Prerogative Power in the Obama Administration: Continuity and Change in the War on Terrorism

From the start of his presidential campaign through his first year in office, Barack Obama took a strong stance on national security issues involving terrorism. He reoriented American military efforts from Iraq to Afghanistan, from quelling sectarian conflicts between Shi'a and Sunni in a country that presented no threat to American national security, to targeting Taliban and the remnants of al-Qaeda in another. And he reoriented American strategy from a defensive holding pattern to an offensive "clear and hold" in the Taliban heartland. Obama expanded the theater of war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda: and he greatly expanded the use of drones in the borderlands of Pakistan for "targeting killing" of Taliban leaders and may also have authorized covert operations on the ground. Obama laid out much of the strategy in a speech at the National Archives Museum on May 21, 2009: "for the first time since 2002, we are providing the necessary resources and strategic direction to take the fight to the extremists who attacked us on 9/11 in Afghanistan and Pakistan." Obama claimed that the decisions of his predecessor had taken the nation "off course" and promised that he would deal with the terrorism threat "with an abiding confidence in the rule of law and due process; in checks and balances and accountability. He noted that he had banned "enhanced interrogation" techniques, ordered the closing of the prison camp at Guantanamo, ordered a review of all pending cases there (involving 240 people), and brought the military commissions in line with the rule of law. Later he would announce that some cases would be transferred to federal courts, including that of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged planner of the 9/11 attacks, and he would treat Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the so-called Christmas Bomber, as a criminal suspect rather than an illegal combatant. He also took credit for developing due process standards to apply to those the government would wish to detain indefinitely. He promised more transparency, where it would not compromise national security, and stricter standards in invoking the state secrets privilege. Obama's speech raises two issues: Did he carry out these policies? And if so, how significant a change were they? John Brennan (an assistant to former President George W. Bush) saw continuities rather than change, referring to "Bush's third term." Kori Schake (a scholar at the Hoover institution) summed up Obama's policies as follows: "Defeat al Qaeda, check. Hold Afghanistan, check. Partnership with Pakistan, check. Sharing intelligence and training militaries in East Africa, check. Going after terrorist financing, check. Disrupting terrorist operations, check. Prevent terrorists from getting nuclear weapons, check. Ensure our military has the troops and the tools it needs, check. Strengthen the intelligence community, check. Defend the homeland, check" (2009). Those who saw continuity could point to key Obama appointments or retentions: Robert Gates as secretary of defense, David Petraeus at the central command, and Stanley McChrystal on the ground in Afghanistan. Obama also appointed a host of former advisors and aides in Bush's Pentagon to positions in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Homeland Security, and the units in the Pentagon dealing with the detainees. Col. William Lietzgau, formerly special advisor in the Pentagon during the Bush administration, who played a key role in establishing the military commissions, was appointed to become deputy assistant secretary for detainee affairs in the Department of Defense (DOD). CIA operations were led by Steve Kappes and Mike Sulick, who had been involved in the CIA's RDI (renditions, detentions, interrogations). Those leaving the Obama administration early on, such as Philip Carter (who had held the post before Lietzgau), helped to develop procedures allowing prisoners in Afghanistan to challenge their detention and had recommended closing Guantanamo. …