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Republican members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation said Monday that the strategy proposed by President Barack Obama to deal with terrorism in the United States and abroad covered no substantive new ground.

“Radical Islamic extremists have a plan and the entire world is aware of it,” U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, whose 6th Congressional District includes Surry and Stokes counties, said Monday. “The unwillingness to adopt a comprehensive strategy by President Obama is another prime example of his administration’s failed foreign policy.”

Walker’s comment comes a day after Obama spelled out his strategy in a televised speech Sunday night.

Among his ideas were a diplomatic push for a cease-fire in Syria; new authorization by Congress for military actions underway against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS; deploy Special Operations forces to assist Syrian and Iraqi allies; and order the departments of State and Homeland Security to review the fiance visa program that the female shooter in California used to enter the U.S.

Obama referred to a visa waiver program that Congress is also reviewing, but the White House later clarified he meant the fiance program.

Many of Obama’s critics said that he announced no significant shift in strategy and offered no new policy prescriptions for defeating ISIS.

“At the same time as groups like the Islamic State expand their physical reach, the intelligence community and our law enforcement agencies have fewer tools available to combat these threats,” said U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. “It’s time to invest in the authorities and capabilities those on the front line need to defeat these groups.”

Obama also reiterated his call for broader gun control legislation. Congress should pass legislation to bar guns from being sold to people on a no-fly list, Obama said, calling it a matter of national security.

But Obama stands little chance of getting the Republican-led Congress to agree to any gun control measures. On Thursday, the Senate rejected legislation barring people the government suspects of acts of terrorism from purchasing firearms. Burr and U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., were among those who rejected it. Gun rights advocates say such a ban would violate the rights of people who haven’t been convicted of crimes.

U.S. Rep. Alma Adams — a Democrat whose 12th Congressional District seat stretches from Charlotte to Greensboro roughly along Interstate 85 and includes parts of Winston-Salem — said she agreed with Obama that the mass shooting that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif., was an act of terrorism.

“So far, we have no evidence that the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas, or that they were part of a broader conspiracy here at home,” Obama said.

“But it is clear that the two of them had gone down the dark path of radicalization, embracing a perverted interpretation of Islam that calls for war against America and the West.

“They had stockpiled assault weapons, ammunition and pipe bombs. So this was an act of terrorism, designed to kill innocent people,” Obama said.

For her part, Adams said she would follow the investigation closely.

“We must take this incident, the recent mass shooting in Colorado and domestic terrorism that takes place every day in this country as the result of guns falling into the wrong hands, more seriously.

“It’s way past time for Congress to act on gun violence,” Adams said.

Foxx, whose 5th Congressional District includes parts of Winston-Salem and most of Northwest North Carolina, said Obama’s speech revealed that he has “no comprehensive strategy to defeat ISIS.”

“We need to know what can be done with our military, our intelligence-gathering and our international partners to defeat those who seek to harm us and want to destroy our way of life. We are facing a new era of violence and terrorism where danger exists both abroad and on American soil. We must do all that we can to eliminate this extremist threat,” Foxx said.

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