SEEKING CLEAR AUTHORITY FOR WAR: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this evening about the possibility of a new congressional war authorization following the deadly ambush on U.S. troops in Niger. The open hearing about replacing 9/11-era legislation with a new authorization for the use of military force, or AUMF, allowing the Trump administration to fight terrorist groups comes as questions swirl over how an Islamic State-affiliated group surprised U.S. military advisers in West Africa and killed four soldiers. The White House, like the previous administration, insists it has the authority to pursue ISIS around the globe. But Mattis and Tillerson will likely be peppered with questions about the extent and nature of operations in Niger, the rest of Africa and elsewhere.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has wrestled for months over a new AUMF, but the Oct. 4 Niger incident has ratcheted up urgency for a debate on Capitol Hill. “We know the [ISIS] caliphate is shrinking in Iraq and Syria but does that now mean we’re going to see more of the Niger situation develop in more countries around the world,” said Sen. Ben Cardin, the ranking Democrat on the committee. Sen. Tim Kaine, who is sponsoring a new AUMF bill, said he was “disturbed” by the scope of U.S. operations after a classified briefing on Niger Thursday by the Pentagon and Joint Chiefs of Staff and would bring it up at the hearing today. “I think the extent of the operations, the number of countries, would be surprising to people,” he said. “I don’t think Congress has necessarily been completely kept up to date, and the American public.”