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One wouldn't be surprised if President Obama's Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, woke up Monday morning checking for tire tracks after his boss effectively threw him under the bus for having "underestimated" the threat posed by the Islamic State militant group.

But Obama's remarks in a "60 Minutes" interview drew immediate objections from lawmakers and the intelligence community.

In the interview, Obama was asked how the Islamic State was able to gain so much territory. "Our head of the intelligence community Jim Clapper has acknowledged that I think they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria," the president said.

Clapper previously had admitted that U.S. analysts both underestimated the Islamic State, or ISIS, and "overestimated" the ability of the Iraqi army to fight them.

But sources say Obama nevertheless was looped in on the rise of ISIS for a while.

A military intelligence official told Fox News that the Obama administration had options on the table to target senior leadership of ISIS -- as well as the Al Qaeda-aligned Khorasan Group -- in the 18 months leading up to the strikes in Syria which began last week.

The official, who is familiar with the data collection, said the threat from ISIS and Khorasan was well-documented in the president's daily brief for over a year, but the White House failed to act.

The official said the intelligence community "pushed hard" to identify the leadership of both groups for targeting purposes and these options were presented to the president's team -- and every option was denied.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., also questioned the president's comments on Monday. Speaking on MSNBC, he said he himself became aware of the threat in the summer of 2013.King said Obama "dropped the ball" and is trying to blame others.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaking on CNN, also said he's "puzzled" by some of the president's statements.

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Obama faces backlash after blaming intel community for missing ISIS