Bush placed the War on Terror under Pentagon control, bypassing congressional oversight.

Evidence

In the wake of 9/11, President Bush worked to consolidate control over the military and intelligence communities. His immediate concern was the war in Iraq, but the administration had declared war on “bad guys” everywhere, and he and his national security advisors were already looking ahead to Iran. By issuing executive orders and placing the War on Terror under the Pentagon’s control, Bush essentially enabled Donald Rumsfeld to pursue the war off the books, free from restrictions imposed on the CIA, including the oversight of Senate and House intelligence committees. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 514

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in continuity vs. hypocrisy — this is institutional groundwork that evangelical militarism validated, not a pulpit-theology shift, illustrating the book’s method of linking political action to cultural identity.