U.S. Intelligence Is Still In The Dark On The Size And Scope Of The Islamic State

Reuters

ISIS Still Baffles US Intelligence Agencies -- Eli Lake & Kimberly Dozier, Daily Beast

It’s been two months since ISIS took over Iraq’s second largest city. But U.S. analysts are still trying to figure out how big the group is and the real identities of its leaders.

The U.S. intelligence community is still trying to answer basic questions about the jihadists who tried to wipe out Iraq’s remaining Yazidis and who now threaten to overrun the capital of the country’s Kurdish provinces.

In a briefing for reporters Thursday, U.S. intelligence officials said the government is in the process of re-evaluating an estimate from early this year that said the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) had only 10,000 members. These officials also said intelligence analysts were still trying to determine the real names of many of the group’s leaders from records of Iraqis who went in and out of American custody during the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

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My Comment: I find it hard to believe that U.S. intelligence is that much in the dark when it comes to ISIS. They are monitoring their communications .... they follow them on social media .... and the groups that are battling against them on the ground are .... I am sure .... providing detail intel and info back to the U.S.. What the problem actually is .... and it is the problem that U.S. intelligence has always had when it came to combating radical groups like ISIS .... is how do you defeat an organization whose ideology is based on a radical version of Islam. It appears they still can't figure that one out.

Update: Here is a good analysis from the Financial Times .... Isis: Armed and dangerous.