--- description: Defense Secretary Ashton Carter agrees that the United States is at war with ISIS. title: Defense Secretary Ashton Carter: We Are at War With ISIS image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4c94884cf435a7b/698871dfa988ca008e6b55f7/gettyimages-497730874.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [National Security](/tag/national-security/) ## National Security Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Defense Secretary Ashton Carter: We Are at War With ISIS by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 19, 2015 2:41 AM CUT  U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter addresses the faculty and students of George Washington University Nov. 18, 2015 in Washington, DC. U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter addresses the faculty and students of George Washington University Nov. 18, 2015 in Washington, DC.Alex Wong—Getty Images by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 19, 2015 2:41 AM CUT Defense Secretary Ashton Carter agrees that the United States is at war with ISIS in an interview airing Thursday on MSNBC’s [_Morning Joe_](http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe "undefined")_._ Using the Obama administration’s preferred acronym for the Islamic State, Carter tells MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinksi: “We have to defeat ISIL (ISIS). We will defeat ISIL. You see the barbarism associated with this, and so it is something that must be defeated.” Asked by Scarborough whether he agrees with French President François Hollande that “[we’re at war](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/paris-terror-attacks/paris-attacks-isis-claims-responsibility-france-vows-merciless-response-n463441 "undefined") with ISIS,” Carter replies, “Yeah.” “I think François Hollande has said it very well,” Carter says… [_Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/paris-terror-attacks/defense-secretary-ashton-carter-we-are-war-isis-n465991?cid=par-time%5F20151119 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4119704/isis-defense-ash-carter-terrorism/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4119704/isis-defense-ash-carter-terrorism/"},"headline":"Defense Secretary Ashton Carter: We Are at War With ISIS","datePublished":"2015-11-19T02:41:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:45:15.026Z","description":"\"It is something that must be defeated\"","url":"https://time.com/4119704/isis-defense-ash-carter-terrorism/","keywords":["National Security","Terrorism","war","ISIS","Defense","paris attacks"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4c94884cf435a7b/698871dfa988ca008e6b55f7/gettyimages-497730874.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4c94884cf435a7b/698871dfa988ca008e6b55f7/gettyimages-497730874.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Defense Secretary Ash Carter Speaks At George Washington University","caption":"Defense Secretary Ash Carter Speaks At George Washington University","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/national-security/","name":"National Security"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4119704/isis-defense-ash-carter-terrorism/","name":"Defense Secretary Ashton Carter: We Are at War With ISIS"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: Obama at the G-20 Summit: \"We have the finest military minds in the world.\"","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/U2JjTQoI/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-11-16T17:23:35.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/U2JjTQoI.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4119704/isis-defense-ash-carter-terrorism/","duration":"PT1M51S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4119704/isis-defense-ash-carter-terrorism/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```