US Vital-American Case Study

Introduction ISIL is an extremely dangerous organization! It has the elements of both a terrorist organization and an insurgent army. It kills innocent civilians, and has seized large amounts of territory in Iraq and Syria, which it can utilize for safe haven, training, command and control, and from which it can launch attacks. It engages in 30-40 attacks per month and has an estimated 15,000 fighters. It takes in as much as a million dollars a day from illicit oil sales, smuggling and ransom payments. Though we know of no credible information that ISIL is planning to attack the homeland at present, we know that ISIL is prepared to kill innocent Americans they encounter because they are Americans – in a public and depraved manner. We know that ISIL is prepared to kill innocent Americans and we know ISIL views the United States as an enemy. (Johnson)

Certainly ISIL is brutal and inhumane, as
In the past President Barrack Obama has offered his priorities and intimated the conditions under which his administration might consider something vital: “I have made it clear that I will never hesitate to use our military swiftly, decisively and unilaterally when necessary to defend our people, our homeland, our allies and our core interest” (Reverone and Cook 114).

We can use this definition of our vital national interests to help us think about ISIL and the threat it poses. The 2015 NSS would ask whether the group has shown a capacity to threaten “the physical security of homeland.”

From Johnson’s viewpoint one of the great challenges ISIS poses is that it currently controls thousands of square miles of ungoverned territory; and it is recruiting highly motivated fighters from all over the world. This entry of fighters, along with the open space needed by ISIS commanders to formally train them, offers the group an ability to creatively think up and effectively carry out major attacks, including against the United