Meeting with generals, Obama cites progress against Islamic State

WASHINGTON — President Obama met with his top generals for a big-picture overview of the U.S. defense posture Tuesday, but said most of the discussion focused on his "top priority" — defeating the Islamic State.

"ISIL continues to lose ground," Obama told reporters after the meeting at the White House. "But as we've seen from Turkey to Belgium, ISIL still has the ability to launch serious terrorist attacks. One of my main messages today is that destroying ISIL continues to be my top priority and so we can no longer tolerate the kinds of positioning that is enabled by them having headquarters in Raqqa and in Mosul."

Obama cited recent progress in severing the highways between those two strongholds in Syria and Iraq, and to target financial networks and oil infrastructure.

Obama also thanked the retiring commander of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Lloyd Austin. The White House had blamed Austin for underestimating the threat from the Islamic State in 2014, when Obama called them the "JV team," or junior varsity. But on Tuesday, Obama was all plaudits. "He did an outstanding job in every single assignment that he received," Obama said.

In other areas, Obama said the U.S. was working to beef up defenses in Europe "to reassure NATO allies in the light of particularly increased aggressive actions by Russia." He said he also spoke to the generals about cooperation in the Pacific Rim, boosting cyber-security, investing in technology and supporting military families.