The White House has issued a document that describes legal and policy frameworks which guide the U.S. military’s use of force and related national security measures such as detention, transfer and interrogation.
National security departments and agencies prepared the report in accordance with a presidential memorandum that also directs the National Security Council to review and update the report on an annual basis, according to a press release published Monday.
The first part of the report includes frameworks for the use of U.S. military force overseas and U.S. military support for other countries’ use of force.
Part one contains topics such as domestic and international legal basis for the use of U.S. military force; end of armed conflicts with militant groups; collaboration with others in armed conflicts; and the application of legal and policy frameworks to U.S. operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Libya and Yemen.
The second part provides details on legal and policy frameworks related to hostile measures such as targeting; capture and detention of individuals in armed conflict; prosecution of individuals through the criminal justice system and military commissions; and transfer of armed conflict detainees.
The Obama Administration also publicly released the 2012 Department of Justice Detention Policy Report and the 2009 Final Report of the Special Task Force on Interrogation and Transfer Policies to accompany the new report.
