A U.S. intelligence report on the Islamic State commissioned by the Obama administration forecasted that the terror group could spread worldwide unless it loses large amounts of territory in Iraq and Syria.
The Daily Beast reported the existence of the confidential report, which was developed by intelligence analysts from the CIA, DIA, NSA, and other agencies and showed that the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL or ISIS) has not been contained, as President Obama insisted during an interview that aired the day before the deadly Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris.
The eight-page report, according to anonymous U.S. officials, was commissioned by the White House before the Paris attacks for which IS has claimed responsibility but was delivered to the president in the weeks following.
The intelligence document displayed groups across the globe that have either backed IS or indicated that they might support the terrorist group, according to one official, who also said that the report "didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know." However, the document did reportedly prompt Obama to task Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford to develop new options to degrade the Islamic State.
In response, the administration has "stepped up" its airstrikes and special operations raids against IS in Syria and Iraq, to which the president alluded during his televised address Sunday night in the wake of the shooting in San Bernardino, California, that the FBI is currently investigating as an act of terror. The Islamic State has said that the two attackers who killed 14 people at a holiday party in San Bernardino last Wednesday were IS supporters.
The Pentagon is also sending special operations forces to Syria and Iraq to help conduct raids and gather intelligence in support of groups fighting IS in both countries.
The officials who provided the details of the confidential report said that the increased number of raids and airstrikes may damage IS but will not themselves defeat the terror group. However, the administration has insisted in the wake of the Paris attacks that substantially more U.S. troops on the ground in the Middle East is not the "answer" to crippling the Islamic State.