President Barack Obama ordered attacks on the Islamic State (ISIS) for political reasons leading into the November midterm elections, New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte insisted Sunday.
She says she's very concerned he won't have the resolve to finish the fight once the election is over.
“I think we have a problem where the president’s foreign policy is being trapped by his campaign rhetoric," Ayotte told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace. "I’m very fearful as we look at the current military strategy that it is surrounding the November elections and he won’t have the resolve to follow through with what needs to be done in a sustained effort to destroy ISIS."
Ayotte, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the United States and its leaders need to ensure that the resolve remains so that a "sustained effort to destroy ISIS" can continue.
"I’m very concerned about... his resolve in that regard and I think that’s something that we have to stay focused on,” she said. "We need to ensure that this isn't just surrounding what we're doing now. He has made clear this is going to take a sustained effort and he has to be prepared to have the resolve to engage in that sustained effort to destroy ISIS.”
Ayotte has been skeptical on the Obama administration's stance on ISIS for some time. Last month, she disputed claims
being made by Obama administration officials that ISIS militants could not launch an attack within the United States.
The extremists have the money, the ideology, the capability, and an interest in launching attacks on U.S. soil, she said then.
"I'm concerned it's an understatement to say it's a regional threat,'' said the Republican senator.
Also on Fox News Sunday, Ayotte addressed the ongoing issues with the Secret Service, saying it needs a "fresh view" and an "independent review."
The Secret Service is once again under fire after a knife-carrying man was able to run across the White House lawn and enter an unlocked door at the mansion, making it well inside the building before agents could stop him.
Secret Service Director Julie Pierson stepped down last week after she was grilled by lawmakers over the intruder snafu, but Ayotte said Sunday that the problems go far beyond the agency's leadership and instead into the culture, the command structure, and training of agents.
Perhaps, she said, the Secret Service should become part of the Department of Homeland Security.
"Clearly, they have to defend the president in a context of the threats we face around the world," Ayotte said. While the current case is one of fence-jumping, which happens occasionally at the White House, she said, "what about a more sophisticated scenario?"
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