Trump Relaxes Limits on Counterterrorism Strikes Outside Conventional War Zones
President Trump has rescinded Biden-era limits on counterterrorism drone strikes and commando raids outside conventional war zones, reverting to the looser set of rules he used in his first term, according to officials familiar with the matter.Under restrictions imposed by the Biden administration, U.S.military and C.I.A.
drone operators generally had to obtain permission from the White House to target a suspected militant outside a conventional war zone.Now commanders in the field will again have greater latitude to decide for themselves whether to carry out a strike.The relaxation of the rules suggests that the United States is likely to more frequently carry out airstrikes aimed at killing terrorism suspects in poorly governed places that are not deemed traditional battlefield zones, like Somalia and Yemen.
It also means there may be greater risk to civilians.The Trump administration did not formally announce the change, elements of which were reported earlier by CBS News.The report also said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had signed a directive, apparently implementing the change for the U.S.
military’s Africa Command, in a meeting last month at its headquarters in Germany.Mr.
Hegseth linked to the CBS report in a social media post, stating only: “Correct.”But another person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue, clarified that Mr.Trump had reinstated the rules he had put in place in October 2017, specifically revoking a set of rules Mr.
Biden had signed in October 2022.A senior Pentagon official confirmed that account.It is not clear when Mr.
Trump made the change, but it appears to have been after an airstrike targeting ISIS militants in Somalia on Feb.1.
In a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb.21, Sebastian Gorka, the National Security Council’s senior director for counterterrorism, dramatically described Mr.
Trump personally approving that operation.That ste...