Military Force

Overview

The use of military force presents two different institutional questions. The first is whether Congress authorized the United States to enter, continue, expand, or fund hostilities. The second is whether the executive lawfully identified a particular person or object for deliberate lethal force and preserved a record capable of independent review.

ARRP addresses those questions separately. Authorization of a conflict does not automatically make every target lawful, and a target described as criminal does not automatically give the military battlefield authority.

Applicable Proposals

Public concern	Proposal	How ARRP addresses it
Unilateral or indefinite military action	WAR-001	Requires specific congressional authorization, reporting, time limits, mission boundaries, and funding consequences.
Lethal targeting of suspected criminals	WAR-009	Makes law enforcement the default outside an armed conflict and limits intentional lethal force to an actual and imminent threat.
Target verification and civilian harm	WAR-009	Requires an individualized basis, legal review, feasible precautions, evidence preservation, victim identification, and independent review.
War crimes by a President or other federal actor	WAR-009	Preserves criminal referral and creates an automatic congressional record without predetermining impeachment or conviction.

What ARRP Does and Does Not Address

ARRP does not decide whether a particular war is prudent, select military targets, or treat an allegation as proof of a war crime. It addresses the authority, process, evidence, review, and accountability rules that should apply regardless of the President, conflict, nationality, or political party involved.