众议院周四投票限制唐纳德·特朗普总统在没有国会进一步授权的情况下单方面下令对伊朗采取军事行动的能力，并表示美国必须在30天内停止军事行动。该决议规定了宪法限制，限制了总统在国外部署美国军队的能力。然而，它不处理准军事力量——像中央情报局的那些。在上周伊朗圣城部队指挥官卡西姆·苏莱曼尼少将遇害后，这是一个关键问题:总统可以做什么——他必须告诉谁？
唐纳德·特朗普总统下令发动袭击，杀死圣城指挥官。
当无人驾驶飞机袭击苏莱曼尼的消息传出时，纽约参议员查克·舒默和弗吉尼亚参议员马克·华纳等立法者抱怨没有得到通知，众议院议长南希·佩洛西批评总统没有提前来到国会(并在本周推动众议院就战争权力决议进行投票)，对于这次袭击是否非法篡夺了国会宣战的权力，人们普遍感到困惑。
总统在推特上发表了他自己对规则的看法(这遭到了可预见的抵制)。
授权美军在伊拉克开展行动的主要机制是授权使用武力(AUMF)，授权总统“采取行动阻止和防止针对美国的国际恐怖主义行为”作为对9·11袭击的回应，最初的AUMF与塔利班和基地组织及相关部队有关联；它没有授权一场广泛而无限制的“反恐战争”2002年，又通过了一项AUMF法案，授权总统“保卫美国的国家安全，抵御伊拉克的持续威胁”这个AUMF是在叙利亚和伊拉克打击伊斯兰国行动的基础。总统被要求在48小时内将部署通知国会。一如既往，国会掌握着财权。
但是美国军方并不是唯一一个有能力实施杀死索莱马尼的那种袭击的国家。中情局也有能力进行复杂的武装和致命武力行动，事实上在该地区也有存在，并驾驶与袭击中使用的无人机类型相同的无人机。虽然军方和中央情报局有着相似的能力，但所涉及的批准程序却大相径庭。中情局的行动是总统的专属权限，只要求总司令在命令行动后48小时内提交总统调查结果。
让我们假设一下。如果进行索莱马尼攻击的MQ-9收割者无人驾驶飞机不是军用无人驾驶飞机，而是中情局的一部分呢？国家安全专家布拉德·莫斯说，这项行动不在AUMF管辖范围内，但受第12333号行政命令和《国家安全法》管辖。指挥中央情报局开展行动的权力属于第50章，并通过批准“秘密行动”来授予《国家安全法》将秘密行动定义为“美国政府影响国外政治、经济或军事状况的一项或多项活动，其意图是美国政府的作用不会公开显现或得到承认。”
道德操守办公室12333有自己的协议。首先，国家安全委员会(NSC)有责任“考虑并向总统提交一份政策建议，包括对每一项拟议秘密行动的所有异议”，并在行动启动后对其进行审查。在国家安全委员会制定政策和审查行动的同时，国家情报局局长(DNI)就所有正在进行和提议的秘密行动方案向总统提供建议。
最后，国会报告的责任在于中央情报局局长和参与秘密行动的任何其他机构的负责人，告知国会情报委员会。秘密行动不需要国会批准，但总统必须将总统的调查结果报告给八国集团——每个议院的多数党和少数党领导人，以及情报委员会的主席和高级少数党成员。
美国出生的教士安瓦尔·奥拉基在美国无人机袭击中丧生
秘密行动能用于定点暗杀吗？杰拉尔德·福特总统于1976年、吉米·卡特总统于1978年和罗纳德·里根总统于1981年签署了禁止此类罢工的行政命令。但实际上，中情局已经使用无人机在战场上杀死敌方战斗人员，包括安瓦尔·奥拉基这样的美国人，他是根据巴拉克·奥巴马总统的命令在也门被暗杀的。莫斯指出，前任总统的行政命令仍然有效，但是“总统办公室发布行政命令，总统办公室可以选择忽略行政命令。”
从1961年入侵猪湾到去年10月针对伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯兰国领导人贝克尔·巴格达迪的情报，中情局一直参与具有重大国际影响的秘密行动。此外，对总统权力的检查也很少涉及中情局的运作——即使是致命的行动。如果特朗普总统想要在避免国会监督的同时升级与伊朗的敌对行动，中央情报局为他提供了这样做的方法。
WHY DONALD TRUMP CAN USE THE CIA AGAINST IRAN DESPITE NANCY PELOSI'S WAR POWERS VOTE IN HOUSE
The House voted Thursday to limit President Donald Trump's ability to unilaterally order military operations against Iran without further authorization from Congress and said the U.S. must cease military action within 30 days. The resolution stipulated the Constitutional limits that curtail the president's ability to deploy U.S. military forces abroad. It does not, however, deal with paramilitary forces—like those of the Central Intelligence Agency. In the wake of the killing of Iranian Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week, it's a crucial question: What is the president allowed to do—and who does he have to tell?
President Donald Trump ordered the strike that killed the Quds commander.
When news broke about the drone strike against Soleimani, lawmakers like New York Senator Chuck Schumer and Virginia Senator Mark Warner complained about not being notified, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi criticized the president for not coming to Congress beforehand (and pushed the House to vote on the War Powers resolution this week), and there was general confusion over whether the strike had illegally usurped Congress's power to declare war.
The president tweeted his own view of the rules (which met with predictable pushback).
The primary mechanism granting authority to carry out operations by the U.S. military in Iraq is the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) which grants the president the power "to take action to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States." Passed in response to the September 11 attacks, the original AUMF was tied to the Taliban and al Qaeda and associated forces; it did not authorize a broad and unlimited "war on terror." In 2002 an additional AUMF was passed authorizing the president "to defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq." This AUMF was the basis for operations against ISIS in Syria and in Iraq. The president is required to notify Congress of the deployment within 48 hours. And as always, Congress holds the power of the purse.
But the U.S. military is not alone in its ability to carry out strikes of the kind that killed Soleimani. The CIA is also capable of complex armed and lethal force operations, and in fact has a presence in the region and flies the same type of drone used in the strike. While the military and CIA share similar capabilities, the approval process involved differs significantly. A CIA operation is in the sole purview of the president and requires only that the commander in chief submit a presidential finding within 48 hours of ordering an operation.
Let's take a hypothetical. What if the MQ-9 Reaper drone that carried out the Soleimani strike was not a military drone but part of the CIA? The operation would not be covered by the AUMF, says national security expert Brad Moss, but governed by Executive Order 12333 and the National Security Act. Authority to direct the CIA to carry out operations comes under Title 50 and is granted by approving "covert action." The National Security Act defines covert action as "an activity or activities of the United States Government to influence political, economic, or military conditions abroad, where it is intended that the role of the United States Government will not be apparent or acknowledged publicly."
EO 12333 comes with its own protocols. First, it is the responsibility of the National Security Council (NSC) to "consider and submit to the president a policy recommendation, including all dissents, on each proposed covert action," as well as review the action once it has been launched. While the NSC prepares policy and reviews action, it is the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) who advises the president with respect to all ongoing and proposed covert action programs.
Finally, the congressional reporting duty lies with the CIA Director and heads of any other agencies involved in a covert action, to inform congressional intelligence committees. There is no congressional approval required for covert action but the president must report the presidential finding to the Gang of Eight—the majority and minority leaders of each chamber as well as the chairperson and ranking minority members of the Intelligence Committees.
The American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was killed by a U.S. drone strike
Can covert action be used for targeted assassinations? Presidents Gerald Ford in 1976, Jimmy Carter in 1978 and Ronald Reagan in 1981 signed Executive Orders banning such strikes. But in reality, the CIA has used drones to kill enemy combatants on the battlefield, including Americans like Anwar al-Awlaki, assassinated in Yemen on the order of President Barack Obama. Previous presidents' executive orders are still in place, Moss points out, but "the office of the president issues EOs and the office of the president can choose to ignore the EO."
From the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 to the intelligence that targeted ISIS leader Bakr al-Baghdadi last October, the CIA has been involved in covert actions with significant international impact. And there is little in the way of a check on presidential power to use the CIA operationally—even when it comes to lethal operations. Should President Trump want to escalate hostilities with Iran while avoiding congressional oversight, the CIA provides him with a method to do so.
