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Home / Middle East / Why new CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper is as wrong as the old one
Middle East, Counterterrorism, Syria

July 15, 2025

Why new CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper is as wrong as the old one

Yet, as the Trump administration itself acknowledged by reducing U.S. troop levels in Syria earlier this year, ISIS lacks the capacity to pose a serious threat to the U.S. homeland and other regional actors have an interest in suppressing ISIS. As Rose Kelanic at Defense Priorities writes, “While ISIS has morphed into an international ‘brand’ adopted by affiliates in far-off locales, notably ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K), a group based in Afghanistan and Iraq that was responsible for attacks in Russia and Iran earlier in 2024, whatever original ISIS elements still exist in Syria appear incapable of conducting sophisticated, international terrorist attacks.”

Read at Responsible Statecraft

Featuring

Rosemary
Kelanic

Director, Middle East Program

Defense Priorities

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