Small Wars Journal

Trump Likely to Present JCS With Objectives for Fighting ISIS

Fri, 01/27/2017 - 6:46am

Trump Likely to Present JCS With Objectives for Fighting ISIS by Ryan Browne and Barbara Starr, CNN

President Donald Trump will likely give the Joint Chiefs of Staff Friday a series of objectives for fighting ISIS so the military can design the strategic and tactical options to be presented to him in 30 days, a US official told CNN.

Defense Secretary James Mattis is quickly taking charge of a Pentagon review to determine specific options to propose to Trump to accelerate the war against ISIS.

With Trump scheduled to visit the Pentagon on Friday, Mattis, along with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, have been reviewing potential options that could be presented to the President. That internal review will incorporate military advice from both Dunford and Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of the US Central Command.

Officials described two scenarios: One is to "pull" more information from the White House on how it wants to proceed. The other is to "push" to Trump some existing options that Barack Obama never approved when he was in the White House. These options have been developed with enough detail that the President could quickly sign new presidential authority orders to start the process rolling, although it could take weeks and months to see an impact on the battlefield…

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