Sen. John Thune: White House Doesn't Understand Threat of ISIS

The administration of President Barack Obama doesn't really comprehend the threat the Islamic State (ISIS) poses to the United States, Sen. John Thune told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

"I sometimes think that the administration doesn't fully grasp and understand what it is that we're up against (with the threat of ISIS), at least in their willingness to express that," the South Dakota Republican said Wednesday.

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ISIS was going to be an "ongoing battle" for the U.S., and the sooner the White House realized the severity of the threat, "the better off we're going to be," Thune said, adding the U.S. needed to be poised to do whatever was possible to "degrade and destroy" ISIS, even if it included boots on the ground.

"I certainly would hope that it does not [require boots on the ground]. But, I think that we have to be prepared to defeat this threat. And, if we don't, we're going see it on our own shores, and we're seeing it all over the world today. This is not going away. And, it's going to take American leadership and American firepower in order to defeat it," he said.

Thune suggested the effort also had to include "doing everything we can do to get a coalition, building a coalition." He said as commander in chief, it was appropriate for Obama to "put forward a proposal" for Congress to debate an Authorization for Use of Military Force.

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