U.S. President Donald Trump has eased the process for the US military to conduct airstrikes and operations against terrorist targets by dismissing policies enforced by former President Joe Biden that determined what commanders could order without executive support, a report revealed.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a directive in February this year that officially eased the Biden-era policy regulations and executive oversight required for airstrikes and the deployment of commandos, CBS News reported.
The new policy prioritizes flexibility by providing commanders greater latitude to determine whom to target while softening the multi-layered centralized control ex-President Joe Biden executed over airstrikes and attacks by American special operation forces, U.S. officials said.
As reported by CBS News, one senior Defense Department official said that Biden’s warfare approaches were carbon copies of those specified during ex-President Barack Obama’s second term. During Biden’s term, airstrikes typically concentrated on the senior leadership of terrorist outfits.
The official also said that Mr. Trump’s policy carries both risks and rewards because the more efficient process can potentially impair foreign terrorist organizations’ capabilities quickly, given the lower requirement required to attack and widened target selection.
The Islamist armed body Al-Shabaab in Somalia and the Houthis in Yemen were examined as possible targets, according to U.S. officials. US military airstrikes can be categorized into two broad categories, deliberate and defensive, according to U.S. Africa Command’s website. Deliberate strikes attach to a multi-layered method of rules and high-level vetting, which under the Biden government ran through the Joint Staff and the executive department.
On the other hand, defensive airstrikes are employed “in limited circumstances where U.S. or specifically designated partner forces are in imminent danger from hostile forces,” according to U.S. Africa Command’s website.
Moreover, the directive to U.S. Africa Command is coming at a time of turmoil inside the Pentagon, following the dismissals by the Trump government of the top judge advocates general for the Air Force, Army and Navy. Traditionally noticed as apolitical ranks, these highest uniformed Pentagon officials enclose a broad range of responsibilities, from handling criminal cases concerning the rank-and-file to ensuring the highest brass adhere to international laws of armed conflict.
Speaking to journalists, Hegseth supported the removals, saying that they were required to ensure there were no “roadblocks to directives given by a commander-in-chief.”
He also said,
“Ultimately, I want the best possible lawyers in each service to provide the best possible recommendations, no matter what, to lawful orders and are given, and we didn’t think those particular positions were well suited, and so we’re looking for the best.”
