OVERNIGHT DEFENSE: Obama defends strategy as ISIS advances

THE TOPLINE: President Obama on Tuesday predicted there would be “setbacks” in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) but defended his overall strategy despite intense criticism.

“This is going to be a long-term campaign, there are no quick fixes involved,” Obama said following a meeting with coalition military leaders at Joint Base Andrews. He added that there were “going to be periods of progress and setbacks.”

{mosads}He admitted that ISIS does not pose a “classic” military challenge, but said the U.S. and 60 allied nations fighting the terror group are “united in our goal.”

The meeting came as ISIS made new gains in Iraq and Syria.

The group has reportedly seized a military training camp in western Iraq and continues to bomb the outskirts of Baghdad. In Syria, ISIS forces are advancing on Kobani, a predominantly Kurdish town that sits seven miles from the border with Turkey.

Earlier Tuesday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest though said that U.S. strategy is “succeeding.”

“We’re in the early days of the execution of that strategy,” Earnest said. “But certainly the early evidence indicates that this strategy is succeeding.”

The U.S. is relying on airstrikes, but some military officials have warned that ISIS cannot be defeated without ground forces. The president has ruled out deploying U.S. ground troops, but there are growing concerns that local security forces are too weak to stop ISIS.

“Of course we don’t want the town to fall,” Earnest said of Kobani.

“At the same time our capacity to prevent that town from falling are limited … by the lack of a ground force that can take the fight to ISIL. That ground force doesn’t yet exist,” he added using an alternate name for the organization.

U.S. Central Command announced the coalition had conducted 21 airstrikes over the past two days in an attempt to “interdict ISIL reinforcements … and prevent ISIL from massing combat power on the Kurdish held portions” of Kobani.

“Indications are that airstrikes have slowed ISIL advances,” officials said. “However, the security situation on the ground there remains fluid, with ISIL attempting to gain territory and Kurdish militia continuing to hold out.”

DHS CHIEF: ISIS ISN’T PLANNING EBOLA ATTACK: Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson dismissed the idea that ISIS fighters are planning to use the Ebola virus to attack the United States.

“We’ve seen no specific credible intelligence that [ISIS] is attempting to use any sort of disease or virus to attack our homeland” Johnson said in remarks to the Association of the United States Army.

Last week, retired Capt. Al Shimkus, a professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, told Forbes that ISIS fighters could infect themselves with the deadly virus to use it as a biological weapon against the West.

Johnson dismissed that theory Tuesday but acknowledged that the terror group remains a “very, very dangerous terrorist organization.”

He said the government and public must remain “vigilant” against possible “lone wolf” attacks.

“We don’t mean to unnecessarily burden people in their travel or unnecessarily frighten people, either, with speculation and rumor,” Johnson told the audience. “We have to be responsible.”

He delivered his remarks as the administration faces increased pressure to ramp up its response to the Ebola outbreak, following the second case in the U.S.

Obama on Tuesday said a number of countries “have not yet stepped up” to stop the deadly virus.

SIX-MONTH ANNIVERSARY OF BOKO HARAM KIDNAPPING: Six months after hundreds of schoolgirls were abducted by Boko Haram, the White House said it remains committed to securing their freedom and defeating the terror group.

“We have aided in the investigations, including by deploying personnel on the ground, facilitated strategic communications, and provided assistance to the families,” said national security adviser Susan Rice in a statement marking the anniversary of the kidnapping in Nigeria.

“We will continue to work toward the release of all the girls who remain in captivity,” she vowed. 

The White House said Boko Haram had abducted hundreds of men, women, girls and boys, and killed 3,000 people in Nigeria. In a statement, the White House said the U.S. was working “to dismantle this murderous group.”

The president has “directed that the U.S. government do everything it can to help the Nigerian government find and free the abducted girls and, more broadly, to combat Boko Haram in partnership with Nigeria, its neighbors, and other allies,” the White House said.

In Nigeria, protesters took to the streets to renew awareness of the abducted schoolchildren’s plight.

The “Bring Back Our Girls” campaign staged a walk on Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s official residence in Abuja, held a candlelight vigil, and made parents of the girls available for media interviews.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 

— Panetta: ‘Nobody’ to blame for Benghazi:

— Rep. Duckworth retires from the military

— US offers $45M reward to find al Qaeda leaders

— Kerry: Iran deal isn’t ‘out of reach’

— Senator ‘concerned’ by Pentagon’s autism spending cuts

— Dem opponent: Fla. rep’s national security attacks ‘pathetic’

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