Niger ambush shows need for new military authorization, Duckworth says

The deadly ambush in Niger raised anew questions about the breadth of U.S. military deployments under the old authorization. What Duckworth said any new authorization would need to answer:

• What kinds of bounds (country, regional, or territorial) should be included.
• Characteristics of mission parameters such as specifics telling the military "what they're doing, why they're doing it, and how long they're going to be doing it for."
• Renewal timing and how the earlier authorization can be ended. Some Senators have called for a 5-year authorization, but Duckworth says the issue should be revisited every 2 years.

• Enforcement. "How would there be a move against a president who violated the AUMF? Should there be resolutions of approval or disapproval? Or is it just a slap on the wrist?"

"People think that [authorizations are] an attempt to restrain a president and, in particular, Donald Trump, and it's not. It's about the legislative branch being a coequal branch of government … and for too long we have not done our job," Sen. Duckworth said.