Ash Carter: ISIS Is ‘Not Contained’

MCCAIN: “Mr. Secretary, on the 1st of December before the House Armed Services Committee, Congressman Forbes asked General Dunford, quote, ‘Have we currently contained ISIL?’ General Dunford: ‘We have not contained ISIL.’ Mr. Secretary, do you agree with General Dunford?”
CARTER: “I agree with what General Dunford said, yes.”
MCCAIN: “So if we have not contained ISIL, how are we to believe that we are succeeding against ISIL?”
CARTER: “I think that we are building momentum against ISIL. I’m going to be very careful about describing — I’ve described the trajectory of that success all around Iraq and Syria. Some actions we’re taking in Libya. It’s not my principal responsibility, but I met yesterday with the secretary of homeland security, the director of the FBI, the director of national intelligence and other officials to talk about what we could do more to strengthen the defense of the homeland as the department of defense. But in our principal responsibility, which is to take the fight to Syria and Iraq, I’ve described the actions that we’ve taken just since I appeared last time, and I think they are building momentum.”