<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump<\/span> talks endlessly of \u201cpeace.\u201d He ran for office promising to keep the United States out of conflicts,\u00a0claims<\/a>\u00a0to be a \u201cpeacemaker<\/a>,\u201d has campaigned for a Nobel Peace Prize, and founded a so-called\u00a0Board of Peace<\/a>. \u201cUnder Trump we will have no more wars,\u201d he said<\/a> on the campaign trail in 2024. Yet Trump has immersed the U.S. in constant conflict, outpacing even other presidential warmongers<\/a> like Richard Nixon<\/a>, George W. Bush<\/a>, and Barack Obama<\/a>.<\/p>\n The White House and Pentagon won\u2019t tell the American people where the U.S. is at war, and Trump has never gone to Congress for war authorization. But an analysis by The Intercept reveals that Trump has embroiled the U.S. in more than 20 military interventions, armed conflicts, and wars during his five-plus years in the White House. Due to a lack of government transparency, obscure<\/a>\u00a0security cooperation, and carveouts baked into the U.S. Code \u2014 like the 127e authority<\/a> enacted in the wake of the September 11 attacks, and the covert action statute that enables the CIA to conduct secret wars \u2014 the actual number could be markedly higher.<\/p>\n During his two terms in office, Trump has overseen armed interventions and military operations \u2014 including drone strikes, ground raids, proxy wars, 127e programs, and full-scale conflicts \u2014 in Afghanistan<\/a>, Central African Republic<\/a>, Cameroon<\/a>, Ecuador<\/a>,\u00a0Egypt<\/a>, Iran<\/a>,\u00a0Iraq<\/a>,\u00a0Kenya<\/a>, Lebanon<\/a>, Libya<\/a>, Mali<\/a>, Niger<\/a>, Nigeria<\/a>,\u00a0North Korea<\/a>, Pakistan<\/a>, the Philippines<\/a>, Somalia<\/a>,\u00a0Syria<\/a>,\u00a0Tunisia<\/a>, Venezuela<\/a>,\u00a0Yemen<\/a>, and an unspecified country in the Indo-Pacific region<\/a>, as well as attacks on civilians in boats<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Caribbean\u00a0Sea and Pacific Ocean. More than 6,500 U.S. Special Operations forces\u2019 \u201coperators and enablers\u201d are currently deployed in more than 80 countries<\/a> around the world. And during its second term, the Trump administration has also bullied Panama<\/a> and threatened\u00a0Canada<\/a>, Colombia<\/a>,\u00a0Cuba<\/a>, Greenland<\/a> (perhaps also Iceland<\/a>), and\u00a0Mexico<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Under the U.S. Constitution, it\u2019s Congress that has the authority to declare war, not the president, pointed out Katherine Yon Ebright, counsel in the Brennan Center\u2019s Liberty and National Security Program.<\/p>\n \u201cCongress has not authorized conflicts in this wide array of contexts, and indeed many lawmakers \u2014 to say nothing of members of the public \u2014 would be surprised to learn that hostilities have taken place in many of these countries,\u201d Ebright said. \u201cCongressional authorization isn\u2019t just a box-checking exercise:\u00a0It\u2019s a means of ensuring that the solemn decision to go to war is made democratically and accountably, with a clear purpose and goal that the American people can support.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the fact that the U.S. has not declared war since 1941, its military has fought near-constant wars from Korea to Vietnam<\/a> from the 1950s through the 1970s to Afghanistan and Iraq<\/a> in the 21st century, as the executive branch has come to dominate the government and Congress has abdicated its constitutional duty\u00a0to declare war.<\/p>\n For years, the Pentagon has even attempted to define war out of existence, claiming that it does not treat 127e and similar authorities as authorizations for the use of military force. In practice, however, Special Operations forces have used these authorities to create and control proxy forces and sometimes engage in combat alongside them. Recent presidents have also consistently claimed broad rights to act in self-defense, not only of U.S. forces but also for partner forces.<\/p>\n \u201cMany lawmakers \u2014 to say nothing of members of the public \u2014 would be surprised that hostilities have taken place in many of these countries.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n The Trump administration has even claimed the full-scale conflict in Iran is something other than what it is. Earlier this month, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby refused to call it a war. \u201cI think we\u2019re in a military action at this point,\u201d he told lawmakers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trump routinely refers to the conflict with Iran as a war, but he has also cast it as an \u201cexcursion<\/a>.\u201d Trump has also erroneously claimed that if he doesn\u2019t call the conflict with Iran a \u201cwar,\u201d it circumvents Congress\u2019s constitutional authority.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a thing called a war, or as they would rather say, a military operation. It\u2019s for legal reasons,\u201d he said on Friday<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t need any approvals. As a war you\u2019re supposed to get approval from Congress. Something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n EArlier This month,<\/span> Special Operations Command chief Adm. Frank M. Bradley told the House Armed Services Committee\u2019s Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations that secret-war capabilities were key for the United States.<\/p>\n \u201cThis environment places a premium on forces capable of operating persistently inside contested spaces, below the threshold of armed conflict,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cSmall footprints are necessary to enable denial strategies, strengthen allied resilience, and contribute to deterrence without triggering escalation, and to counter illicit and malign activity without large-scale military presence.\u201d<\/p>\n Bradley claimed<\/a> America\u2019s enemies \u201cblur the lines between competition and conflict,\u201d but this is precisely what America has done for decades, including numerous secret wars during both Trump terms. The United States has waged unconstitutional and clandestine conflicts through a variety of mechanisms. The covert action statute, for example, provides the authority for secret, unattributed, and primarily CIA-led operations that can involve the use of force. It has been used during the forever wars, including under Trump, to conduct drone strikes outside areas of active hostilities. It was apparently employed in the first U.S. strike on Venezuela<\/a> in late 2025 \u2014 a prelude to a war, days later, that led to the kidnapping<\/a> of that country\u2019s president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, by U.S. Special Operations forces.<\/p>\n The 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, which was enacted in the wake of the 9\/11 attacks and has been stretched by successive administrations to cover a broad assortment of terrorist groups \u2014 most of which did not exist on September 11 \u2014 has been used to justify counterterrorism operations, including ground combat, airstrikes, and support of partner militaries, in at least 22 countries, according to a 2021 report<\/a> by Brown University\u2019s Costs of War Project.<\/p>\n Under Trump, even this signature post-9\/11 workaround for war has been eschewed for something more clandestine. Top Pentagon leadership wanted to keep so-called \u201cadvise, assist and accompany<\/a>\u201d or \u201cAAA\u201d missions \u2014 which can be indistinguishable from combat \u2014 under wraps during Trump\u2019s first term. This led then-Defense Secretary James Mattis to order U.S. operations in Africa to be kept \u201coff the front page,\u201d a former senior U.S. official told the International Crisis Group<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the bid to keep Trump\u2019s other African wars secret imploded during a May 2017 AAA mission when Navy SEAL Kyle Milliken was killed and two other Americans were wounded in a raid on an al-Shabab camp in\u00a0Somalia.\u00a0The Pentagon initially claimed that Somali forces were out ahead of Milliken \u2014 U.S. troops are supposed to remain at the last position of cover and concealment where they remain out of sight and protected \u2014 but that fiction fell apart, and the truth emerged that he was, in fact, alongside them<\/a>.<\/p>\n This was followed by an October 2017 debacle in Tongo Tongo, Niger, where ISIS\u00a0fighters ambushed American troops, killing four U.S. soldiers and wounding two others. The U.S. initially claimed troops were providing \u201cadvice and assistance<\/a>\u201d to local counterparts. In truth, until bad weather prevented it, the ambushed\u00a0team<\/a> was slated to support another group of\u00a0American and Nigerien<\/a> commandos attempting to kill or capture an ISIS leader as part of\u00a0Obsidian Nomad<\/a>\u00a0II, another 127e program.<\/p>\n Under 127e, U.S. commandoes \u2014 including Army Green Berets, Navy SEALs, and Marine Raiders\u00a0\u2014 arm, train, and provide intelligence to foreign forces. Unlike traditional foreign assistance programs, which are primarily intended to build local capacity, 127e partners are then dispatched on U.S.-directed missions, targeting U.S. enemies to achieve U.S. aims.<\/p>\n During Trump\u2019s first term, U.S. Special Operations forces conducted at least 23 separate 127e programs across the world. Previous reporting<\/a> by\u00a0The Intercept<\/a> has documented many 127e efforts in\u00a0Africa<\/a> and the Middle East<\/a>, including a\u00a0partnership with a notoriously abusive unit<\/a>\u00a0of the Cameroonian military, also during Trump\u2019s first term, that continued long after its members were connected to mass atrocities. In addition to Cameroon, Niger, and Somalia, the U.S. has conducted 127e programs in Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Mali, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, and an undisclosed country in the Indo-Pacific region.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the global war on terror, the Department of Defense built out its capacity, and secured legal authorities, to operate \u2018by, with, and through\u2019 foreign militaries and paramilitaries,\u201d Ebright said. \u201cThese smaller-scale, unauthorized hostilities through or alongside foreign partners may seem quaint compared to the Iran War and other recent public and persistent hostilities, but for years they deepened the perception that the president may use force whenever and wherever he pleases, even without specific congressional authorization.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n