WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement tonight on President Obama’s address on the threat of terrorism:

“ISIL continues to pose an evolving threat and our strategy to defeat them must evolve too.

“Tonight, the President discussed some of the ways we are ramping up security at home while taking the fight to ISIL, and what more we must do to protect the American people.

“American leadership is key and we must continue working with our allies and improving intelligence sharing and counterterrorism capabilities that deny safe haven to ISIL.  But we also have to avoid past mistakes and understand that in order to be successful, ground combat troops in Iraq and Syria must be led primarily by local forces.  The U.S. can play a critical role in assisting and enabling them.

“The President laid out a number of commonsense steps to better secure our borders and communities against the kind of violence that occurred in San Bernardino.

“The threat posed by ISIL demands that we take measures to support our law enforcement community.  And it also demands that we continue to uphold our values and not give in to hate and fear.”

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