Bring back the privateers.

• Author: Rice, Ian C.
• Position: Private military corporations - Essay

If strategy is the art of rethinking the possible, then the time for strategic innovation against what the U.S. military terms violent extremist organizations (VEOS) is now. The American-led air war in Iraq and Syria may have shown some progress against the Islamic State and other VEOS, but the VEOS and their sympathizers have hit back with attacks in France and brutal beheadings of journalists and aid workers. Frustration is growing in Congress as the traditional tools of American power fail to produce decisive results. But what can those on Capitol Hill do?

More than they realize. An overlooked clause of the Constitution empowers them to take the fight to VEOS in a way the president cannot. Invoking this clause would help Congress restore its faded prerogatives in national security while hitting America's extremist enemies harder--and it would be cheap. Under Article I, Section 8, Congress "shall have Power ... to declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water." American legislators should now consider resurrecting this long-forgotten but constitutionally enshrined strategic alternative by issuing letters of marque and reprisal.

Historically, these letters provided the legal authority by which naval warfare could be conducted by private individuals, commonly known as privateers. Even before the Constitution was ratified, many colonial governors (and the infant Continental Congress) issued letters to promote raiding against Britain's economic assets in North America during the Revolutionary War. This approach was deemed necessary because the young United States lacked a navy of sufficient size to confront its early enemies. The letters expeditiously authorized a much-needed military capability to wage war when other tools weren't readily available. The situation is similar today, when political choices and fiscal barriers hobble the deployment of uniformed American and coalition ground forces into Iraq and Syria. There are insufficient ground forces to alter the territorial status quo the Islamic State has created. By authorizing private forces with letters of marque, Congress will begin to address the pressing need to engage in ground combat against VEO militants.

Are letters of marque legal? In 1856, fifty-five governments ratified the Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law, which banned states from commissioning privateers. The United States was not a signatory of the declaration. However, as its official naval assets increased, the use of letters faded from America's strategic consciousness. Despite this historic shift, the United States has signed and ratified no international treaties that supersede Congress's authority to both modernize and reissue...