(AFP/Getty Images)

In separate comments today, three top Obama administration officials appeared to eclipse the President's own statement this morning in Estonia about dealing with the threat posed by ISIS.

Secretary of State John Kerry underlined a determined position on the issue at two events today at the State Department.

Speaking to a small crowd this morning while nominating a new Special Representative for Muslim Communities, Kerry used the first half of his speech to forcefully counter the imagery ISIS disseminated yesterday in releasing a video of American journalist Steven Sotloff's execution-contrasting with the president's circumspect words today on making the problem of ISIS "manageable."

"Let me be really clear…The real face of Islam is not what we saw yesterday, when the world bore witness again to the unfathomable brutality of ISIL terrorist murderers," Kerry exclaimed. "For so many who worked so long to bring Steven and other Americans home safely, this obviously was not how the story was meant to end. It's a punch to the gut."

Kerry was adamant about the United States' obligation to pursue revenge.

"We have taken the fight to this kind of savagery and evil before, and believe me, we will take it again. We're doing it today, and when terrorists anywhere around the world have murdered our citizens, the United States held them accountable, no matter how long it took. And those who have murdered James Foley and Steven Sotloff in Syria need to know that the United States will hold them accountable too, no matter how long it takes."

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Just a few hours later at an event with five former secretaries of State, including Colin Powell and Hillary Clinton, Kerry once again took the chance to accentuate his resolve.

"We will not allow our country's foreign policy debate to be stolen by a false choice between force without diplomacy or diplomacy without force, or succumb to the easy appeals of those who promise Americans that the United States can step aside," he noted. "I can tell you for certain: most of the world does not lie awake at night worrying about America's presence. They tell me that they worry about what would happen in our absence…we have to remember-engagement and leadership, not retrenchment and isolationism, are the American DNA."

Kerry's comments today came after President Obama's remarks this morning at a press conference in Estonia, where he at first said, "Our objective is clear, and that is to degrade and destroy ISIL." Shortly after, he appeared to step back from that urgency, saying, "We know that if we are joined by the international community, we can continue to shrink ISIL's sphere of influence, its effectiveness, its military capability to the point where it is a manageable problem."

In a live Q&A event this afternoon with CNN, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel took a firm stance on ISIL, saying, "Threats don't work in little neat boxes…They're something we've never seen before." Taking it a step further and borrowing from Obama's initial angle this morning, Hagel noted: "You've got to destroy [ISIS]. Because if we don't destroy it, it will get worse."

And in a speech in New Hampshire today, Vice President Joe Biden was characteristically assertive when discussing the need to see a resolution through.

"We take care of those who are grieving, and when that's finished, they should know: we will follow them to the gates of hell until they are brought to justice," he said. "Because hell is where they will reside. Hell is where they will reside."

Obama and his press team have continued to clarify their positions, if only to avoid the perception of a fissure between the communications strategies of his top officials.