President Trump has rolled back constraints on American commanders to authorize airstrikes and special operation raids outside conventional battlefields, broadening the range of people who can be targeted, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the policy shift.
The quiet but seismic recalibration dismantles Biden-era mandates and signals a return to more aggressive counterterrorism policies Trump first instituted in his first term.
During his first overseas trip earlier this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a meeting with senior U.S. military leaders from U.S. Africa Command in Germany, signed a directive easing policy constraints and executive oversight on airstrikes and the deployment of American commandos.
The move prioritizes flexibility by giving commanders greater latitude to decide whom to target while relaxing the multi-layered centralized control former President Joe Biden implemented over airstrikes and raids by American special operation forces, U.S. officials told CBS News on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about national security matters.
One senior Defense Department official told CBS News that Biden’s warfare policies were carbon copies of those established during former President Barack Obama’s second term. During Biden’s tenure, airstrikes typically focused on the senior leadership of terrorist organizations.
The official added that Mr. Trump’s approach carries both risks and rewards because the streamlined process can potentially degrade foreign terrorist organizations capabilities faster, given the lower threshold required to strike and widened target selection, but it inherently raises the risk of flawed decisions and unintended civilian casualties.
The Islamist armed group Al-Shabaab in Somalia and the Houthis in Yemen were discussed as potential targets, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the meeting. It’s not clear if the other U.S. combatant commands around the world were also given the same directive.
CBS News reached out to the Pentagon and U.S. Africa Command on Tuesday, but has not received a reply.
American military airstrikes fall into two broad categories — deliberate and defensive, according to U.S. Africa Command’s website. Deliberate strikes adhere to a multi-layered process of regulations and high-level vetting, which under the Biden administration ran through the Joint Staff and the executive branch.
Throughout the deliberate strike process, military lawyers review the compiled intelligence to determine if individuals are legal combatants under the law of armed conflict, to reduce the risk of civilian casualties and avoid targeted killings of innocent people mistaken for terrorist suspects.
Defensive airstrikes are used “in limited circumstances where U.S. or specifically designated partner forces are in imminent danger from hostile forces,” according to U.S. Africa Commands website. These types of airstrikes are typically authorized by the combatant command, and the executive branch does not need to approve these strikes.
A leaked classified study from 2013, obtained by The Intercept, details how the U.S. government authorized drone strikes in Yemen and Somalia between 2011 and 2012 following presidential approval during the Obama administration — policies similarly implemented under Biden.
Before launching a strike, military commanders had to ensure it met a number of strict criteria and obtain approvals from seven decision makers — including the president. The individual targeted had to be confirmed as a member of an approved terrorist organization using two independent forms of intelligence. Civilian casualties had to be projected as minimal. And there could be no “contradictory intelligence” muddying the waters.
The process became a high-stakes roundtable. The task force that assembled the target package, the combatant commander, the CIA chief of mission, and the host nation all had to sign off on the airstrike. A single dissent along the way meant the operation would be halted.
It’s not clear if these same provisions are included in the new directive. However, they did exist during Mr. Trump’s first term, with some exceptions on approval by the host nation in countries such as Afghanistan.
The directive to U.S. Africa Command comes at a tumultuous time inside the Pentagon, following the firings by the Trump administration of the top judge advocate generals for the Air Force, Army and Navy. Traditionally seen as apolitical positions, these top uniformed Pentagon officials encompass a broad range of responsibilities, from overseeing criminal cases involving the rank-and-file to ensuring the top brass adhere to international laws of armed conflict.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Hegseth defended the removals, stating that they were necessary to ensure there were no “roadblocks to orders given by a commander-in-chief.”
He added, “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.”
