obviously a link to the quality of intelligence that we have in our assessment of this force and the operations this force will conduct will provide us additional intelligence that makes our operations much more effective. >> reporter: a raid in syria that killed top isis operative in may provided an initial trove of intelligence leading to improved information about isis. two operatives still in the u.s. cross-hairs? isis' leader abu bakr baghdadi. now, carter insisted today that isis has lost territory, lost ground in syria and iraq but he was asked flat out, is the u.s. winning against isis? the secretary largely sidestepped that question and said the u.s. will win. wolf? >> yeah. he was pressed a couple times and said eventually the u.s. will win and refused to say the