A new intelligence report commissioned by the White House concludes that the Islamic State (ISIS) is spreading its reach worldwide and that it is far from being "contained" as U.S. President Barack Obama had claimed before the deadly terrorist attacks in the French capital.
The eight-page report, according to the Daily Beast, is "a tacit admission that coalition efforts so far—dropping thousands of bombs and deploying 3,500 U.S. troops as well as other coalition trainers—have been outpaced by ISIS' ability to expand and attract new followers, even as the yearlong coalition air campaign has helped local forces drive ISIS out of parts of Iraq and Syria.''
Three senior U.S. officials told the paper on condition of anonymity that the White House commissioned the intelligence report prior to last month's deadly strikes in Paris, and long before last week's terror attack in San Bernardino, California. It was also commissioned before Obama declared ISIS "contained" in Iraq and Syria — just a day before the Paris attacks. It was delivered to the White House in the weeks afterward.
"This intel report didn't tell us anything we didn't already know," said one official. "It was lots of great charts showing countries highlighted across the globe, with some groups having pledged allegiance to ISIS and others leaning towards it."
The report described how the terrorist group with aspirations of founding an extremist Islamic caliphate already has a network of groups that have pledged allegiance or are vying for in a dozen countries, the official said.
A team of analysts from the Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, and other agencies reportedly compiled the report and submitted it to the Director for National Intelligence (DNI).
The DNI confirmed it had produced the intelligence report, but offered no comment.
Immediately after reviewing its grim conclusions, the President reportedly asked Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford to come up with new options to fight ISIS.
Washington's counterterrorism campaign is being stepped up—using the same arsenal of drones, special forces raids, and local proxies previously employed in the global war on al Qaeda, said the official.
Among the recommendations include a special operations targeting cell that was announced by Carter last week.
"The roughly 200-strong team will conduct raiding operations in Iraq and Syria, coordinating strikes through a 50-man team that will work inside northern Syria with a band of U.S.-supported guerrillas known as the Syrian Arab Coalition,'' the report said.
The military's Special Operations Command (SOCOM) have also been tasked by the defence chief to host an interagency think tank of military, diplomatic, and intelligence representatives to come up with other options.
On Sunday night during his address to the nation about the threat of terrorism, Obama mentioned of the stepped-up campaign. "In Iraq and Syria, airstrikes are taking out ISIL leaders... In both countries, we're deploying special operations forces who can accelerate that offensive. We've stepped up our effort since the attacks in Paris."
The White House and Pentagon have yet to comment on the report and confirm the request to host intergovernmental discussion on the issue, the Daily Beast learned.
