As the world turns, yes, our Congress, House and Senate, is on vacation. And yes, President Trump is as well — ok, he’s tweeting. I would have recommended the president go to Camp David instead of Bedminster, New Jersey and continue to work. I would also recommend the president “tweet” about policy solutions for healthcare and tax reform, and what is his perspective on raising the debt ceiling?

But there’s also another very important policy decision that needs to be addressed — the AUMF which stands for Authorization to Use Military Force. We’re still operating under the same original AUMF from the Bush Administration post 9-11. The global landscape has changed and the enemy has metastasized which means we need to reevaluate this policy and refine it. And here’s why it’s particularly necessary.

As reported by NBC News, “The Pentagon is considering a plan that allows the U.S. military to conduct airstrikes on ISIS in the Philippines, two defense officials told NBC News. The authority to strike ISIS targets as part of collective self-defense could be granted as part of an official military operation that may be named as early as Tuesday, said the officials. The strikes would likely be conducted by armed drones.

If approved, the U.S. military would be able to conduct strikes against ISIS targets in the Philippines that could be a threat to allies in the region, which would include the Philippine forces battling ISIS on the ground in the country’s southern islands. The U.S. military has been sharing intelligence with the Philippines for years, according to Pentagon spokesperson Capt. Jeff Davis, who called it a “steady state.”

“We have had a consistent CT [counterterror] presence in the Philippines for fifteen years now,” he said. There is a small U.S. military presence on the ground supporting the counter-ISIS fight, called Joint Special Operations Task Force Trident. In Manila on Monday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. was providing the Philippines government with “intelligence capabilities” in the fight against ISIS, including “some recent transfers of a couple of Cessnas and a couple of UAVs (drones) to allow to them to have better information with which to conduct the fight down there.”

“We’re providing them some training and some guidance in terms of how to deal with an enemy that fights in ways that are not like most people have ever had to deal with.

“I see no conflict at all in our helping them with that situation and our views of other human rights concerns we have with respect to how they carry out their counter-narcotics activities.”

I wasn’t a fan of Barack Obama’s unilateral action in Syria which violated the War Powers Act. And we all know the horrific ramifications that ensued from that ill-conceived military intrusion…we created an Islamic jihadist sanctuary.

We’ve discussed the emergence of ISIS affiliation by the Islamic jihadist group Abu Sayyaf previously on these pages, to include their recent exploits. Yes, I do believe our most important strategic imperative in the fight against the global Islamic jihad is to deny them sanctuary. What I do wish the president and Congress would do is create a new AUMF that outlines their strategic objectives and the enemy.

When we have a lack of clear concise guidance, or guidance that is outdated, we’ll find ourselves playing a very insidious game of “whack-a-mole.” Recently we had the Nigerian Army conducting an operation against the ISIS affiliate Boko Haram — remember those guys, and the #FreeOurGirls campaign? Yep, that was the Obama administration way of dealing with militant Islamic terrorists. His concept of “strategic patience” defined his North Korea policy…down South we’d call that cowardice.

I will continue to state this until it happens: when appropriate, President Trump MUST deliver a primetime address from the Oval Office on his national security policy and defense priorities. We need to know what the Trump Doctrine is.

Now some of you would say that his unpredictability is his national security strategy. I would respond by stating that unpredictability is a very good tactical tool, but it’s not a strategy. And, when there is a lack of strategic guidance and vision, as we recently wrote about and shared with y’all regarding Afghanistan, victory can be a fleeting objective. As I previously shared, “winning” is not a strategy; it is an end state that must be defined.

Yes, I want to see us crush ISIS and their affiliates, meaning the global Islamic jihad — that means any and all of them. This will require a defined strategy and enabling our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines to develop their operational and tactical level plans. It would also aid in directing the Department of Defense as to the development of their National Military Strategy document which lays out how it will support the achievement of President Trump’s strategic objectives and imperatives.

However, it’s very hard for any of this to happen if everyone is on recess, vacation — call it what you like, but they ain’t working. Doggone I want to see this administration and the GOP controlled House and Senate be successful. My question for all of them is how do they define success?

This is not a time for business as usual when we consider the domestic and foreign threats and issues facing our Republic. The American people should not have to hear about bombing ISIS affiliates via the media. We need to have a firm understanding of how the commander in chief will fulfill his most important duty: protecting the American people.

It may be entertaining, but that cannot be done in 140 characters.

[Learn more about Allen West’s vision for this nation in his book Guardian of the Republic: An American Ronin’s Journey to Faith, Family and Freedom]