ISIS not Islamic, but 'psychopathic': CIA chief

Brennan says they need to expose just how murderous and psychopathic ISIS is

NEW YORK: CIA Director John Brennan on Friday said that attaching the word “Islamic” or “Muslim” to the Islamic State (ISIS) group will afford them the legitimacy that they seek.

Speaking at the Center for Foreign Relation in New York on Friday, Brennan said that the group “don’t deserve at all” such legitimacy.

“I do think it does injustice to the tenets of religion when we attach a religious moniker to them,” Brennan said.

White House, and especially Obama, have not identified the extremist organisation with Islam. At the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism last month, Obama had said that those who use the religious descriptors are peddling a “lie” that which enables them to recruit Muslims.

 

Read: 'Terrorists' do not speak for one billion Muslims: Obama

 

ISIS has now roughly 20,000 foreign fighters due to their activeness on the social media to reach global audiences.

CIA chief has announced restructuring across the board to tackle their activities online by setting up “Directorate of Digital Innovation” which will conduct cyber operations against ISIS.

Defeating ISIS will “take years”, said the chief on a TV show in CBS News.

“We need to expose just how murderous and psychopathic these individuals are,” he said.

This article originally appeared on TIME.