United States Defense Secretary Ash Carter and officials are saying that the fight against ISIS (Islamic State, IS, ISIL, Daesh, etc.) is working. But unlike most pressers where they just say stuff and expect America to take their word for it, they actually have some solid proof this time.

Promising. But why is it happening?

According to the Pentagon it all has to do with the terror organization’s inability to cough up the almighty dollar — to their fighters. They credit the airstrikes as well as throwing an enormous monkey wrench into the procurement and delivery of life essentials like electricity and fuel.

Basically, all the heat that’s coming ISIS’s way via the U.S.-led coalition is rapidly destroying their infrastructure.

The WaPo reports that some ISIS militants are operating on half pay, while some haven’t been compensated in months.

Being broke isn’t the most alluring sales pitch to reel in desperate foreign recruits.

This also from the Post:

A recent poll by the public relations firm ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, and detailed in a report from The Post, indicates that 80 percent of Arab teens and young adults rule out any support for the Islamic State, a number that is up from 60 percent in 2015. The poll is based on results from 3,500 respondents ages 18 to 24.

This uplifting news falls not long after The New York Times reported that the Pentagon was upping the ante when it comes to battling terrorism via cyber warfare. Or “cyber bombs” as they slugged it.

This from The Hill:

The campaign includes efforts to imitate prominent ISIS commanders online and mislead militants, as well as to interrupt and redirect electronic transfers of money used to fund the group’s extremist agenda. To conduct the offensive, the Pentagon has created a cadre of “national mission teams” that resemble special operations forces.

The military is hoping to spread concern among ISIS members that U.S. cyberattacks are manipulating their data and eavesdropping on communications with potential recruits.

“We are dropping cyber bombs,” Robert Work, deputy secretary of Defense, told the Times. “We have never done that before.”

Hope you haven’t forgotten. If you have, we’ll remind you …

This is the future.