President Obama is traveling to a major military base in Florida next Tuesday, where he will take a victory lap on his counterterrorism strategy before leaving office.
Obama plans to meet with U.S. special operations forces at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa and deliver a speech on his administration’s efforts to combat overseas terrorist organizations.
{mosads}White House press secretary Josh Earnest described the address as a “final opportunity” for Obama to discuss how he has “effectively and durably implemented reforms to keep us safe.”
The president’s speech comes just six weeks before he’ll turn the keys of the White House over to President-elect Donald Trump.
It’s an opportunity to burnish his own legacy and attempt to shape Trump’s strategy toward fighting terrorism.
MacDill is home to U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command, both of which have played major roles in going after groups like al Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the Middle East.
Special operators have been on the ground assisting local forces battling extremist groups. The elite Joint Special Operations Command helped track down and kill Osama bin Laden in 2011 with a unit of Navy SEALs.
The Obama administration is reportedly expanding that group’s power to launch attacks on terrorist organizations overseas, according to The Washington Post.
The visit could be in part aimed at convincing Trump to keep that policy. The president-elect has pledged a more aggressive effort against ISIS, but hasn’t laid out specifically what tactical changes he would make to Obama’s plan.
Obama plans to meet with commanders at the base as well as other active-duty service members.
The president last visited MacDill in 2014, when he pledged to avoid another major ground war in Iraq fighting ISIS.