Secretary of Defense Ash Carter says that the “tragic shooting in Orlando underscores the urgency” to defeat ISIS.
During a speech at a Center for a New American Security conference on Monday, Carter said that five of the challenges that the United States faces include Russian aggression, Chinese aggression in the Pacific, North Korea’s nuclear moves, Iranian influence in the Persian Gulf, and the threat of terrorism, according to the Washington Free Beacon. (RELATED: CIA Admits US Has Not Reduced ISIS’s Global Terror Reach [VIDEO])
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Carter took time to highlight “accelerating the defeat of ISIL.”
“Last week’s tragic shooting in Orlando underscores the urgency of [the threat of terrorism],” Carter argued. (RELATED: Obama: ISIS Fighters Are Not ‘Religious Warriors. They Are Thugs’ [VIDEO])
The Orlando attack “reminds us that ISIL not only tyrannizes the population where it rose in Syria and Iraq, but it also wants to spread its evil ideology and to plot or inspire attacks on Americans, including here at home. And Orlando further steels our resolve to carry out all the aspects of our coalition military campaign plan.”
“First, destroying ISIL’s parent tumor in Iraq and Syria, which is necessary, not sufficient,” Carter said. Adding, “because second, we need to combat ISIL’s metastasis worldwide, wherever it appears, and third, help protect the homeland and our people.”
During congressional testimony last week, CIA Director John Brennan said that “our efforts have not reduced [ISIS’s] terrorism capability and global reach.”