Daskal and Vladeck Working Paper on "After the AUMF"

In advance of Thursday's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), Jen Daskal and I have expanded upon our exchanges with Bobby, Jack, Matt, and Ben in a new (draft) working paper titled “After the AUMF,” a copy of which is available here. The paper is a more comprehensive effort to explain our view re: why proposals for an expanded, open-ended AUMF, from whatever quarter and with whatever caveats, are unneccessary, counterproductive, and unwise. Instead, we offer out an alternative vision for the next generation of U.S. counterterrorism policy—one in which law enforcement and intelligence-gathering capabilities, with the backstop of self-defense authorities, are the baseline. We hope that this is an approach that Congress will take seriously if and when it decides to revisit the AUMF. As this is an early draft of the paper, we’d both (1) welcome comments of all shapes and sizes (whether online or via e-mail); and (2) beg readers’ indulgence for typos or other early-draft indiscretions.