From Iran to Latin America to Africa, the Trump admin. has dramatically surged US military strikes around the 🌍.
Yet some strikes, like in Nigeria, have received little attention or scrutiny.
Thank you Reps Jacobs and Crow for holding the admin. accountable to the law and to the American people.
In Aug 2003, Colin Powell wrote to Paul Bremer that US troops on raids in Iraq “shouldn’t be taking the press with us or releasing photos” because the raids looked ugly.
To DOD’s credit, it ignored Powell and didn’t begin to curtail embedding until a decade later.
www.thetimes.com/article/00b2...
Even when we are attacked, the president must go to Congress for authorization to prosecute offensive hostilities. FDR went to Congress to seek a war declaration against Japan the day after Pearl Harbor. That war declaration served as our legal basis for entering World War II.
Congress must do its constitutional duty, reversing this trend of escalation and unaccountability. /fin
We're now facing a major war with no clear end-date or strategy. U.S. military personnel have already died. U.S. planes have already been shot down. This isn't just "precision strikes" or a so-called "limited law enforcement operation." /6 x.com/glcarlstrom/...
This is a pattern of abuse, where the abuses have become more and more dramatic as this Congress has failed to check the president. By rejecting War Powers Resolutions to rein in these earlier abuses, this Congress has apparently emboldened him. /5
That obviously has not happened here.
It also didn't happen (1) this past summer, when Trump ordered "precision strikes" in Iran, (2) this past fall, when Trump started targeting civilians on the high seas, or (3) in January, when Trump ordered the Maduro operation. /4
As commander-in-chief, the president does have inherent power to "repel sudden attacks," i.e., to use truly defensive force.
But for anything else, the president must convince Congress and the American people that war -- spilling American blood and treasure -- makes sense. /3
Don't just take it from me -- take it from James Madison:
"In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department." /2 founders.archives.gov/documents/Ma...
Trump's "massive and ongoing operation" against Iran is a clear violation of the Constitution's separation of powers.
In our democracy, the president does not have the kingly power to plunge the nation into war without democratic debate and sanction. /1 www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...
Trump acted unilaterally and lawlessly in striking Iran — without congressional authorization and absent any imminent threat to the United States. @ebrightyon.bsky.social on why Congress needs to act.
The Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power to decide when the nation goes to war. President Trump’s strikes on Iran are flatly unconstitutional. There’s been no deliberation, no vote, no clear justification. This is a flagrant abuse of executive power.
25/ Congress should also use its power to close the data broker loophole and strengthen privacy protections against AI-enabled surveillance. It should demand transparency about how the military is using AI in hostilities – a critical first step towards regulating the technology.
13/ Then there’s the use of AI to “assist weapons targeting without sufficient human oversight.” All attacks – AI-assisted or not – must comply with U.S. law and the international law of war.
1/ The dispute between Anthropic and DOD over the limits of using AI in warfare is escalating. I’ll have more to say on what these limits should be in a @brennancenter.org report out next month. But for now, here’s what you need to know, and what’s truly at stake 🧵:
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/t...
US military averaged just under one air strike per day in Somalia in the first month of 2026. The highest or second-highest monthly Somalia strike numbers ever, rivaled only by Dec 2025.
2025, the highest year for Somalia strikes yet, had 140+ strikes (10-15 most months).
Major Somalia strikes update.
Our data now has a fully accounted for and confirmed strike count for Jan 2026 and to date. 26 strikes in Jan and 28 to date.
This includes two strikes w/o press release (1/20 and 1/26) and clarification of all multiple strikes.
www.newamerica.org/future-secur...
New from me: A recap of last week's Venezuela hearing with Secretary of State Rubio.
Recap touches on the administration's overbroad theory of Art. II, the Cuban Missile Crisis as a "precedent," and the Alien Enemies Act -- among other items.
www.justsecurity.org/130722/war-p...
5 Takeaways from Rubio's Senate hearing on Venezuela, from @brennancenter.org's @ebrightyon.bsky.social
The Trump admin "and its congressional allies believe the president can undertake bombings and ground operations at will, without meaningful constraints from Congress."
Semafor cites our New America Somalia strike data. Also touches on one of the major issues I’ve been emphasizing: the halt in the provision of casualty/battle damage assessments.
www.semafor.com/article/02/0...
The administration can't have it both ways. When it's a question of bypassing immigrants' constitutional rights under the Alien Enemies Act, they say we're at war. When they want to dodge congressional oversight, they say we're not at war. So which is it?
DUCKWORTH: If it's true that we are not at war with Venezuela, will you advise the president to rescind his invocation of the wartime Alien Enemies Act?
RUBIO: That was a mechanism to remove people from our country that present great danger
D: It's a wartime act. Are we currently at war?
R: No
DUCKWORTH: The administration has acknowledged that the vast majority of the men it rounded up and deported to torture under this law had no criminal record
RUBIO: We didn't torture anybody. Who did we torture?
We have death tolls from Somali press releases for recent operations that align with declared strikes.
While it’s possible these include activity beyond the strikes, if these are the strike tolls, they’re quite a bit higher than death tolls early last year.
www.newamerica.org/future-secur...
Administration officials have said H.W. Bush's ouster of the Noriega regime in Panama serves as a legal precedent for Trump's regime-change operation in Venezuela.
The comparison falls apart when you actually look at the facts.
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...
Latest strike in Somalia brings declared count to 92 (confirmed count and is one strike despite plural via query) plus one declared ground op (not counted by AFRICOM as a strike bc not airstrike).
Our tally also includes two alleged strikes this year for 95.
www.africom.mil/pressrelease...
Proud to have filed another amicus brief -- alongside @cato.org and law professors @ilyasomin.bsky.social, John Dehn, and Geoffrey Corn -- in the ongoing Alien Enemies Act litigation.
The courts have the power to stop Trump's abuse of this wartime law.
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
The Trump administration said that any Venezuelan immigrant it targets under the Alien Enemies Act "shall be ineligible for any relief or protection from removal" — including legal protections against deporting people to likely torture or persecution.
The AEA must be repealed.
