President Obama will meet with members of his National Security Council at the Pentagon today as lawmakers on Capitol Hill continue to express concern over the growing ISIS threat. It is rare for the President to make the trip across the Potomac for a briefing and the meeting comes as accusations the administration has been purposely cooking the intelligence on ISIS to fit a political narrative continue.
The National Security Council will update the president “on the campaign to degrade and destroy the terrorist group,” the White House announced Friday in a statement.
The council is comprised of the vice president, the secretary of state, the secretary of the treasury, the secretary of defense, the national security advisor, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of national intelligence. The director of the Central Intelligence Agency is invited to attend when appropriate.
“[Obama will] hear not only from us here in the Defense Department, his senior commanders in the field about the military dimensions of the campaign to defeat [the Islamic State group] but also "the other elements of domestic national security, including representatives from the Department of Homeland Security and law enforcement,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Friday during a joint news briefing with Michael Fallon, the British defense minister. "I expect him to hear both what we're doing" and to tell the military leaders assembled that "he wants us to continue to come to him with proposals for ways we can strengthen the campaign consistent with our overall strategic approach."
After the meeting, Obama is expected to make a statement from the Pentagon briefing room, the White House said.
Vice President Joe Biden tried to do the same.
It should also be noted that the meeting comes at a time when both Republicans and Democrats are doubting President Obama's strategy to "degrade and ultimately destroy" the terror army.
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