Why would somebody "leak" such a remark? Most likely to damage the President.
Also to preserve the status quo, e.g. "keep doing it the same way we always have."
And in this case, the status quo serves to enable terrorists.
We have not beat Islamic terrorism nearly enough. Not enough collateral damage.
The US and Britain have been criticized "after the fact," for having bombed Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg, Tokyo etc.
As if to question why it was necessary. But notice that WWII remains a victory. Germany and Japan have not risen to fight again.
The same is not true with our Islamic terror enemies. We keep letting them up again.
WWII won in less than 4 years. War on Terror still continues more than 16 years following 9/11/2001.