Warships armed with cruise missiles plow the waters of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Cabinet-level officials hold a National Security Council meeting at the White House Tuesday night.
And U.S. officials all but tell U.N. inspectors in Syria to get out of the way.
For almost two years, President Obama has avoided direct military involvement in Syria's bloody civil war as the death toll skyrocketed.
Now, after a suspected chemical attack last week obliterated the "red line" Obama set, a flurry of comments and activity seem to be laying the groundwork for a military strike.
Security officials in London will meet Wednesday to hash out options. And on the ground in Syria, U.N. inspectors aimed to once again comb through the rubble of a Damascus suburb in search of evidence that chemical weapons were used in an attack last week that killed more than 1,300 people.
But U.S. officials aren't placing much stock in the findings.
"We clearly value the U.N.'s work -- we've said that from the beginning -- when it comes to investigating chemical weapons in Syria. But we've reached a point now where we believe too much time has passed for the investigation to be credible and that it's clear the security situation isn't safe for the team in Syria," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Tuesday.
Instead, the U.S. and key allies all agree something ought to be done -- and increasingly that is leaning toward a military solution.
U.S. forces are ready, if an order to strike comes down, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told the BBC on Tuesday. A senior Defense Department official told CNN that any strike could be completed "within several days."
On Wednesday, Australia said it won't send troops. But the British prime minister's office was more circumspect in its statement.
Britain has drafted a United Nations Security Council resolution "condemning the chemical weapons attack by Assad and authorizing necessary measures to protect civilians," David Cameron tweeted Wednesday. The resolution will be put forward at the U.N. in New York later on Wednesday, he said.
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