From the CBS article, a cable has been sent by '51 career diplomats' through a 'dissent channel' to the State Department:
According to the cable, the White House policy has been to ignore Assad while focusing on ISIS -- which the authors say is not a recipe for success.
Of course they don't want to focus on ISIS, as the main goal is regime-change in Syria (the strategic depth of Iran) - using Sunni extremists & mercenaries for leverage. The difference between destroying ISIS vs. ousting Assad was a main point of contention in debates between Bernie 'not-a-big-fan-of-regime-change' Sanders & Hillary 'I'm-the-biggest-hawk-4-Israel' Clinton.
A more transparent view of Hillary and the bipartisan neocon plans for Syria can be found in one of her email-chains (part One & Two from April 2012) showing a plan for regime-change in Syria to benefit Israel submitted by James P. Rubin (Chief Spokesman for the State Dept in the last 3 years of the Clinton administration, Christiane Amanpour's husband and Madeleine Allbright's right-hand man). Rubin's proposal claims that:
the best way to help Israel deal with Iran's growing nuclear capability is to help the people of Syria overthrow the regime of Bashar Assad. Negotiations to limit Iran's nuclear program will not solve Israel's security dilemma [....] Bringing down Assad would not only be a massive boon to Israel's security, it would also ease Israel's understandable fear of losing its nuclear monopoly.'
The CBS article goes on to lay-down what amounts to proposing a Syria No Fly Zone:
The cable does not make specific policy recommendations such as U.S. airstrikes but comes close, arguing that Assad's artillery and air power must be removed as threats to the U.S.-backed rebels.
Oh, I'm sure Russia wouldn't mind that at all! /s Additionally, Skull-n-Bones Kerry appears to be on board:
Multiple sources confirm that the Secretary of State John Kerry himself has privately recommended a more muscular U.S. role in Syria but has had numerous proposals shut down by the White House.