Carter Encourages Cyber Command to Intensify Fight Against ISIL

By Lisa Ferdinando DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, January 27, 2016 — Defense Secretary Ash Carter today encouraged U.S. Cyber Command to "intensify the fight" against the Islamic State of Iraq the Levant, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said.

Carter and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., visited Cybercom headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland, Cook told reporters.

They discussed a range of cyber-related topics with Cybercom leadership, the press secretary said, including efforts to degrade ISIL's messaging campaign.

Targeting ISIL’s Internet Messaging

"The effort to accelerate the campaign to deliver a lasting defeat to ISIL includes targeting their use of the Internet to spread their message of hate, recruit fighters and inspire acts of terror," he added.

Cybercom is charged with supporting interagency partners in the whole-of-government effort to counter ISIL messaging, in addition to other aspects of the counter-ISIL campaign, Cook explained.

In a meeting with personnel directly engaged in cyber operations, Carter encouraged those workers and the entire Cybercom team to "do what they can to intensify the fight against ISIL," Cook said.