As U.S. military planners prepare to, as President Obama said in his speech on Wednesday, "degrade and ultimately destroy" the terrorists of the Islamic State, efforts are already under way to identify possible ISIS targets in Syria. The president also made clear that in the fight against ISIS in Syria "we cannot rely on an Assad regime that terrorizes its own people" but instead must give more support to Syrian opposition forces.

This is a welcome development. Until recently, the U.S. intelligence community...