Is the president required to disclose military actions to the public?

Every time the U.S. launches a military strike, conducts a covert operation, withdraws troops, imposes sanctions or recognizes a foreign government, a chant arises from the rafters. 

Policymakers, pundits and the press go on television to assert that the president “owes” the American people an explanation. Their emphatic tone suggests an enforceable duty and implies that the president has somehow shirked his responsibility by not disclosing what is happening. Yet our Constitution imposes no such mandate, however compelling the moral claims of the day may seem.

Americans have become accustomed to receiving a fulsome description from the president of sensitive military operations underway. We ask, “What is the objective? What is the plan? What is the end game?” as if the administration were duty-bound to disclose all of those things at once. Not only have we come to expect an explanation, but we even demand it. 

Yet in reality, it is unrealistic to expect the president to fully disclose the totality of American objectives for all the world to see.

When it comes to military action, U.S. law, custom and precedent all play a key part in what, when and how American presidents convey critical messages of state to the citizenry. While candor and respect from the Oval Office should be the guiding light for any administration, Congress has the only legitimate claim to hearing first — and fully — from the executive.  

Article II establishes the president as commander-in-chief and chief executive. It also requires that the president “from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union.” So the duty to disclose by the president runs to Congress, not directly to the public.  

When it comes to military movements and the deployment of troops and resources, the key governing statute is the War Powers Resolution of 1973. That law requires executive branch consultation with Congress “in every possible instance” before introducing U.S. forces into hostilities. It also requires a report to Congress........

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