{"id":57068,"date":"2019-10-30T21:12:27","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T21:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/10\/30\/us-official-predicts-islamic-state-will-replace-slain-leader\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:38:07","slug":"us-official-predicts-islamic-state-will-replace-slain-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/10\/30\/us-official-predicts-islamic-state-will-replace-slain-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"US official predicts Islamic State will replace slain leader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 A U.S. counterterrorism official said Wednesday he expects a new Islamic State leader to emerge after the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2019\/10\/27\/islamic-state-leader-leaves-a-legacy-of-terror\/\" target=_blank>death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi<\/a> and warned that the extremist group\u2019s planning of major attacks probably will go on as before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe ideology continues, the resonance continues, and that is a strategic concern for us,\u201d Russell Travers, the acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said at a congressional hearing on global threats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Travers said the killing of ISIS leader al-Baghdadi by U.S. forces in Syria on Saturday was a \u201csignificant\u201d development. But he said that ISIS, which once controlled a large swath of Iraq and Syria, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2019\/10\/29\/al-baghdadis-number-one-replacement-is-dead-trump-says\/\" target=_blank>has a \u201cdeep bench\u201d <\/a>of figures who could replace al-Baghdadi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The measured response by Travers and other U.S. officials was in contrast to President Donald Trump\u2019s post-raid remarks Sunday when he cast al-Baghdadi\u2019s death as an unequivocal victory, greater than the 2011 killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe need to remember that the United States and the coalition overall has had tremendous success in eliminating leadership over the years of both al-Qaida and ISIS and yet the bench tends to rise to the top,\u201d Travers said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said he expected a new ISIS leader to emerge, followed by requests from the group\u2019s branches and affiliates to swear loyalty to that chief. <\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/10\/28\/american-commando-raid-to-kill-al-baghdadi-was-launched-from-al-asad-airbase-rehearsals-conducted-in-erbil\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635944991623477395-mar-marines-iraq-2jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">American commando raid to kill al-Baghdadi was launched from al-Asad Air Base, rehearsals conducted in Erbil<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The American commando raid that bagged Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was launched from the sprawling al-Asad airbase in Anbar province Iraq, according to a source on the ground with direct knowledge of the operation.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked what impact al-Baghdadi\u2019s death would have on planning for future attacks, Travers replied: \u201cI actually don\u2019t think it will have much impact. If there were significant attacks that were in the planning, that planning will continue. It won\u2019t have that much effect.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Within Syria and Iraq, he added, ISIS has at least 14,000 fighters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat\u2019s an important number,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause five, six years ago, when ISIS was at its low point, they were down under a thousand. To us, this tells us the insurgency has a lot of options.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The acting homeland security secretary, Kevin McAleenan, said he believed<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2019\/10\/28\/islamic-state-still-poses-a-threat-after-al-baghdadis-death\/\" target=_blank> ISIS remains a threat<\/a> and he noted the potential for an attack that arises after the death of a senior terrorist leader. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe do think it\u2019s going to affect their ability to reorganize and to direct, but we maintain our concern about the diffuse and dispersed ISIS affiliates and their ability to continue to mount threats to U.S. interests worldwide,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">FBI Director Chris Wray said the biggest concern in the United States was the \u201cvirtual caliphate\u201d that inspires Americans to pledge allegiance to ISIS and commit acts of violence in the group\u2019s name even without traveling to Syria. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A U.S. counterterrorism official said Wednesday he expects a new Islamic State leader to emerge after the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and warned that the extremist group\u2019s planning of major attacks probably will go on as before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":95748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,13,16,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1214],"class_list":["post-57068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"E4QB7XCTAVHLZL7ST6HZEKIVQU","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/10\/30\/us-official-predicts-islamic-state-will-replace-slain-leader\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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