The Pentagon said Monday that its mission against the Islamic State has not changed and that it won’t change the threat level at military bases in the U.S. or Europe, which have already been at a higher state of alert since earlier this year.
Remarks that the Defense Department is staying the course mirror statements made by President Obama Monday morning saying that increasing the U.S. combat troop presence would be a “mistake.”
“It is not just my view, but the view of my closest military advisers and civilian advisers, that that would be a mistake. Not because our military couldn’t march into Mosul or Raqqa or Ramadi and temporarily clear out ISIL. But because we would see a repetition of what we’ve seen before,” Obama said speaking at the G20 Summit in Turkey.
Analysts over the weekend said the attacks, for which the Islamic State claimed credit, are a clear indication that the U.S. needs to revise its strategy and step up the U.S. role in combat.
Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said there were no U.S. plans to change the strategy to send additional aircraft to the region.
The Islamic State threatened a direct attack on Washington according to multiple media reports on Monday, but Davis said bases in the U.S. and abroad would not be placed on a heightened readiness level.
“We have already been at a high level of force protection conditions since earlier this year,” Davis said.
The force protection level was raised to Bravo in May and remains there.
Despite no elevated threat level, landmarks in Washington have seen increased security Monday. Capitol Hill staffers were told in an email to take extra precautions, such as using tunnels to get around the Capitol complex instead of walking outside. There also appeared to be increased screenings and ID checks at the Pentagon Monday morning.
The one change in the U.S. strategy toward the Islamic State involves changes to how much information the U.S. is sharing with its French counterparts. The U.S. and France had planned to increase its intelligence-sharing prior to the Paris attacks, but it was “certainly accelerated” following the string of six attacks that killed 129 people.
“This new guidance underscores the strength of the security partnership with France and builds on longstanding cooperation that will improve our ability to deter and defeat mutual enemies, particularly ISIL,” Davis said.
He declined to go into any specifics about what kind of information the two countries would now share, but did say that the French would also share more of its information with the U.S. as well.
