When does the mission creep stop? Recently, the U.S. military has rediscovered the benefits of human intelligence. During a raid on the Islamic State’s member who oversaw the group’s oil and gas production, U.S. forces in Syria captured Umm Sayyaf, the wife of the man. There is a second member of the Islamic State the U.S. also has in custody. In Umm Sayyaf, the U.S. military struck a goldmine. Through the intelligence gleaned from her, the U.S. was able to direct fighter pilots to strike the Islamic State’s cash deposits and disrupt its illicit oil sales. In other words, the U.S. sees human intelligence as a way to further Obama’s merry little war against the group. The problem is, the U.S. military, with Obama’s no-boots-on-the-ground policy, isn’t set up to detain and interrogate members of the Islamic State. Legal and diplomatic hurdles remain. And in order to gather human intelligence, the U.S. military would need a greater presence there, to guard prisons, collect intelligence and fill out raiding parties to grab subjects.

“These operations, combined with the recent air raid against an ISIS camp in Libya, show that Obama may be learning exactly what [Jimmy] Carter realized near the end of his presidency — weakness doesn’t work,” opined National Review’s David French. “It’s oft-forgotten that Carter made the first baby steps towards what became the Reagan defense buildup, he did at least attempt an armed rescue of American hostages in Iran, and he authorized the creation of a Rapid Deployment Force to safeguard American interests in the Middle East.” Yet Obama is ordering this buildup without the advice or consent from Congress. Without an Authorization for Use of Military Force, he can use his bully pulpit to petition for the closing of Guantanamo Bay and the next day ramp up the war against the Islamic State. There’s no accountability.