The Trump administration is preparing to deliver Congress an “overall strategy” for dealing with Syria in the coming days, according to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., and other top Republicans.
“They are working on an overall strategy and we expect to hear that completed strategy very soon,” McCain, R-Ariz., said Friday after a military briefing about the Thursday night missile strike against Syria.
Lawmakers received a private briefing in the Capitol Friday from General Joseph Dunford, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Dunford met with lawmakers for over an hour to explain the Thursday night firing of 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian air base.
Lawmakers left calling for more forward-looking information from the Trump administration and were promised details of a broader plan for Syria as well as legal justification for the Thursday strikes.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Dunford told lawmakers “he anticipates further briefings from the vice president and others… focusing on the desire to know what the long term strategy might be.”
Cornyn said the Thursday strike was “very narrow,” and added that, “we don’t have the benefit of the larger strategy. He said Pence would brief lawmakers on the issue “very soon,” perhaps in the next few days.
Cornyn said as far as any further strikes in Syria or elsewhere are concerned, “that is going to require a strategy.”
“I think in addition to the legal issues, we don’t want to send our men and women into harm’s way without knowing what the legal strategy is and knowing that the country is behind them,” he said. “My view is it is a multi-step process.”
