ISIS Leader Takes Steps to Ensure Group’s Survival

[Peter1469]

The leader of the Islamic State is attempting to ensure that there are lower level leaders ready to take his and other senior commanders' positions should they be killed.

The Islamic State’s reclusive leader has empowered his inner circle of deputies as well as regional commanders in Syria and Iraq with wide-ranging authority, a plan to ensure that if he or other top figures are killed, the organization will quickly adapt and continue fighting, American and Iraqi intelligence officials say.

The officials say the leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, delegates authority to his cabinet, or shura council, which includes ministers of war, finance, religious affairs and others.


The Islamic State’s leadership under Mr. Baghdadi has drawn mainly from two pools: veterans of Al Qaeda in Iraq who survived the insurgency against American forces with battle-tested militant skills, and former Baathist officers under Saddam Hussein with expertise in organization, intelligence and internal security. It is the merger of these two skill sets that has made the organization such a potent force, the officials say.

But it also means that mid-level commanders will have lots of good intel if captured.

[Private Pickle]

The leader of the Islamic State is attempting to ensure that there are lower level leaders ready to take his and other senior commanders' positions should they be killed.



But it also means that mid-level commanders will have lots of good intel if captured.

That's OK. They don't have to tell us their intel... Remember?

It's one of the reasons our military is so cohesive. Always know the job of the man above and beneath you...