U.S. faces evolving, unpredictable threats.

• Author: Lawrence P.
• Position: President's Perspective

The U.S. military campaign against Islamic extremists kicked off last month with a barrage of Tomahawk land attack missiles. Forty-six cruise missiles hit Khorasan group militants and Islamic State targets. Reports are that the strikes were of limited value, with few leaders killed. Most had taken the opportunity to scatter before the attacks due to heavy press coverage of U.S. planning and intentions.

Also, it appears that the intelligence in preparation for the airstrikes was insufficient. The United States no longer has the fixed ground assets and human sources it once had access to when our ground presence was more robust. As a result, some damage, a few killed, but the bad guys live to fight another day.

The strategy outlined by the Obama administration called for close coordination between allied ground elements and the air campaign. This obviously isn't being done, and the campaign thus far is not very effective. The Islamic State--also known as ISIS or ISIL--continues to advance. At press time, militants were besieging the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani, which sits just across the Turkish border. Thus far, the Turks have been unwilling to intervene on the ground and the town is in danger of falling. A rift between the United States and Turkey over strategy and respective roles and collaboration in this campaign has Turkey and its capable army sitting on the sidelines. Turkey is more concerned in removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power, and has shown a reluctance to support any Kurdish forces.

There is some evidence that the air campaign is having an effect on ISIS mobility, as predicted, but it has not been able to slow or reverse its battlefield successes. The missing elements are effective, robust allied ground opposition and close coordination between allied air planning and allied ground forces. Also, the airstrikes seem too few and not intense and effective enough even when targets are hit accurately. Without correcting these deficiencies, ISIS will continue to advance.

Another big worry is the Islamists' incursions into Iraq's Anbar province. Sunni elements there are still reluctant to throw their support behind the Iraqi government forces, even though Nouni al-Malalci has stepped down. Until Sunnis are more certain of the direction and inclusiveness of the new government, they will be sitting back. Their worry about the presence of Shiite militias in Sunni areas is another cause for concern. In the meantime, ISIS...