Charlie Rose Talks to Homeland Security Adviser Lisa Monaco

Obama’s security and counterterrorism adviser discusses battling Islamic State and its high-tech propaganda machine.

Lisa Monaco

Photographer: © Jonathan Ernst / Reuters/REUTERS

Vladimir Putin told me he’d rather fight Islamic State in Syria than back home, but he clearly still supports Assad. How do you respond to that?

The Assad government and what it has done to its people through the use of barrel bombs and other atrocities is a magnet for extremists. And indeed, foreign fighters flow into Syria. Assad is not a counterterrorism partner. He’s not going against ISIL. If the Russians want to make some constructive contributions to the fight against ISIL, that’s a good thing. I would say, however, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. The president began—and continues to lead—a coalition of60-some-odd nations countering ISIL.