Should the President Develop a Strategy to Ensure the Long-Term Defeat of ISIS and al-Qaeda? (S. 2755)
Do you support or oppose this bill?
What is S. 2755?
(Updated January 18, 2022)
This bill would require the president, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, Director of National Intelligence (DNI), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator, and heads of other appropriate U.S. government agencies, to submit a report to Congress describing the United States’ strategy to secure the enduring defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and al-Qaeda in the Middle East. This report would be required no more than 30 days after this bill’s enactment, and would be submitted in unclassified form (but may contain a classified annex).
At a minimum, the report would include:
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A description of the key U.S. security interests and political and military objectives, long-term goals, and desired resolutions for Syria;
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A description of how current military, diplomatic, and humanitarian assistance efforts in Syria align with U.S. objectives and interests in the country;
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Analysis of the threats that ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Russia, Iran, and other non-state actors pose in Syria and the surrounding region;
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An intelligence assessment of the historic and current force strength of ISIS and al-Qaeda and their forces’ locations;
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An intelligence assessment of the impact that the deaths of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and other senior ISIS leaders will have on the organization;
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A description of ongoing U.S. and coalition programs to build local forces’ capacity to counter ISIS and al-Qaeda;
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A description of past, present, and planned efforts by the U.S. and international community to stabilize areas liberated from ISIS control, including efforts to establish local governance and provide basic services;
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A description of current U.S. and U.S. partners’ efforts to advance a sustainable political settlement in Syria;
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A description of the conditions that must be met to secure ISIS’ and al-Qaeda’s enduring defeat in Syria and the region;
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A description of the U.S. military and civilian presence and capabilities needed to effectively monitor and target ISIS and al-Qaeda in the region;
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An explanation of U.S. efforts to ensure the safety of Syrian Kurds and other Syrian nationals who were or are employed by the U.S. government in Syria from retribution by Turkey, the Assad regime, ISIS, al-Qaeda, or other armed groups;
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An assessment of the risks of refugees’ involuntary resettlement by the Turkish government in northern Syria;
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A comprehensive description of U.S. government activities utilizing social media and other communication technologies to counter ISIS’ propaganda, influence, and ability to recruit fights both domestically and internationally; and
- A description of the U.S. government’s efforts, including through economic sanctions, to deny financial resources (including revenues from natural resources extraction, sale of antiquities, kidnapping, extortion, taxation, smuggling, access to cash storage sites, and access to international financial networks) to ISIS and its affiliates in conjunction with international partners and financial institutions.
Argument in favor
The U.S. needs a strategy to ensure that its interests in Syria are protected, and that there’s a long-term plan to contain the threat posed by ISIS and al-Qaeda in both Syria and the broader Middle East. This bill would ensure that the Trump administration develops such a strategy.
Argument opposed
Instead of requiring the executive branch to produce a strategy for the long-term defeat of ISIS and al-Qaeda in Syria and the Middle East, Congress should develop a strategy of its own. Alternatively, the U.S. shouldn’t concern itself with trying to defeat these terror groups.
Impact
U.S. presence in Syria; Syria; U.S. strategy in Syria and the wider Middle East; Congress; Secretary of Defense; Secretary of State; Director of National Intelligence (DNI); U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator; the president; ISIS; and al-Qaeda.
Cost of S. 2755
A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.
Additional Info
In-Depth: Sponsoring Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced this bill to require the Trump administration to submit a report to Congress outlining its plan to secure the defeat of the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria.
Sen. Schumer made a unanimous consent request to immediately pass this bill on November 7, 2019. In his Senate floor remarks, Sen. Schumer said:
“It’s now been several weeks since the president asked our troops to leave a critical sector in northern Syria and subsequently lots of things happened, including at least 100—and probably more—ISIS prisoners escaping, and uncertainty as to who is guarding the prisons where ISIS prisoners are kept, and a lack of a whole strategy as to how to continue the fight against ISIS. ISIS is not vanquished, they are weakened but not vanquished and we all know that ISIS can come back. We all know that a small group thousands of miles away can do untold damage in our homeland. And yet, we still have no plan that we’ve heard from the administration about how we’re dealing with ISIS. How are we dealing with the prisoners who escaped? How are we dealing with the prisoners who are still incarcerated? And how are we dealing with ISIS overall? This is one of the greatest security threats America faces and I would hope that we could pass this proposal which simply demands that the administration report to Congress on what their plan is to deal with ISIS. It’s that simple. That’s the immediate danger… the immediate danger is ISIS. The ISIS prisoners who’ve escaped, the ISIS prisoners who are incarcerated, the ISIS members who still are around. We don’t have a strategy and it’s one of the greatest failings of foreign policy not only of this administration but of any administration. A resolution passed the House a while ago, it has laid fallow here. All we are asking here in this legislation is very simple, and that is to report on the strategy to secure the enduring defeat of the Islamic State.”
However, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) objected to the request.
Sen. Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called for a clear strategy to defeat ISIS in a mid-October 2019 joint press release:
“The chaos and insecurity unleashed in Syria by President Trump’s disastrous decision to precipitously withdraw from northern Syria require strong, smart leadership from Congress. With one voice, we call on President Trump to support Kurdish communities, to work to ensure that the Turkish military acts with restraint, and to present a clear strategy to defeat ISIS.”
This legislation has nine Democratic cosponsors and has not yet received a vote.
Of Note: On December 19, 2018, President Trump claimed victory over ISIS and announced that the U.S. would begin a military withdrawal from Syria. This announcement led to a number of officials’ resignations, including then-Defense Secretary James Mattis. It was criticized for being hasty, ill-thought out, and giving ISIS an opportunity to regain ground after losses and ramp up the fight against U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters. There was a bipartisan congressional consensus that the decision had damaged U.S. interests in the Middle East and helped adversaries, including ISIS, Russia, and Iran.
Sen. Schumer introduced this bill in response to the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from northern Syria, where large numbers of IS militants have remained.
ISIS’ Baghdadi era ended on October 26, 2019, when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi blew himself up as U.S. troops were closing in. When American Special Operations troops trapped him in a dead-end tunnel in northwest Syria, he detonated an explosive vest, killing himself and three of what were believed his at least six children.
After al-Baghdadi’s death, Trump administration officials suggested that his death wouldn’t affect plans to curtail or alter the military mission in Syria. ISIS named his successor, Ibrahim al Hashemi al Qurayshi, five days later, on October 31, 2019.
Media:
Summary by Lorelei Yang
(Photo Credit: iStockphoto.com / omersukrugoksu)
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