COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THOMAS E. MORGAN, Pennsylvania, Chairman CLEMENT J. ZABLOCKI, Wisconsin WAYNE L. HAYS, Ohio L. H. FOUNTAIN, North Carolina JONATHAN B. BINGHAM, New York ROY A. TAYLOR, North Carolina CHARLES WILSON, Texas DONALD W. RIEGLE, JR., Michigan CARDISS COLLINS, Illinois STEPHEN J. SOLARZ, New York HELEN S. MEYNER, New Jersey DON BONKER, Washington WILLIAM S. BROOMFIELD, Michigan EDWARD G. BIESTER, JR., Pennsylvania BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York ROBERT J. LAGOMARSINO, California FOREWORD The question of the proper roles of the executive and legislative branches in decisions which engage, or might engage, U.S. Armed Forces in military action is a constantly recurring one although it appears in many different forms. Its most recent face has been the issue of sending 200 American civilian technicians to operate an Early Warning System between Egyptian and Israeli forces in the Sinai Peninsula. Although not involving the dispatch of American troops abroad, it is likely that Congress was asked to concur in recognition of the possibility that the arrangement could someday involve the United States in hostilities in the area, if only to evacuate the technicians. Congressional debate gave careful consideration to this possibility. The Sinai Resolution as finally passed stated that nothing in the resolution was to be construed as granting any authority to the President with respect to the introduction of Armed Forces and that it did not signify approval of any other commitment or agreement made by the executive branch. The issue of the respective powers of Congress and the President to commit American troops abroad is not a new one. The same basic constitutional and legal problems considered in the passage of the War Powers Resolution were debated throughout the Vietnam war. They were also discussed 25 years ago in regard to the conflict in Korea and the dispatch of troops to Europe. At that time, during the so-called "Great Debate" of 1951, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs requested that two consultants on its staff, George Lee Millikan and Sheldon Kaplan, prepare an analysis of the issues involved in the use of U.S. Armed Forces in foreign countries. The resulting report proved to be a useful contribution to the national discussion of the issue. With the revival of the national debate over the proper exercise of the war powers in 1970, the Subcommittee on National Security Policy and Scientific Developments began an intensive study of legislation defining more precisely the rights and prerogatives of each branch of government in the war powers area. As part of that effort, the Foreign Affairs Division of the Congressional Research Service (then the Legislative Reference Service) of the Library of Congress was asked to prepare a 1970 revision bringing the earlier document up to date. Since that revision is now out of print and many important events relating to the subject have occurred, such as passage of the War Powers Resolution, the subcommittee asked the Foreign Affairs Division to prepare another revision. This 1975 revision was prepared by Ellen C. Collier, Specialist in U.S. Foreign Policy at the request of the newly renamed Subcommittee on International Security and Scientific Affairs. The publication includes a brief analysis of the various constitutional provisions relating to the President's and Congress' powers to make war and to maintain and deploy U.S. Armed Forces abroad. It makes liberal use of excerpts from relevant documents, texts of important statements, citations of court decisions and quotations from authorities on the subject. It also includes an historical listing of instances where use has been made of U.S. Armed Forces in foreign countries, with pertinent congressional action in major instances which were not declared wars. The material presented here is not intended to cover all possible issues involved in the question under consideration; the purpose is to deal with several important phases of the subject and to present interpretations reflecting varying points of view. It is the hope of the subcommittee that revision and republication of this document will provide a valuable source of information to the members of Congress and to the public who are attempting to come to grips with the complex questions posed by the concurrent jurisdiction over warmaking given to Congress and the President by the Constitution. CLEMENT J. ZABLOCKI, Chairman, Subcommitee on International Security and |