President Trump is delegating a major responsibility to Defense Secretary James Mattis.

Buzzfeed reported Wednesday that Trump has authorized Mattis to set the Force Management Level (FML) in Iraq and Syria, allowing him to decide the maximum number of troops to be deployed to the conflict zone.

That means the Pentagon now has direct control over the process that previous military leaders said hampered their ability to deploy troops during a war.

One defense official supporting the move said it would give "more flexibility" to U.S. commanders in the fight against the Islamic Stat in Iraq and Syria. But critics worry the move will make it harder for transparency advocates to determine how the Trump administration decides to deploy the armed forces.

ADVERTISEMENT

This isn't Trump's first move to shift power from the White House to the military. Earlier this month, U.S. commanders decided to drop the largest non-nuclear bomb in the country's arsenal in Afghanistan, the first time the bomb had been used in combat.

The move was reportedly done without consulting the White House.

The FML isn't a hard cap on troop levels, however. Currently, the FML in Syria is set at just over 500, while the actual troop number in the war-torn country is more than 1,000.