ordnance for precision strikes, or even capture and interrogate terrorist enemies as combatants. 

The sequester budgeting problems contribute to a broader national security crisis when compounded with billions of dollars in counterterrorism intelligence programs lost through the Snowden leaks and the effects of shortsighted legislation stripping U.S. agencies of post-9/11 bulk collection authorities— hobbling the federal government’s ability to monitor known terrorist activities in cyberspace. 

Congressional inaction led to a DHS near-shutdown in March, despite DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson having warned in February that “the threat now is more complex, more decentralized and involves more of a potential threat in the homeland from people who may simply become inspired by things they see on the Internet to commit small-scale attacks.” 

Counterterrorism is a truly comprehensive, whole-of-government mission that requires every element of national power functioning well to be effective. It is analogous to football in that one star quarterback cannot carry an offense to successive long drives, nor can one standout linebacker stop an opponent from scoring. Everyone in every role must be enabled do their part successfully in order to stop a determined enemy. 

The president was right, it is time to accelerate the destruction of ISIL and to step up efforts to preempt their radical imitators from killing the innocent at home. It is also time for Congress to own their exclusive responsibility for putting the nation’s military on a war footing, and by empowering our executive agencies to accomplish their counterterrorism missions as efficiently, effectively and safely as possible.

Borene is a former associate deputy general counsel at the Pentagon and served as a U.S. Marine intelligence officer in Iraq. He is an adviser to the Truman National Security Project.