Obama to discuss 'the broader threat of terrorism' in Oval Office address
WASHINGTON -- President Obama will highlight the government's efforts to prevent terrorism and re-affirm his commitment to keeping the nation safe during his prime time address Sunday, officials said.
Speaking less than a week after a mass shooting in California, the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, the president will also "call on the American people to pull out the best in themselves and not give into fear at this time," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on NBC's Meet The Press.
"I think what you're going to hear from him is a discussion about what government is doing to ensure all of our highest priority: the protection of the American people," Lynch said.
In announcing the 8 p.m. ET speech, the White House said Obama will discuss the investigation into the California shooting, including evidence that the killers had been radicalized in support of the Islamic State.
The speech will also cover "the broader threat of terrorism, including the nature of the threat, how it has evolved, and how we will defeat it," the White House said, including programs adopted after the Sept. 11 attacks of 2001 and the Paris attacks of last month.
The president, who is not expected to announce any major policy changes, will make it "absolutely clear that he will continue to use every single aspect of American power" to destroy the Islamic State, the White House said.
Obama, who has called for more gun control measures after a series of mass shootings, will likely ask Congress for new action, Lynch said.
Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state as well as a 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, predicted to ABC's This Week that Obama will discuss "an intensification of the existing strategy" against the Islamic State. She also said "we're not winning" the fight against the Islamic State, and that it is "too soon to say that we are doing everything we need to do."
The United States and its allies are conducting air strikes against Islamic State territory in Syria and Iraq, and trying to train local local forces to fight the militant group on the ground. The administration is also seeking a political settlement to the civil war in Syria, where the Islamic State is basing many of its operations.
While Obama has authorized the deployment of 50 special forces members to Syria, he has refused to dispatch American ground troops to fight the Islamic State, saying the U.S. should not get bogged down in another Middle East war.
Some critics said U.S. and allied ground troops will be needed to eventually defeat the Islamic State.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Republican presidential candidate, told NBC's Meet The Press that Obama should use the speech to "change his strategy" and "abandon what's not working."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Obama needs to discuss how a U.S.-led coalition or NATO can "forge a ground force" able to re-take territory from the Islamic State. He also suggested that Obama propose new investigative tools, including ways to "defeat encrypted online communications" between prospective terrorists.
“If he does these things, it will show that he has learned in office and cast off old campaign promises in favor of serious solutions to protect Americans at home and our allies abroad," McConnell said.
This will be only Obama's third national address from the Oval Office, the first since 2010.
In a series of Sunday show appearances, Republican presidential candidates called for expanded surveillance and investigative powers they said have eroded under the Obama administration.
GOP front-runner Donald Trump, appearing on CBS' Face The Nation, said the United States needs more "vigilance" of possible terrorists, particularly "radicals in the Muslim group" of people.
"You have people that have to be tracked," Trump said. "If they're Muslims, they're Muslims. But you have people that have to be tracked."
In his Saturday radio address, Obama said "it is entirely possible" that the attackers in California "were radicalized" to commit the attack, a long-standing fear of law enforcement officials.
The husband and wife accused of killing 14 people and wounding another 21 at a holiday party in San Bernardino, Calif., were both killed in a shootout by police shortly after the attack.
The Islamic State and other terrorist groups are encouraging people "to commit terrible acts of violence, often times as lone wolf actors," Obama said, and all Americans should work together "to prevent people from falling victim to these hateful ideologies."
The president also said the U.S should do more to prevent dangerous people from getting firearms.
"We will uphold our values -- a free and open society," Obama said. "We are strong. And we are resilient. And we will not be terrorized."
In her Meet The Press appearance, Lynch said that over the years concerns about terrorism have shifted from large-scale events to the "lone wolf" kind of attack that happened last week.
"We've been watching this threat evolve for some time," Lynch said. "We have to evolve as well, and we are."