"Just like in Iraq and just like in Syria, we will have to do an operation where we provide training and expertise, and maybe some of those trainers are Special Operations Forces. So too with Libya," Nelson said on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the Department of Defense announced it was looking at military options in Libya to prevent Daesh from further gaining ground in the country.
"I think there is an ISIS [Daesh] threat and I think we are going to have to deal with it," Nelson said of a possible US military operation in Libya.
As of Thursday, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter told press that Washington had not yet decided whether to send troops to Libya. The United States was last involved militarily in Libya in 2011, when it deployed air support to Islamic rebels as part of the NATO operation to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi.
The Islamic State, also known as Daesh, is a designated terrorist group that is outlawed in the United States, Russia and numerous other countries.