FULL TEXT of Trump's Presidential Memorandum asking for a plan to defeat ISIS

[highplainsdem]

Editing this message because the text of this just became available on the White House website:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/28/plan-defeat-islamic-state-iraq

And I'll copy the full text below the comments below, which were my original message here.

_____

You can find the memorandum (being called an EO, though it isn't) in this tweet from Evan Rosenfeld:

Link to tweet

What I've seen getting the most attention on Twitter so far is Sec. 2 (iii) (E), which is about mechanisms to "cut off or seize" ISIS's financial support, including oil revenue.

Subsection (B) there is also interesting, since it seems to be a request for the generals to recommend changes to any US rules of engagement or policy restrictions that might "exceed the requirements of international law regarding the use of force against ISIS." This might be about waterboarding and other methods of torture that Trump doesn't consider torture, or might be about other ways he and Flynn feel they're being too limited by current US policy.


_______

Presidential Memorandum Plan to Defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria



January 28, 2017

NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM – 3

MEMORANDUM FOR THE VICE PRESIDENT

THE SECRETARY OF STATE

THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY

THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

THE SECRETARY OF ENERGY

THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY

THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OF STAFF

THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR
NATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRS

THE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT

THE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

THE CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF

SUBJECT: Plan to Defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, is not the only threat from radical Islamic terrorism that the United States faces, but it is among the most vicious and aggressive. It is also attempting to create its own state, which ISIS claims as a "caliphate." But there can be no accommodation or negotiation with it. For those reasons I am directing my Administration to develop a comprehensive plan to defeat ISIS.

ISIS is responsible for the violent murder of American citizens in the Middle East, including the beheadings of James Foley, Steven Sotloff, and Peter Abdul-Rahman Kassig, as well as the death of Kayla Mueller. In addition, ISIS has inspired attacks in the United States, including the December 2015 attack in San Bernardino, California, and the June 2016 attack in Orlando, Florida. ISIS is complicit in a number of terrorist attacks on our allies in which Americans have been wounded or killed, such as the November 2015 attack in Paris, France, the March 2016 attack in Brussels, Belgium, the July 2016 attack in Nice, France, and the December 2016 attack in Berlin, Germany.

ISIS has engaged in a systematic campaign of persecution and extermination in those territories it enters or controls. If ISIS is left in power, the threat that it poses will only grow. We know it has attempted to develop chemical weapons capability. It continues to radicalize our own citizens, and its attacks against our allies and partners continue to mount. The United States must take decisive action to defeat ISIS.

Sec. 1. Policy. It is the policy of the United States that ISIS be defeated.

Sec. 2. Policy Coordination. Policy coordination, guidance, dispute resolution, and periodic in-progress reviews for the functions and programs described and assigned in this memorandum shall be provided through the interagency process established in National Security Presidential Memorandum – 2 of January 28, 2017 (Organization of the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council), or any successor.

(i) Development of a new plan to defeat ISIS (the Plan) shall commence immediately.

(ii) Within 30 days, a preliminary draft of the Plan to defeat ISIS shall be submitted to the President by the Secretary of Defense.

(iii) The Plan shall include:

(A) a comprehensive strategy and plans for the defeat of ISIS;

(B) recommended changes to any United States rules of engagement and other United States policy restrictions that exceed the requirements of international law regarding the use of force against ISIS;

(C) public diplomacy, information operations, and cyber strategies to isolate and delegitimize ISIS and its radical Islamist ideology;

(D) identification of new coalition partners in the fight against ISIS and policies to empower coalition partners to fight ISIS and its affiliates;

(E) mechanisms to cut off or seize ISIS's financial support, including financial transfers, money laundering, oil revenue, human trafficking, sales of looted art and historical artifacts, and other revenue sources; and

(F) a detailed strategy to robustly fund the Plan.

(b) Participants. The Secretary of Defense shall develop the Plan in collaboration with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of National Intelligence, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, and the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.

(c) Development of the Plan. Consistent with applicable law, the Participants identified in subsection (b) of this section shall compile all information in the possession of the Federal Government relevant to the defeat of ISIS and its affiliates. All executive departments and agencies shall, to the extent permitted by law, promptly comply with any request of the Participants to provide information in their possession or control pertaining to ISIS. The Participants may seek further information relevant to the Plan from any appropriate source.

(d) The Secretary of Defense is hereby authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register

DONALD J. TRUMP







# # #

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Remember Stories about

putting any Ground Troops in Syria. Seems to me some Guy at the Pentagon said good luck with that idea. Talking Thousands of troops and years of occupation. Sound familiar to Iraq and Afghanistan. I suppose we could help Putin build his Pipeline for him.

[highplainsdem]

8. This has almost unlimited FUBAR potential. But Twitler wants his own war...

[Wellstone ruled]

9. Thinking the same.

Will undoubtedly be the end of Donnie Dumb Stick . Remember Vietnam protests,he ain't seen anything yet.

[Chemisse]

2. Wait! What? What about Trump's Secret Plan to Defeat ISIS?

Perhaps the many times he boasted of having this "secret plan" should be aired, and he should be pinned down to this ridiculous lie in press conferences.

He should not get a pass on this.

[Make7]

10. "I have a secret plan to fight i̶n̶f̶l̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ISIS?"

[div class="excerpt" style="margin-right:3px; border:1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius:0.4615em; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #bfbfbf inset;"]"I don't want the enemy to know what I'm doing… All I can tell you, it is a foolproof way of winning, and I'm not talking about what some people would say, but it is a foolproof way of winning the war with ISIS."
[div style="width:100%; height:1em; border-bottom:1px dashed #666666;"]
"The problem with politics is if I tell you right now, everyone else is going to say, 'Wow, what a great idea.' You're going to have 10 candidates go and use it, and they're going to forget where it came from, which is me. But no, I have an absolute way of defeating ISIS."
[div style="width:100%; height:1em; border-bottom:1px dashed #666666;"]
"I have a simple message for [ISIS]: Their days are numbered. I won't tell them where and I won't tell them how…We have to be unpredictable. And we have to be unpredictable starting now. But they're going to be gone. ISIS will be gone if I'm elected president. And they'll be gone quickly."
[div style="width:100%; height:1em; border-bottom:1px dashed #666666;"]
"I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me."


[div class="footer" style="font-size:0.875em; display:inline; text-align:left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"]http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/11/donald-trumps-plan-defeat-isis

[highplainsdem]

3. Just edited the OP to copy in the text from the WH website, where it was finally posted.

[Roland99]

4. Uhhh. I thought he knew more than the generals??

[Tatiana]

5. Sounds like Bannon wrote this.

This jumps out at me:

Development of the Plan. Consistent with applicable law, the Participants identified in subsection (b) of this section shall compile all information in the possession of the Federal Government relevant to the defeat of ISIS and its affiliates. All executive departments and agencies shall, to the extent permitted by law, promptly comply with any request of the Participants to provide information in their possession or control pertaining to ISIS. The Participants may seek further information relevant to the Plan from any appropriate source.

Why would an executive order have to be written to develop a plan to defeat ISIS? I think this is more smoke and mirrors -- possibly an excuse to go fishing for other (unrelated) information, under the guise that whatever Trump's cronies are asking for is related to the defeat of ISIS. They are looking for something. Is it information that Putin wants? Remember the strange information requests of lists of projects people in the Obama administration were working on during the transition period?

I doubt this EO has anything to do with ISIS.

[TrekLuver]

6. Oh Brother!

[highplainsdem]

7. Just noticed there are slight differences between the image of the transcript in that tweet

and the text added later to the White House website. Looks like changed it so Section 3 of the transcript in the image became Section 2 in the website text, with a few other small changes, but no significant change in wording that I see otherwise.

But even those small changes indicate sloppiness caused by haste and incompetence.