Hopes for progress and stability arising from Yemen's 2011-2012 political transition have been eroding throughout 2014 and early 2015. Nevertheless, multiple media reports suggest that the United States has carried out three drone strikes against AQAP targets since President Hadi's resignation on January 22. Despite the Houthis' recent advances, the international community, including the United States, does maintain a significant degree of leverage over the Houthis. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)

According to U.S. officials, AQAP, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (designated in 2010) operating in Yemen, remains the Al Qaeda affiliate "most likely to attempt transnational attacks against the United States." The Obama Administration has argued that it has the legal authorities, under both U.S. and international law, to conduct military operations against AQAP. According to General Counsel for the Department of Defense Stephen W. Preston:
The U.S. military currently takes direct action (capture or lethal operations) under the AUMF outside the United States and areas of active hostilities in the following circumstances: First, in Yemen, the U.S. military has conducted direct action targeting members of al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is an organized, armed group that is part of, or at least an associated force of, al-Qa'ida. After nearly five years of heightened U.S. military involvement in Yemen, ranging from apparent airstrikes against militants to the training and equipping of select Yemeni security forces, President Obama identified U.S. counterterrorism policy in Yemen as a "model" that can be applied elsewhere, such as in Iraq and Syria. Finally, many observers suggest that because many U.S. military activities in Yemen may be classified, it is difficult to publicly assess whether U.S. CT efforts there can truly be considered a model. Yet in the case of Yemen, though U.S. policy makers have articulated strategies to help Yemen stabilize both politically and economically in the long term, few public officials claim that such efforts are sufficient given the country's political, geographic, and religious divisions. Presently, Yemen is riven by regional, sectarian, and tribal fissures. The State Department reports that the United States committed more than $142 million in assistance to Yemen in FY2014, in addition to $256 million in FY2013 and more than $356 million in FY2012. Control of Armed Forces by Terrorist Organization. During Saleh's presidency, U.S.-Yemeni relations were constantly strained by a lack of strong military-to-military ties and commercial relations, general Yemeni disapproval of U.S. policy in the Middle East, and U.S. distrust of Yemen's commitment to fighting terrorism. This strategy is essentially three-fold, focusing on combating AQAP in the short term, increasing development assistance to meet long-term challenges, and marshalling support for global efforts to stabilize Yemen. Yemen's Tenuous Transition
On November 23, 2011, after 11 months of protests and violence that claimed over 2,000 lives, Saleh signed on to a U.S.-backed, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-brokered transition plan. After a 90-day transition period, Yemen held a presidential "election" in February 2012 with one consensus candidate on the ballot—former Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour al Hadi.
This report provides an overview and analysis of U.S.-Yemeni relations amidst evolving political change in Yemeni leadership, ongoing U.S. counterterrorism operations against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) operatives in Yemen's hinterlands, and international efforts to bolster the country's stability despite an array of daunting socio-economic problems. Along with determining how best to counter terrorist threats emanating from Yemen, Congress and U.S. policy makers also may consider the priority level and resources that should be accorded to attempts to stabilize Yemen and to establish and maintain strong bilateral relations with Yemeni leaders.
On November 23, 2011, after eleven months of protests and violence that claimed over 2,000 lives, then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen signed on to a U.S.-backed, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-brokered transition plan. In line with the plan, Yemen held a presidential election in February 2012 with one consensus candidate on the ballot—former Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour al Hadi. President Hadi took office in February 2012 shortly after his election. He resigned on January 22, 2015, and is under house arrest, surrounded by fighters from the Houthi movement.
Many Administration officials have declared that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen-based terrorist organization that has attempted several attacks on the U.S. homeland, presents the most potent threat among Al Qaeda's remaining affiliates. In recent years, the Administration and Congress have committed greater resources to counterterrorism and stabilization efforts there. Amid debate over the accomplishments and objectives of U.S. military and intelligence operations in Yemen, President Obama has suggested that U.S. policy in Yemen may inform U.S. policy in other cases, such as the military campaign against the Islamic State Organization in Iraq and Syria. It is unclear whether and how lessons from Yemen's specific situation might apply in other contexts. Many analysts assert that Yemen is or is becoming a failed state and safe haven for Al Qaeda operatives for a variety of reasons and as such is likely to remain an active theater for U.S. counterterrorism operations for the foreseeable future. Given Yemen's contentious political climate and its myriad development challenges, most long-time Yemen watchers suggest that security problems emanating from Yemen may persist in spite of increased U.S. or international efforts to combat them—an argument with which few would disagree given the events of early 2015.
As recently as the fall of 2014, the Obama Administration expressed cautious optimism about Yemen's trajectory, though the 2014-2015 takeover of Sana'a by the Houthis, a clan from the Zaydi sect (related to Shia Islam) has upended Yemen's political transition. The State Department reports that the United States committed more than $221.4 million in assistance to Yemen in FY2014, in addition to $316.23 million in FY2013 and more than $353 million in FY2012. U.S. military assistance to Yemen has focused on bolstering its unmanned aerial surveillance capabilities and training its armed forces. Current annual appropriations language includes a provision that would restrict U.S. funding of Yemen's military were it to be controlled by a foreign terrorist organization.