WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is presenting the White House with a plan to "rapidly defeat" the Islamic State group, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday. The strategy includes significant elements of the approach President Donald Trump inherited, while potentially deepening U.S. military involvement in Syria.
Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said Mattis provided the results of his 30-day strategy review ahead of a Monday afternoon Cabinet-level meeting of the National Security Council. It's unclear if the discussion will include Trump, who said last week his goal is to "obliterate" Islamic State.
Davis said details of the report are classified secret.
"It is a plan to rapidly defeat ISIS," Davis said, using the Pentagon's preferred acronym for the group, which has proven resilient despite losing ground in its strongholds Syria and Iraq.
Officials familiar with the review have said it will likely lead to decisions that mean more U.S. military involvement in Syria and possibly more ground troops, even as the current U.S. plan in Iraq appears to be working and will require fewer changes. The officials weren't authorized to speak publicly about the document and demanded anonymity.
Davis described the Mattis report as "a framework for a broader discussion" of a strategy to be developed over time, rather than a ready-to-execute military plan. In a Jan. 28 executive order, Trump said he wanted within 30 days a "preliminary draft" of a plan to "defeat ISIS." Davis said the report defines what it means to "defeat" the group, which he wouldn't reveal to reporters.
It also includes some individual actions that will require decisions by the White House, Davis said, "but it's not a 'check-the-block, pick A or B or C' kind of a plan."
"This is a broad plan," he said. "It is global. It is not just military. It is not just Iraq/Syria."
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.