but let s determine as the american people, and the american people decide together through the congress and be able to work with a president and the president carries that out. president is commander in chief when the troops are in the field but congress is the one who calls them out. so that is an essential part of our constitutional structure. melissa: we understand you re just emerging from a briefing. what did you learn? we walked through what happened. the tic toc of the evening. we just talked through the process. obviously there s no plan for what happens next. lot of it depends on bashar al-assad and what his response is. i would say assad does need to go. i wish it would have been a clear message from the previous administration. nothing is settled with isis long term until you resolve what s happening with assad. so this changes dramatically in syria, the situation change, when the leadership changes and we have a transition of leadership there. melissa: i know you wer