The coalition needs to work harder at sharing intelligence as ISIS faces more defeats on the battlefields in Iraq and Syria and moves toward more external attacks, the military heads of the US and United Kingdom said Thursday. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, speaking at his final Counter ISIL Conference before the next administration takes office, said the group of defense ministers are focusing on “significant steps” to take out ISIS where it exists around the world, and “also to dismantle ISIL’s external operations network, killing key leaders, plotters, and facilitators of attacks, destroying their bases of operations and cutting off their resources to ensure that we protect our homelands and people,” Carter said in London. UK Defense Minister Michael Fallon said his country has disrupted 12 plots in its borders, all linked to or inspired by ISIS. “And that is why the coalition needs to do even more to share its intelligence insight,” Fallon said. “Finding that material is the first step. We must then work together to track down the terrorists and bring them to justice.”
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.