GOP senator: US must not allow ISIS to look powerful

The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee said Sunday that the United States must not allow ISIS to look powerful to potential recruits around the world.

{mosads}Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said the military must defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria “so the reality is conveyed that this is not a winning organization — this is a losing organization.”

“We are not adequately defeating them, and we are not conveying the extent to which they are weakened,” said Johnson, speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

He added that the United States is “certainly vulnerable” to attacks by ISIS sympathizers.

The comments took place amid an ongoing investigation of an attempted violent assault against a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest outside of Dallas.

While ISIS has claimed credit for the attack, law enforcement says links to the terrorist group have not been confirmed.

Johnson emphasized that the government does not have “perfect knowledge” of internal ISIS strategy or communications, and that Congress must take care as it reauthorizes the Patriot Act this spring.