Pentagon News Conference | September 19, 2019

Jonathan Rath Hoffman, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, and Air Force Col. Patrick Ryder, special assistant for public affairs to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, conduct a news conference with reporters in the Pentagon, September 19, 2019.

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Transcript

And good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for being here today. Colonel Ryder and I are honored to be here today on behalf of the more than three million men and women of the Department of Defense. We’re holding this briefing as part of our larger effort to re-establish the Department’s regular media battle rhythm as set out by Secretary Esper. First, a few updates. Last night, the Department completed the dignified transfer of remains at Dover Air Force Base. We pass along our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Sergeant First Class Jeremy Griffin. At 1615 today, Secretary Esper will be speaking at the 2019 CISA Cybersecurity Conference over in National Harbor to discuss the Department’s enduring role in cyber and election security. Tomorrow is national POW MIA Recognition Day. Deputy Secretary Norcross will recognize our nation’s former prisoners of war and those still missing. We will be honored to be joined at DoD by former POWs and by family members of those still missing. This is a deeply important day, as we still have more than 82,000 Americans still missing from past conflicts. I encourage you all to attend the event as part of the global effort to bring recognition to the noble mission to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel, to their families and to the nation, and to remind the families of this special class of brave patriots, they will never be forgotten. Throughout this week, Secretary Esper’s met with various members of Congress, from the House and the Senate. In each of these meetings, he’s thanked them for their support of the Department, but he’s stressed the importance of Congress passing an FY2020 Appropriations Bill as quickly as possible. Timely and accurate appropriations allows the Department to spend taxpayer dollars in the most deliberate and efficient manner, to implement the National Defense Strategy. An extended continuing resolution would hinder the momentum of the readiness and modernization gains the Department has achieved in the last two years. Secretary Esper looks forward to continue to engage with Congress on this topic. Finally, this past April and May, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded roughly $2.5 billion in projects to construct border wall along the Southwest border. These projects will span 129 miles at locations in New Mexico, Arizona, and California. We’re proud to announce that as of this week, virtually all of that 2.5 billion has been obligated and is on contract. We expect to have the remaining three million obligated before the end of the month. So with that, Colonel Ryder and I will be happy to take questions.

Lita.

For both of you, if possible, on Iran and Saudi Arabia. Can you say with any more clarity, whether or not these cruise missiles and drones came from southwest Iran, and can you give us any update on whether or not the forensic team is still in Saudi looking at the debris or have they come back and have you been able to ascertain anything from that debris yet?

So I’ll let Colonel Ryder take the part on the forensic team. Generally, we’re going, Our position on this has been we’re going to work through with the Saudis as they make their assessment of what took place. So, with regard to that, we’re going to let them put out the information as they go through the assessment. We’re gonna be with them working through that. We’ve provided, as you’ve mentioned, the assessment team on the ground. So we’re gonna work with them, but we’re gonna allow the Saudis to make the declarations on where they believe the attacks came from and the ultimate responsibility, but I’ll have Colonel Ryder for you on the assessment team.

Sure, yes, sir. Lita, in terms of the CENTCOM forensics team, my understanding is they’re still in the area there, still working with the Saudis, and so, that will be going on for some time. Of course, you can contact CENTCOM for any additional details on the nature and scope of that team.

And then one follow-up. Have there been any decisions made yet on whether or not there is a military option or retaliatory action that could be taken?

So with respect to that, the job of the Department of Defense is to provide the President with options, and that is what we’re doing. We provide him with options and then he makes a determination of what to do. With regard to the situation in the Middle East right now, those decisions haven’t been made, but we need to make an assessment, we made a determination we need to attribute the result or the responsible party of this act. That hasn’t taken place. We’re being deliberative about this and we’ll wait until the final assessment’s completed with the Saudis and that they made their declaration. I will acknowledge that as of this time, all indications are we have that Iran is in some way responsible for the attack on the Saudi refineries. So, Luis.

Just to quickly follow up. I believe Secretary Pompeo today said he believed it came from Iran, so you said Iran has in some way played a role. Does the Pentagon believe that it came from Iran?

Just referring you back to the first response there, is we’re not gonna get ahead of the Saudi investigation and their assessment of this. This was an attack on Saudi Arabia. We’re supporting their investigation. We have teams on the ground working with them, but we’re not gonna get ahead of their conclusions.

And just to follow up, does Secretary Pompeo, I’m sorry, Secretary Esper spoken with any of his counterparts or regional leaders since Monday, or is that something Secretary Pompeo will be doing?

Well, the Secretary, we actually had the foreign minister of Bahrain was in the building, I believe, yesterday, and had a conversation with him. Our Undersecretary for Policy, John Rood, has been on the phone near constantly since Monday, having conversations with our counterparts in the region, but we are also working through and with the State Department. They have the lead on the diplomatic negotiations on this, and as we’ve always said with regard to Iran is our goal is to deter conflict and to put this back on the diplomatic path. So, let’s go around.

Thank you, Mr. Hoffman. So although you’re saying you’re gonna leave the Saudis to lead on this. However, Secretary Pompeo has seemed very confident that the Iranians were behind these attacks. So can you give more indications why the State Department is making this type of assessment based on the information you have, and on the second issue, Colonel Ryder, Foreign Minister Zarif of Iran today said in an interview today that any attack by Saudi Arabia or the U.S. on Iran means all-out war. Do you have enough troops on the ground to face such a challenge if it comes down to that scenario?

So with regard to the question about Secretary Pompeo, as I’ve said, we have, Indications are that this is in some way, the Iranians are responsible for this, but we are gonna allow the Saudis to make their own conclusion and to present that to the public and the international community. This is an international issue. What we’ve seen is an attack on a civilian facility, two civilian facilities that had a dramatic impact on the global markets and so, Saudi Arabia’s gonna reach their conclusion, they’re gonna work with international partners and share that information. We’re not gonna get ahead of ’em on that, and before I go to Colonel Ryder on that. The second piece, I would just say, our goal has been to deter conflict in the Middle East. We’ve said that repeatedly. The President has said that. The Secretary said that. We do not want conflict. What we do want is we want for Iran to return to the order of the International Rules Based Order and to cease the malign activity that they’ve been promoting in the region, and to get back on the diplomatic path, and that’s been the goal all along and we’re gonna continue to push with that.

In regards to your question, I’m not gonna respond to speculative or bellicose threats other than to say that we certainly believe that we have the forces in the region that we need to protect our forces and to deter potential future threats from Iran.

All right, all right.

[Reporter] Just two questions. So you just said that the U.S. has forces it needs currently to protect its footprint in the Middle East. Does that mean that there is no plan or no requirement to supplement the forced posture just for forced protection purposes?

So, as you recall back in May, we did increase the force presence at the time based on some threats from Iran. In the current situation, in regards to this particular incident, we’re constantly assessing the region and the environment, but we do not have any announcements to make at this time, in terms of any type of force adjustment or posturing.

Just a clarification. I know that you’re, John, you said you’re gonna let the Saudis come out with their final determination about responsibility for the attack, but can you just help us understand what the implications would be if there is at best, circumstantial evidence that Iran is behind it, or if it was some sort of, or the evidence showed that it was perhaps an indirect Iranian attack versus something. If the Saudi government and the U.S. government does not have direct imagery or direct evidence that those munitions were launched from Iran, what does that mean?

So your question is if the facts are that it was from an Iranian proxy or from Iran in general?

Or that there’s only circumstantial evidence that this may have been launched directly from Iran. Can you help us understand what the implication of that would be?

I don’t want to speak to what the evidence is now or what it may turn out to be, but regardless of whether this was a proxy or direct attack, this has been a dramatic escalation of what we’ve seen in the past. This was a number of airborne projectiles. It was very sophisticated, coordinated, and it had a dramatic impact on the global markets, so regardless, this has been a dramatic escalation of what we’ve seen in the area and we need to get the parties back on the diplomatic path and a pass to avoid this type of action. So, Barbara?

Colonel Ryder, wanted to start with you. I’m not sure I understand. If this is such an escalation, Clearly it was a successful attack. It was able to evade air defenses in this area, in this region. Millions of dollars of U.S.-provided air defenses. So what can you say to the thousands of Americans who work there, in that specific region, to U.S. military troops and their families, how can you assure them that you don’t need more protection, more adjustments to the air defense system? If you can’t say exactly what those adjustments might be, can you at least say that changes are needed to ensure this does not happen again, that this evasion, And very quickly, before, my follow-up for Jonathan is a completely different question.

[John] We haven’t even answered you first one. You can’t have a follow up.

In case you evade me, I wanna make sure I get it in here.

[John] I won’t do that.

Can you tell us if Secretary Esper still has 100% confidence in the nomination of General Hyten? But if Colonel Ryder, I could ask you first.

Sure. So it would be inappropriate for me to talk specifics about another country’s air defense systems, other than to say in this particular case, clearly there was an attack on this oil facility and U.S. Central Command is in consultation with the Saudis to discuss potential ways to look at mitigating future attacks. I’m not going to go into details today about what that may or may not be, but clearly, as a long-standing partner in the region, we work closely with Saudi, for example, to help them as they defend their southern border from the Houthis, and to that point, I would highlight the fact that the Saudis have had some effectiveness in terms of countering missile and drone strikes in the south where the Houthi attacks have been relatively more common, and so, you know again, we’re talking with them in terms of looking at the northern part of the country and what it is they can do to mitigate.

If I could just briefly follow-up in regards, but there is a good deal of U.S.-provided U.S. Military Air Defense in that region. What are you doing, broadly? Are these discussions beyond just Saudi Arabia. to ensure that, potentially Iran, or its proxies, could not launch a similar circuitous route attack and conduct another attack like this?

Yeah, I think, you know, again, not to minimize the nature of the attack on this oil facility and the implications for the global energy market, but we also need to step back here and look at what we’re talking about which was an attack on a civilian facility in a foreign country, so when it comes to talking about the U.S. presence and posture writ large across the region, we have many other requirements throughout the region and we’re constantly assessing that, but in terms of specifics on changing that posture, I don’t have anything to announce.

And so, on General Hyten, I haven’t spoken to the Secretary recently on this, but General Hyten was confirmed by a bipartisan majority, er, was voted out of committee by a bipartisan majority in the Senate prior to the recess. We’re looking forward to his vote taking place in the full Senate in the coming weeks. I’d refer to you the Senate on when that will take place, but the view from the Department is that he is an incredibly qualified and will be a very effective vice chairman. All right, go, Lucas.

Just shifting to Afghanistan. There was another major suicide attack there today ahead of the presidential elections. Is the plan of going forward to withdraw some U.S. troops?

Lucas, what I would tell you first of all, we, obviously, offer our thoughts and prayers to the families and people that were, unfortunately, attacked, in this case, by the Taliban, or whoever’s responsible. What I would tell you right now, the Department of Defense has not been ordered to draw down forces. Our mission there continues to remain the same which is to advise and train Afghan security forces, defense forces as well as conduct counter-terrorism operations in support of our Afghan partners.

[John] Tony.

I wanted to ask on the forensics effort. Does it include not only looking at debris on the ground, missile debris, but also reviewing ISR tracks from airborne assets or off U.S. Intelligence satellites over the region to reconstruct those moments before the strike, to try to get attribution?

So Tony, I don’t have an answer for your question. We can look into that. Other than to say that we know that our Saudi partners are conducting an analysis of all types of areas, as are we, all right? We’re also looking at this, and as Mr. Hoffman pointed out, it’s important that we take the time to get the facts on this.

John, why’d you say it was sophisticated? What’s your basis for that? Besides the gut instinct.

[John] He said, it’s sophisticated?

[Tony] You said the attack was sophisticated. What do you base that on besides gut instinct and intelligence?

I would say you if look at the fact that there were a large number of airborne assets used, that were launched in a similar timeframe and that they impacted the area that they were targeted for. It’s not something that we’ve seen in the region before on that level. I don’t think there’s any way other to describe it as a well-planned and sophisticated attack.

And I would just add to that, and you’ve all seen the same photos that we have and you look at the precision, I think that, obviously, that’s not something that we’ve necessarily seen in the past from Houthi attacks.

[Reporter] Can I follow up on this one?

Sure.

Quick question. If you haven’t seen something like this, it doesn’t mean that the Houthis haven’t been able to gain this type of capability. Why are you ruling out that, actually, the Houthis are stepping up their game?

So I would leave that to the Saudis and they’ve talked about this in their briefings, but if you look at the range of weapons, the type of weapons. You look at the past practice that you’ve seen from the Houthis, it doesn’t match the practice of what they’ve done. It doesn’t match the capabilities we believe they have. So, Carla?

Thank you. Two questions. First, to you Mr. Hoffman. Do you feel confident that the Department of Defense will be able to determine a culprit after the analysis is done, and then, Colonel Ryder, you have been the spokesman for a couple years to Chairman Dunford who is going to be stepping down in less than two weeks. My question to you, is Syria and Iraq and is Afghanistan safer now? What’s your assessment of the four years under his leadership for our military?

So I’ll take the first question on that. We have a high level of confidence that we will be able to accurately and appropriately attribute the responsible parties for this, but we’re going to continue to work with the Saudis to reach that point.

Carla, in answering your question, I would go back to look at what the U.S. National Security interests are in those areas. So certainly, when it comes to Iraq and Syria, if you go back four years and you look at the difference in terms of the presence of ISIS and what they had achieved then and where they are today, certainly there’s been progress. A lot of work remains, of course, in the region. In terms of Afghanistan, again, the reason we went there back in 2001 was to prevent another 9/11 on the homeland and I would say, to date, that has not happened again, but again, the work remains and we will continue to work with our Afghan partners to not only counter violent extremism in the region, but to work with them to try to instill some type of regional peace and security.

Thank you. Thanks for doing this. Yesterday, the Interior Secretary transferred about 560 acres to the Army for about 70 miles of border wall. Is that in addition to the 175 or is that included? Can you give us an update on where it stands now?

So as part of the 2808 process, for using military construction funds to build border wall as a result of the President’s Declaration of National Emergency, the land that we’re going to build that property on needed to be transferred from the Department of Interior to the Department of the Army. The Army Corps will be the executive agent for it. So some of the property we’re gonna build on, specifically the Barry M. Goldwater Range in Arizona was already in DoD possession, but this was additional land that needed to be transferred so we can begin that. It’s not additional to that 150 miles or whatever that was out of the 2808 funds, it’s that land that we’re gonna be building on.

Is the part of what you announced at the top? I think was about two billion or so.

No, so that’s a different pot of money. So, as part of the President’s National Emergency Declaration of February, it opened up a couple of different pots of money for use in addressing that crisis. One pot was 284 money, which was monies that we found that were, had been unspent from other accounts and that would be reprogrammed to wall construction. What we announced today is that 2.5 billion that is going to build 129 miles of wall, all of that money is on contract, as of, I think there’s three million left and that’ll be by the end of next week’s. All that money is on contract. The 2808 money is the 3.6 billion that we announced probably about two weeks ago, and that’s the funds that you’re talking about, the project that you’re talking about. So, yes?

Colonel Ryder, you said that there are discussions underway between CENTCOM and the Saudis about ways of mitigating future attacks, particularly in the north. Is it safe to say that we are referring to the possibility of additional U.S. military troops and air defense capabilities given that this was an air attack?

Yes, I’m not gonna speculate. Again, when it comes to U.S. force presence in the region, that’s something that we’re constantly assessing based on requirements, based on threats. Again, I have no announcements to make. In terms of consulting with the Saudis, I mean, they’ve been long-standing partners with the military, and so, you can imagine it would just be a natural conversation to have with them as they assess the attack, how to respond, and what kind of assistance we may be able to provide in terms of advice.

What are some of the capabilities that the U.S. military can bring to bear to address?

I’m not gonna speculate about they may or may not ask for.

On Turkey and Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister today said that they’re working with U.S. on establishing permanent control bases in the east of Euphrates River. Is that something that you guys are working with Turkey on, establishing permanent control bases in Syria? He was saying that we will establish those like the ones we have in Iraq.

You take that.

I’m sorry, who was saying they were going,

The Turkish foreign, I’m sorry, the Turkish defense minister, Hulusi Akar.

I haven’t seen those comments, so I can’t make any comments.

[Reporter] Is that something that, Are you guys working with Turkey on establishing control bases in Eastern?

I can tell you what we are working on Turkey with is implementing the security mechanism to address Turkey’s legitimate security concerns along the border and of course, trying to prevent the resurgence of ISIS and instill campaign continuity, so I know that there has been at this point, five reconnaissance flights to review implementation of the security mechanism, as well as some joint ground patrols that are being conducted. By all accounts, progress is being made in that regard. I know that we’ve already seen some dismantling of YPG fortifications along the border, as the SDF demonstrate their willingness to support this agreement, so that’s all I’ve really got.

Thanks for doing this. I wanted to follow-up on Barbara’s question, actually, in terms of the air defenses. As you know, the Saudis have a lot of U.S. weapons, U.S. air defenses, including the Patriot. So are you looking into why there was a failure in these systems and whether this has any implications for other areas in the region or even in Europe or elsewhere places that we have Patriot missiles?

So, Laura, what I would tell you is, again, there is thorough analysis going on. I’m not going to speak to the details of Saudi Arabia’s air defense system, other than to say again, it’s being looked at and taken seriously.

You noted your concerns about an extended CR. It looks like Congress is poised to pass a CR that would extend through the end of November. What kind of an impact would that length of a CR have on DoD’s acquisition programs and what is the Pentagon doing to try and mitigate those impacts?

So there are programs that will be affected and some of those include our ability to move forward with contracts that should be issued and as well to look at some of the modernization efforts we’re putting forward. If you want, I can get you some more specifics on the exact programs, but the hope is that if it’s kept within a few weeks to a little bit more than that, that it’s something we can manage and work through, but once we start getting into months and quarters, the impact grows exponentially and it becomes more difficult to recover from those impacts.

[Reporter] Thank you. Question on military housing. Does Secretary Esper support allowing the services the ability to renegotiate their 50-year contracts with these private housing companies?

Well, one of the Secretary’s key priorities is definitely the military families and that’s something that he’s focused on in addition to the NDS priorities, and so, he’s looking into that. He’s actually had the Assistant Secretary for handling that and looking into the housing issue. One of the things we’re looking at right now is the Tenant’s Bill of Rights to make sure that our people are aware of their rights and working with them. I haven’t spoken to him specifically about the contracting issue, but the Bill of Rights issue is the one that we’re actually working on most closely right now.

Travis Tritten, Bloomberg Government. I wanted to follow up on the border construction and the 3.6 billion and 2808 money. Do you know when that will be fully contracted out? And then, do you have a timeline for when construction from both pots of money will be fully completed?

Don’t have a timeline for ya on that. Right now, we’re getting the first of those contracts ready to go. As Christine mentioned, we have the property from DOI that needed to be transferred over for a number of those, so we’ve got to work through that process and it’s gonna take months to get that as I mentioned. The money for the 284 projects came over, I believe, in May, and we’ve just completed that process now. So it’s gonna be a few months, but our goal is that by the end of next year, we will have completed over 450 miles of wall construction all told across the entire Federal Government. What you’re gonna see is there’ll be kind of, it’s a bubble and it’ll take a little while. As we do the planning, we buy the property, and we do the environmental assessments and all the other things, the assessments we need to do, and then you’ll see a rapid increase in the amount. Right now, we’re at the pace of about a mile a day and we’ll see that continue to go up, so.

Is that 450?

450, I think, is the administration’s goal for the end of next year.

Follow on those two questions regarding the wall. The projects for the second pot of money you referred to? Were they adjusted at all by Secretary Esper or were they the projects that were at the top of the list when he became Secretary of Defense?

Do you mean the projects that, So we received a list from the Department of Homeland Security that the prioritized projects that they would like to see, the wall projects they would like to see completed. So we took the list that was provided to us by DHS and we’re working off of their priorities.

That’s what I was asking.

Yeah, I, The Secretary’s not made any adjustment to where the wall will be built. We’re relying on the Border Patrol agents on the ground, the people who have the most knowledge to tell us where the border wall should be built.

My follow, my independent question is, has the Secretary yet contacted, as he said he was planning to, his counterparts in Mexico?

Uh, I don’t have an answer for you yet. I can follow up for you on that.

[Reporter] Thank you.

[Reporter] Could I just follow up on my question?

Sure.

[Reporter] In your follow-up. You said that there’s a mile a day in construction. You mean, the administration, the government as a whole. Has DoD broken ground on any projects?

So understand that the executive agent for much of the construction is the Army Corps of Engineers. So when you say the DoD, the Army,

[Reporter] The two pots of money. The 284 and the 2808, have any projects been under the,

I can get an answer for you in about 10 minutes, but I’m almost certain that on the 284 that we have started projects out of those monies, but the monies and the contracts for all of ’em, but I believe we’ve broken ground, and I can get an update for you pretty quickly after this. We’re gonna do one more after this.

Thanks. Amanda with CNBC. This has been asked a few different ways, but I’m wondering what the lesson learned here is, is that the kingdom’s top export could be taken out and the world’s top two oil production facilities could be that vulnerable and then the ripple effect, as you mentioned in the global economy, so what was your consensus? What’s the lesson learned from this? And my follow is, has Secretary Esper had an opportunity to speak with Mr. O’Brien?

So with regards to the global crisis right now in the Middle East, it’s been a lesson we’ve been talking about for years now and this administration’s been hammering again and again. Iranian destabilizing and malign activity has impacts, not just in the region but globally. So what we’ve seen is that malign activity has now resulted in a major impact on the world’s global supply of oil, and that impacts different countries differently. The United States is a net exporter of oil, but we have countries, China, Japan, Korea, that are heavily dependent on oil from this region, and so, what I think this has done is internationalize the problem, so instead of efforts by the Iranians to target individual ships and individual countries, what we’ve seen is this has now become an international problem where they’ve now really shown the impact and how debilitating that could be and the expectation we have and I think the Saudis do is that our international partners are gonna take a look at this and realizing it’s time for them to step up and help them deter Iranian behavior, but also get Iran back on the diplomatic path. What we’ve seen is Iran has been confronted with diplomatic and economic challenges based on their behavior and they’ve responded with military action and we want to get them back into the diplomatic channels. With regard to your second question, I haven’t spoken to the Secretary about whether he’s talked to him. It’s been 12 hours. If he hasn’t talked to him already, I’m sure he’ll be having frequent conversations with him in the coming days.

[Reporter] Just one follow up.

Sure.

Has General McKenzie, the Head of U.S. Forces in the region requested additional Patriot batteries or any type of air defense systems?

So again, we’re constantly taking a look. No announcements to make today regarding any type of,

But you can’t rule out that General McKenzie may again,

We’re constantly looking at what force requirements that are maybe in the region, but nothing to announce today.

[John] Okay, we’ll go right back there, last one.

So General Townsend was meeting with leaders at the G5 Sahel Task Force Nations in West Africa earlier this week, and I believe it was Ambassador Nathan Sales who mentioned, I think, in August, that the U.S. intends to ask coalition partners to up their support for the fight against ISIS, which he says has been destabilizing or threatening the stability of West African nations, nations in Africa. Does the U.S. plan to ask coalition partners to send troops to combat ISIS in Africa, and if so, what do you guys assess what the response to that, given the sort of shaking of the faith of coalition allies following the President’s withdrawal announcement from Syria?

So I’ll take the first part of that and then Colonel Ryder on the operational question. Not familiar with the particular meeting, but aware of General Townsend. One of our NDS line of efforts is to work with our allies. I know the Secretary’s had conversations with our allies. We traveled through Europe a couple weeks ago on the particular issue of Africa and we actually sat down with AFRICOM while we were in Stuttgart and he received a briefing from General Townsend and highlighted some of the challenges in the region, so. In Africa, there is the counter-terrorism issue which we’ve been working to highlight with our allies and make sure they understand that this is gonna be an enduring challenge, but the other issue we’ve confronted in Africa is looking at the influence of China and Russia as they’ve attempted to expand their global reaches and in some cases, destabilize some of our efforts in the region, and so it’s kind of a complex issue, but that we’re looking at General Townsend, obviously, as the lead on that, but we do expect partners. They’ve been great coalition partners throughout the war on ISIS in Afghanistan and throughout the Middle East and have been partners with us in Africa. I think when we were in AFRICOM a few weeks ago, there was actually a case where the French military had helped airlift an American soldier who was injured in an operation and ended up resulting in saving that individual’s life. So our allies are there with us, but we’ll be lookin’ to talk to them some more.

I believe you’ve answered the question, sir, but was there one part of it that he didn’t answer?

I was just wondering if you guys have any intention in the future of asking coalition partner nations to send more personnel support to Africa.

Yeah, I mean, I don’t have any specifics in regards to Africa other than to say clearly there is a global coalition to fight ISIS right now and focused on Iraq and Syria, but as we see ISIS manifest itself worldwide, clearly this is an ongoing conversation that we have. How can we confront the threat of violent extremist organizations? I would point out that last October, so almost a year ago, we conducted an annual meeting with chiefs of defense from around the world to talk about the issue of countering violent extremism, and I would anticipate we’ll hold another one of those meetings. It will be a reoccurring thing. In fact, this is a constant topic of discussion among chiefs of defense to include General Dunford. How can we address the threat of violent extremist organizations?

So with that, thank you guys for your time and keeping with our regular briefing schedule, we will see you guys again next September, so, thank you. (reporters laughing)

[Reporter] Follow up to Travis’s question. The 284 coming, thanks.

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