Disclosures of Battle Plan by Pentagon Startle Many

[Valin]

NY Times:

MARK LANDLER

FEB. 21, 2015

 

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has been eager to show momentum against the Islamic State after a conference last week dramatized the hurdles to countering the terrorist group’s propaganda. But the Pentagon may have gone too far in sharing its military planning.

 

On Thursday, a senior official from the American military’s Central Command told reporters that Iraqi and Kurdish forces, with help from the United States, were preparing to launch an assault to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul in April or May, before the searing heat of the Iraqi summer. The assault force, the official said, would consist of up to 25,000 Iraqi and Kurdish troops.

 

(Snip)

 

The disclosures also caught the new defense secretary, Ashton B. Carter, by surprise. “The secretary is always concerned about operational security and wants us to be mindful that we don’t put information out there that isn’t necessary,” a senior defense official told reporters traveling with Mr. Carter on Friday to Afghanistan, his first overseas trip in his first week on the job.

 

(Snip)

 

Senior Pentagon officials pushed for the Central Command briefing largely to demonstrate the steps the military was taking to counter the Islamic State’s propaganda campaign. It came at the end of a three-day White House conference on combating violent extremism, which showcased the uphill nature of the challenge for the West.

 

(Snip)