Im Chris Matthews in washington. Were following breaking news from the pentagon today. Defense officials have announced that isis second in command, haji imam, was killed in a u. S. Special forces raid this week in syria. Imam oversaw and steered isis funding through its networks. He also reportedly managed daytoday operations for isis and its affiliates in syria, iraq, and libya. Earlier today, defense secretary ash carter dressed the military operation. We are systemically eliminating isils cabinet. Indeed, the u. S. Military killed several key isil terrorists this week, including, we believe, haji imam, who was an isil leader, senior leader, serving as a finance minister and who also is responsible for some external affairs and plots. He was a wellknown terrorist within isils ranks, dating back to its earliest iteration as al qaeda in iraq. Let me bring in nbc news chief pentagon correspondent, Jim Miklaszewski, who is following the latest developments on this story. Mick, thank you