--- title: Obama: U.S. Intelligence Underestimated the Rise of ISIS description: The United States also overestimated the Iraqi Army's ability to defeat ISIS forces, Obama said canonical: https://time.com/3442254/obama-u-s-intelligence-isis/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-28T19:31:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:01:42.094Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama: U.S. Intelligence Underestimated the Rise of ISIS og:description: The United States also overestimated the Iraqi Army's ability to defeat ISIS forces, Obama said og:url: https://time.com/3442254/obama-u-s-intelligence-isis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fa647450997bdb2/6986a5c1e8524b98d9604f2d/ap193887366100.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2200 og:image:height: 1238 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama: U.S. Intelligence Underestimated the Rise of ISIS twitter:description: The United States also overestimated the Iraqi Army's ability to defeat ISIS forces, Obama said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fa647450997bdb2/6986a5c1e8524b98d9604f2d/ap193887366100.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Admits U.S. Intelligence Didn't See ISIS Coming > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=03533fb3-812e-4102-8d13-097e16198479&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Obama - U.S. underestimated rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria [Watch (HLS stream): Obama - U.S. underestimated rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/g1AqDUCN.m3u8) (0:19)  _Published 2014-09-28. Obama - U.S. underestimated rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria_ by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Sep 28, 2014 7:31 PM UTC by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Sep 28, 2014 7:31 PM UTC The U.S. underestimated the threat the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) posed in Syria and Iraq, President Obama conceded in an interview that will air on _60 Minutes_ Sunday, and overestimated the ability of the Iraqi army to secure their country. “\[Director of National Intelligence James Clapper\] has acknowledged that I think they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria,” Obama said. “Essentially what happened with \[ISIS\] was that you had al Qaeda in Iraq, which was a vicious group, but our Marines were able to quash \[it\] with the help of Sunni tribes,” Obama went on. “They went back underground, but over the past couple of years, during the chaos of the Syrian civil war, where essentially you had huge swaths of the country that are completely ungoverned, they were able to reconstitute themselves and take advantage of that chaos.” When asked about comments by the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who has said the U.S. overestimated the ability and will of the Iraqi military to fight the extremist group, Obama said, “That’s true,” Mr. Obama said. “That’s absolutely true.” Obama had already admitted that the rise of ISIS took the U.S. by surprise. “I think that there is no doubt that their advance, their movement over the last several months has been more rapid than the intelligence estimates and I think the expectations of policymakers both in and outside of Iraq,” he said in an [August statement](http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/08/09/statement-president-iraq). ## Transcript You, you mentioned James Clap at the director of national intelligence. I mean he, he didn't just say that we under- estimated Isil. He said we underestimated the ability and the will of our allies, the Iraqi army to fight. That's true. 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