A Quarter-Century Under An Authorization From 2001.

American foreign policy has been conducted under the 2001 AUMF — an open-ended authorization for the use of military force whose original target organization no longer exists — for almost a quarter of a century. The proposals here address what a foreign policy with current authorization, current structure, and current purpose would look like: diplomatic capacity, intelligence integration, the legal framework for the use of force, a replacement for the P5 veto structure that has blocked Security Council action on twenty-six major conflicts since 1991, independent verification before mutual defense obligations bind U.S. forces, and the governance of international institutions — from humanitarian agencies to technical standards bodies — where administrative overhead and fragmented authority reduce both U.S. leverage and program effectiveness.