Don’t give ISIS ‘more dignity than it deserves,’ DHS secretary says

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said he does not want to give the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) more “dignity than it deserves” by classifying it as a Muslim ideology. 

“It seems to me that to refer to ISIL as occupying any part of the Islamic theology is playing on a battlefield that they would like us to be on. I think that to call them some form of Islam gives the group more dignity than it deserves,” he said on “Fox News Sunday,” using the administration’s preferred acronym for ISIS 

Johnson was defending President Obama and the administration for not using the term “Islamic extremism” to describe the terrorist group. 

The terrorist threat overseas requires a military approach, Johnson said. But engagement in Muslim communities in the United States and other Western nations is also important, he added.

“Because of the foreign fighter phenomenon, the number of foreign fighters they have in their force, and because of their use of the Internet, their use of social media, to recruit, and recruit for specific terrorist attacks, we need to be involved in the relevant communities in this country to thwart recruitment efforts and help build counter narrative to the one being put out,” he said. 

Johnson was addressing comments by State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf, who said the United States could not simply “kill our way” to victory over terrorism and ISIS.