Christine Wormuth, undersecretary for policy at the Defense Department, believes that a “whole of government” approach, rather than a purely military strategy, is key to defeating the Islamic State group, DoD News reported Monday.
Jim Garamone writes that Wormuth echoed comments made recently by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on the Pentagon’s capacity to perform only two out of nine lines of effort in the defense strategy.
“Ultimately, we won’t have a lasting defeat of ISIL unless we leverage all different parts of the U.S. government and coalition governments … to bring the fight to ISIL in terms of countering its financing, in terms of defeating its messaging, in terms of stopping the flow of foreign fighters that are coming from countries around the world,” Wormuth said at a Center for International Studies forum.
She also indicated the need for a ground campaign to support the ongoing air campaign in Syria and Iraq as well as the importance of establishing partnerships with local forces, Garamone reports.
The U.S. has so far conducted at least 5,000 airstrikes in the region and trained nearly 9,000Â Iraqi and Kurdish fighters and 2,000 counterterrorism personnel, the report said.
