( CNN ) The burning alive of Jordanian pilot Moath al-Kasasbeh is yet another reminder that ISIS is intent on testing the utter limits of evil and depravity . But even as our eyes are drawn to the horrors being committed overseas , concern is growing in Washington that the Obama administration 's strategy for defeating ISIS is falling short . Three retired senior military commanders -- with 12 stars between them -- recently came before the Senate Armed Services Committee to give their assessment of the defense and security challenges facing our country . With their uniforms put away , they were free to speak their minds . And all three lamented the confused , directionless wandering that constitutes the current national security strategy of the Obama administration . The three were especially disturbed by the conduct of military operations that have no clear objectives nor the defined means of achieving them . Gen. James Mattis , a former commander of the U.S. Central Command , for example , called for us to `` come out of our reactive crouch and take a firm strategic stance in defense of our values . '' Gen. Jack Keane , former vice chief of staff of the Army , for his part referred in particular to our inadequate and disjointed efforts against ISIS saying , `` We are reduced to a very piecemeal effort . '' He noted that our airstrikes against ISIS targets were supporting `` unproven '' local ground forces , which would `` certainly guarantee that we will be incrementally engaged with one radical group after another with no end in sight . '' All Americans should share their concern . On the very day these commanders testified , their views ironically were validated by one of the few American successes in recent months : the reported successful defense of the Kurdish town of Kobani on the Syrian/Turkish border . The irony is that this town -- which had little or nothing to do with the vast challenge to our interests posed by either ISIS or Syrian President Bashar al-Assad 's murderous regime , and yet still consumed 70 % of the airstrikes in our struggle against ISIS over the past months -- has been trumpeted as a key victory by the Obama administration . In reality , control of Kobani was contested by a confused array of combatants -- including a designated terrorist organization , the PKK , or Kurdistan Workers Party , fighting on the coalition side against ISIS . Meanwhile , U.S. airstrikes are only likely to help the forces of the brutal al-Assad regime , which also is battling ISIS . This is a collapsing strategy grasping at reeds . U.S. military resources are being squandered without clear purpose or goal . We are indeed `` incrementally engaged with one radical group after another with no end in sight . '' There is an obvious disjoint between the administration 's joy at this modest success , and the lack of real progress against the enemy elsewhere . Despite President Barack Obama 's claim in his State of the Union address or the customary boasts of Secretary of State John Kerry in London two days later , most credible reports show that ISIS is growing stronger in Syria . This is especially true in its Syrian strongholds . We have recently learned that an estimated 20,000 foreign fighters have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight with ISIS , an estimated increase of 5,000 in the past three months . The numbers very well could be much larger . In the meantime , the Obama administration 's plan to identify , vet , train and deploy a total of 5,000 anti-ISIS fighters -- two years from now -- has gone absolutely nowhere . And even if such forces materialize , when they do arrive on future battlefield perhaps , they may have only limited defensive roles , according to the Pentagon . With all this in mind , who could possibly see the President 's response to the mortal threat posed by ISIS as anything but a flat-out denial of the truth ? This is simply not how our country should be responding to such threats to our interests and security . Last year , Obama laid out the goal of defeating ISIS , but he still has not put forward a comprehensive strategy to accomplish this goal . It is paramount that he does so . Such a strategy must include the cooperation and support of moderate Muslim nations . As Keane said Sunday , `` Until we bring the countries that are involved and also those that have interest together and put together an alliance and establish a strategy , we 're not going to be able to push effectively against ( ISIS ) . '' After years of watching this sickening spiral of foreign policy failures , we desperately need improved vision , a stiffer backbone , wisdom and leadership . Another two years of America 's growing impotence and irrelevance is a frightening prospect .
Dan Coats : U.S. lacks effective strategy for countering ISIS . U.S. military resources are being squandered , he says .