Senators to push for new war policy

President Donald Trump’s national security brain trust faces Congress on the need for a new war authorisation as the deadly ambush in Niger is igniting a push among many legislators to update the legal parameters for combat operations overseas. Defense secretary Jim Mattis and secretary of state Rex Tillerson are scheduled to testify before the Senate foreign relations committee on Monday. They told the panel behind closed doors three months ago that a 2001 law gave the military ample authority to fight terrorist groups.

But that’s a position that won’t wash with a growing number of congressional Republicans and Democrats, many of whom were startled by the depth of the US commitment in Niger and other parts of Africa. They’ve argued that the dynamics of the battlefield have shifted over the past 16 years and it’s well past time to replace the postSeptember 11 authorisation with a law that reflects current threats.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said last week he believed most Americans would be surprised by the extent of the operations in Africa that US forces are involved in Kaine and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., are sponsoring legislation to install a new war authority for operations against the Islamic State group, alQaeda and the Taliban. “I don’t think Congress has necessarily been completely kept up to date and the American public, I think, certainly has not,” Mr Kaine said after leaving a classified briefing conducted by senior Pentagon officials on the assault in Niger. —AP