The U.S.’s Big Intelligence Problem

David Ignatius – The Washington Post

The unexpected fall of Ramadi to the Islamic State this month is the latest sign of a basic intelligence problem: The United States doesn’t know enough about its jihadist adversaries to combat them effectively …

The first answer is that the CIA must work with partners to build spy networks inside the Islamic State. Recruiting jihadists is not “Mission: Impossible.” The Islamic State is toxic and has made enemies wherever it operates …

…the jihadists have gone to school on the leaks about U.S. capabilities and learned to mask their operations. Gathering intelligence against this 21st-century jihadist adversary, paradoxically, will require the kind of old-fashioned spying and resistance operations we associate with the CIA’s founding generation in the OSS.

Iraqi families who left their hometown of Ramadi walk towards Baghdad on May 15, 2015. Islamic State militants seized the center of Ramadi in western Iraq and raised their black flag over the government compound. (AP)

Obama’s Islamic State Strategy Sparks Doubt, Resentment Among Pentagon Officials

Rowan Scarborough – The Washington Times

“What strategy?” asked a Pentagon official involved in counterterrorism analysis. “We are now floating along, reacting to ISIS,” using a common acronym for the Islamic State.

This source said the military has a plan for introducing ground troops and defeating the Islamist group, but the belief is that President Obama will never activate it … A former official who is frequently in the Pentagon said, “The building is very guarded about what they say, but clearly the White House is running the campaign, which has them furious.”

… The former official said a commitment of U.S. special operations forces and some infantry “could defeat the Islamic State in weeks.”  Another official said a constant theme inside the Pentagon is that the White House does not seem committed to winning. The frequent public relations spin is that this will be a long process to take down the Islamic State when, in fact, officers say, it does not have to be.