The Pentagon is considering under what circumstances it will recommend President Barack Obama authorize the use of a missile-equipped drone to kill the leader of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria , Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi , CNN has learned . Any such mission to kill al-Baghdadi would have to be approved by Obama , according to several defense officials CNN has spoken to at length . All of the officials have direct knowledge of the intelligence gathering efforts in Iraq , but declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the information . `` He is a person of great interest to us , '' one defense official told CNN . If the U.S. military were to recommend a drone strike against al-Baghdadi , there would have to be specific and detailed intelligence showing his location at the moment of a strike and intelligence to assure that civilians would not be at risk . In order to launch a kill mission , the U.S. has to demonstrate the target poses a threat to the U.S. Al-Baghdadi 's ISIS organization does threaten the U.S. Embassy and U.S. citizens in Iraq , according to U.S. officials . It is also possible the U.S. could turn the information over to the Iraq government for it to conduct a capture or kill mission against the ISIS leader on its own . Another point of consideration would be the impact of a U.S. strike on the situation in Iraq and whether the U.S. would be seen by Sunnis as siding with the Shiite-led government . Al-Baghdadi already has a $ 10 million bounty on his head from the U.S. government 's Reward for Justice program , which offers multi-million dollar rewards for information leading to the capture of certain high value terrorists around the world . Last week , al-Baghdadi made a very public appearance at a prominent mosque in northern Iraq . Eyewitnesses said he drove up to the mosque in a large convoy and remained surrounded by civilians . But U.S. officials said capturing al-Baghdadi would be difficult because the U.S. military does not have combat troops on the ground in either Iraq or Syria , where al-Baghdadi and ISIS are known to operate . In addition , any covert capture mission by U.S. special forces or law enforcement inside Iraq could be seen as violating Iraq 's sovereignty , though such a mission remains possible . That means al-Baghdadi is essentially on a U.S. `` kill list '' even though such a list in Syria and Iraq has never been openly acknowledged . Under U.S. policy , lethal drone attacks are generally authorized when there is no reasonable possibility of capturing a suspect . The possibility comes as part of the U.S. military effort to gather intelligence on so-called `` high value targets '' in Iraq and continues to collect intelligence for targeting airstrikes in Iraq . The targets fall into three categories , the officials said . They include information for striking `` high value targets '' like al-Baghdadi ; protection of key infrastructure such as the Haditha Dam ; and blunting major ISIS offensives against Baghdad . Airstrikes by either drones or manned aircraft would have to be approved by the President . There are also electronic intercepts being conducted , according to one U.S. official . In recent days the U.S. military has again increased its reconnaissance missions over Iraq from the 30 missions a day it was conducting . `` It 's up around 50 right now . And it 's stayed there for a good many days , '' according to Rear Adm. John Kirby , Pentagon press secretary . Who is the ISIS ? U.S. official : 'No reason to doubt ' video 's authenticity of al-Baghdadi .
Pentagon considering when to recommend a drone strike agains ISIL leader . Any mission to kill ISIS leader Abu Ali al - Baghdad would need Obama 's approval . Al - Baghdadi has $ 10 million bounty on his head through Reward for Justice program .