Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby briefs the media at the Pentagon, May 3, 2021.

Transcript

Happened one day. Mhm. Okay. A couple of things at the top here. I think you all know, we continue to assist the government, the people of India as they continue to struggle with their covid outbreak. U. S. Transportation Command and its components continue to demonstrate their capability to provide immediate assistance to a partner nations. So, working with the Defense Logistics Agency and our Interagency Partners, three U. S. Air Force C five super Galaxies and one C 17 Globemaster are continuing to deliver critical supplies. The third aircraft will arrive later today in India and the fourth flight will arrive tomorrow. Once all four missions are complete, the four aircraft will have delivered uh tons of very needed critical supplies, both in terms of oxygen generation capabilities and personal protective equipment. And obviously will continue to assess the situation going forward. We’ll stay in touch with our counterparts in India. Should there be a need for additional help? Secretary was very clear um uh and speaking to his counterpart in India that will will continue to do whatever we can to help um on exercises, I think as you also know the long plant publicly announced defender of Europe 21 exercise, The has has kicked off the pre staging for that exercise began back in March. Um As you know, it’s a large scale U. S. Army, Europe and Africa led multinational joint exercise designed to build strategic operational readiness and interoperability between US NATO allies and partner forces. Um it involves 28,000. U.S. Allied and partner forces from 26 different nations and its defensive in nature focused on deterring aggression while preparing our forces to respond to crisis and conduct large scale combat operations if necessary. The exercise encompasses several different linked and associated joint and multinational exercises. So there’s many smaller extra exercises nested up into defender Europe, all in support of our national defence objectives and NATO’s deterrence objectives. In fact, last week, the USns bob hope arrived off the coast of Albania and advanced of a joint logistics over the shore exercise. Again, one of the exercises nested into the into defender tomorrow, uh EUCom Commander General Walters along with other D. O. D. Leaders, diplomats in Albanian leadership will participate in a kick off event in Albania. General Walters will provide opening remarks which uh with the Albanian Ministry Defense and um will live stream. So you’ll be able to see that on their Facebook page uh later be posted to the um website. Um The defender Europe exercise is gonna conclude in June but not before demonstrating joint force readiness without an interoperability, reinforcing the US commitment to our allies and partners and providing an outstanding opportunity to highlight the superb job our men and women are doing every day. And uh in the region, the Balkan and Black Sea regions particular and throughout Europe, in Africa and the Africa area of operations. On another exercise note, um on uh today the Air Force is kicking off exercise Northern Edge 21 in Alaska. Northern Edge is a US indo pacific command sponsored pacific Air Forces led joint exercise Joint service field training exercise apologize Approximately 15,000 service members 240 aircraft are participating in the exercise, which is focused on high end realistic warfighter training to develop and improve joint interoperability and enhance combat readiness. So, lots of exercises going on and lots of important parts of the world. And with that, we’ll take questions later. Thanks john question about Afghanistan, there’s been some particularly deadly Taliban attacks in Afghanistan over the last number of days. Is the US concerned about this increase in Taliban attacks? And do you believe there is a threat now to some of the Afghanistan, the largest cities in Afghanistan, Considering the taliban have mostly been confined to a lot of the smaller rural areas. Well, um, I won’t get into threat assessments about um about what might happen in the future. What we’ve seen are some small harassing attacks over the course of the weekend that have not had any significant impact, certainly not on our people or uh on or our resources there and bases. Um uh and I think you’ve also seen over the course of the weekend, uh that what General Miller certainly has at his disposal, uh response options um uh to make sure that he’s protecting our troops and our people. So, um nothing we’ve seen, nothing thus far that has affected the drawdown um or had any significant impact uh on the mission at hand in Afghanistan. Tom john if you can stay in Afghanistan, um The administration says it’s going to continue to support the Afghan military going forward when all troops leaving, all contractors leave. We asked General Mackenzie about that. He said they’re looking at innovative ways to support the Afghan military with maintenance. Do we have any sense of the way ahead on that or when you’ll come up with a plan that you can share with us? # one, and also with the special immigrant visas? I know it’s a State Department issue. I can see the smile under your message, right. But a number of retired officers, General Petraeus and others have said the U. S. Has to do more. Are you assisting, first of all the Afghan translators And maybe the state department and moving forward on this anywhere from 11,030,000 S. I. Ve. People that would like to get out. So on the first question, um uh General Mackenzie is exactly right. The the bilateral relationship with the Afghan national Security forces is going to change once we are no longer on the ground. Their secretaries talked about this, we’re still working our way through the details of exactly what that relationship is gonna look like going forward. It will be largely of a financial nature uh because we’re not going to have U. S. Troops on the ground um in the same assistance roles that they are now. So it’ll change. And we are exploring um not only are, you know, are we exploring over the horizon counterterrorism capabilities to make sure we’re still keeping americans safe, but what would outside Afghanistan or over the horizon support to the Afghan national Forces look like to include the possibility of some contract support happening outside the country? Or maybe even virtually some, obviously some contract support as we talked about is uh they’re they’re reliant on that there, especially the air force and some of that uh, will likely still have to happen in the country, but it will happen in a different contractual arrangement than than what it exists right now. Short answer is tom we don’t know all the answers to that and General Mackenzie and General Miller are working hard as part of their planning process to provide in t up options for the secretary to take a look at. But the larger narrative is that General Mackenzie stated is accurate. We we are going to continue to support Afghan national security forces. It’ll just be a different kind of support uh and it won’t be, it won’t be as tactile as it is right now. When when we’re still in country, when you come forward with, no, I don’t have a deadline for you or a timeline on this. I mean, they’ve been working on this uh since actually since uh the President’s decision and and and and we’re still working working our way through that. I suspect that there will come a time when we will be able to quantify this for you and put more context around it, but we’re just not ready right now. On your second question, uh on the special immigrant visas, I do have to refer to my colleagues at the State Department to speak to that. The only thing I’d add is uh secretary is well aware of the support that we received over the last 20 years from Afghan nationals in various capacities. He’s also well aware of the risks that those individuals took and still take, and their families still take from their support uh to uh not only the United States but our NATO and coalition partners as well. Uh and he is in conversation with secretary blinking about how we uh, how we meet our obligations to them and to the risk they took on behalf of our country. But I don’t have, again, I don’t have specific details on how that program is going to manifest itself and it is largely a State Department program to speak to. Yeah, back in the back, joe, thank you so much for joan. After what we have seen last week, the Navy has released some video footage showing an Iranian boats that belong to the Irgc, harassing us navy ships. I would like to know from you if the secretary believe that the U. S. Military has to have a hotline with the Irgc in order to de conflict tensions in the regions in a similar way that the U. S. Military has in Syria with Russia, we’ll go to some degree when you’re when you’re at sea, you already have a hotline. It’s the bridge to bridge radio, you have radio communications. And there were radio communications throughout those incidents, uh, with those Irgc boats and the commanders on those boats uh repeatedly warning them about what they were doing. So you don’t need a hotline with the RGC to communicate. I mean, you can do it in real time. Um, and the real risk, as we talked about in a situation like that is the risk of miscalculation. Obviously this one didn’t uh, become violent and and that’s a good thing, but it was unnecessary, It was unsafe and certainly unprofessional. And it doesn’t lead to better security and stability there in the gulf. But again, we have direct bridge to bridge communications. Uh, they obviously they didn’t abide by that and they didn’t listen to the warnings. Um, but it’s not like we don’t have an ability to reach out in real time beyond the bridge to bridge communications. Does the secretary believe that those communications should be on a higher level we have as a government have made clear through diplomatic channels are concerns about, uh, Irgc Navy activities. We also understand, and I think you understand joe, that the Irgc is not the Iranian State Navy and doesn’t have the same reporting structure as the Iranian State Navy, are interactions with the Iranian State Navy have remained professional. Uh, but that’s a whole different reporting chain up to the elected government. And the Irgc doesn’t report along those same lines. So we have made it clear to Tehran our displeasure and are concerned about this will continue to do that, but I don’t believe that there’s a need, nor would there, I would suspect no appetite for any sort of operational or strategic communication between us and the Irgc. We have, we have diplomatic channels that we work through appropriately, uh to communicate our displeasure to uh to Tehran and obviously we don’t have a diplomatic presence there, but there are diplomatic channels that we can avail ourselves of. Okay, Ellie Watson Cbs. Yeah. Hi, thank you. I’m just wondering if you guys have anything on this um chinese rocket that could make an uncontrolled reentry in the next few days, I’m afraid. I’m gonna have to take your question. Ellie, I’m not familiar with that issue, We’ll take that one and see if we can get something back to you, Abraham, uh Secretary Austin’s trip to enter into a common, is meeting with Admiral? Actually, no. Can you tell us anything about that meeting? How he met, uh how the conversation went, What he was talking about and and how the secretary has in his first few months strengthened us posture towards china in the indo pacific And then secondly, on the defender exercise, I wondered how the grouping of 30,000. US. and allied and partner troops uh on the NATO border near Russia is different from Russia’s massing of troops for exercises on the NATO border. Well look, I’m not gonna speak to what Russia claims was an exercise. As I’ve said repeatedly, they should have to answer questions about what they’re doing. And by the way, Abraham, there’s still quite a few. I mean, there’s still a lot of forces uh arrayed against are aligned along the border with Ukraine and in occupied uh Crimea. And it’s still never been completely clear uh, what the intentions were. So that’s a great question from Moscow. And I hope you pose that question to uh to them about this european defender. This is a exercise, its annual, we’ve been doing it a long, long time. And as I said in my opening statement, it’s a defensive exercise, uh, and it’s one that helps us build interoperability. And here’s the other thing that’s different, right? We actually come to the podium and tell you about it. I told you how many troops, I told you how many nations I talked about specifics in terms of what they’re gonna be exercising. And the reason I did it today, Abraham is because this exercise goes through mid june and you’re gonna get sick of hearing me talk about european defender from the podium. Because I’m going to continually talk about what we’re doing. It’s called transparency. It’s a wonderful thing and we’re not getting that out of Moscow and we, and we haven’t. So that’s a big difference right there. It’s a defensive exercise and you will be able to hear us talk about it and communicate to you and to the world what we’re doing and why. Um, on his, uh, the secretary’s meeting with Admiral Aquilino, it was really a chance for the two of them to get to know each other better. They didn’t have a previous, uh, longstanding personal relationship. Obviously, uh, broccolino eminently qualified for this job. Coming from pacific fleet, um, just beginning. And I think the secretary wanted to have a chance on his first day to just again get to know him better. Talk about. They’re both, uh, their, their, their perspectives, each on the region, uh, and on the responsibilities of indo pak calm. And it was a very cordial meeting um lasted uh you know, 30 to 40 minutes um and covered the waterfront. No pun intended of other kinds of things you would think that they would want to talk about. Um and no question the pacing challenge that is china and indo pecans role in helping us meet. That pacing challenge was a major topic of that discussion. Uh Secretary Austin’s uh accomplishments in his first few months to enhance the US posture in the indo pacific region. The most obvious thing that I can point to is the china task force that he has stood up and that they are continuing to do their work. We expect the task force to complete uh there their reviews and uh and submit their recommendations to the secretary in mid to early to mid june somewhere around there. That’s about what dr Ratner said, it was gonna be uh sort of a sprint a few months. Uh They’re still fresh in their work out so I’m obviously not going to get ahead of that but I think that china task force um is the most clear manifestation of how seriously he’s taking china as a pacing challenge. Um I also think and I don’t want to get ahead of budget specifics but you know, we’re getting ready to uh to unveil D. O. D. S. The president’s budget for D. O. D. Uh that will come in due time. But I think you’ll see this larger concern about great power, competition and our focus on that part of the world reflected in uh budget priorities. But again I won’t get ahead of the specifics on that. I also would add just one last thing and you uh not that you need to be reminded, but I will anyway that his first overseas trip was to the region. Uh And his first visit was to Tokyo and Seoul to meet with two important treaty allies about a reinforcing our commitment to our treaty alliances and our commitments there in the region. But also to listen to them about what they’re seeing in the region and the threats from their eyes and to listen to them about their concerns about china’s increasingly aggressive and course of behavior, yep, you bet. Let me go back here Laura Seligman politico. Hi john, I have a couple questions for you. First of all. Uh North Korea warned the biden administration again this weekend about its hostile policy against the nuclear program, saying that it was a quote unquote big blunder. Do you have a response to this and how will the completion of the policy review change how the pentagon responds to future missile launches? Well, look, I as I won’t speak for the National Security Council in terms of the policy review, but I think it’s uh apparent that the administration is committed to the denuclearization of north Korea and to greater stability and security on the peninsula to reinforcing and revitalizing our alliances and partners partnerships in the region. Um because the threat from Pyongyang doesn’t just affect the peninsula, uh it affects our allies and partners and it also um uh affects the safety and security of the american people. Um but as for uh the specifics of the policy execution going forward from a diplomatic perspective, I would refer you to NSC and the State Department to speak to that the only thing I’d add and the secretary said this if you had a chance to listen or read or watch his speech that he gave it and uh the end up a calm changing changing command on over the weekend on friday is that we will support diplomatic efforts. Uh We stand in support of of the State Department as they pursue peaceful political diplomatic options to make the region safer and more secure. And that includes making it safer, safer and more secure uh from the threat that north Korea continues to pose during the second question. Um, I was wondering if you could comment on the attack in Burkina Faso today likely by ISIS militants. Do we currently have any U. S. Special forces on the ground? And how will they respond, laura? I don’t have anything on that one. You surprised me with that? I’m gonna have to take that question. We’ll try to get an answer back. I just don’t know. I’ve not heard reports of that attack Tara. Thanks So, a couple of questions for you. Um, first on vaccines Last week, President Biden suggested he would leave it to the military to decide whether service members would be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Are there any discussions going on? The secretary considering making the vaccine mandatory for service members? He’s not made any decisions to change to change it from being a voluntary vaccine. No Specific circumstances isn’t required. Such as like the crew, the C5 crew that just went to India because of the outbreak there, would they have been required to be vaccinated? It’s still a voluntary vaccine because it’s under emergency use authorization. I would remind that obviously we encourage our men and women of the department and their families to take the vaccine. We believe they’re safe and effective and all the information is publicly available about the efficacy of these vaccines. Secretary continues to want to encourage people to elect to take the vaccine. I don’t know if the crew members on those aircraft have been vaccinated or not. That wouldn’t be appropriate for me to say anyway. But I’d also remind terror that, uh, that in addition to uh, encouraging informing uh, members to take the vaccine, you know, we also abide by all. See CDC guidelines in terms of social, uh, social distancing the wearing of masks. Um, you know, the basic personal hygiene. Um, and those are requirements that are laid upon the force no matter where you are serving in, in ever in any capacity. So we still observe those CDC guidelines. The vaccines are still volunteering the last one on the budget. You said, you know, coming out soon. Do you have a date for budget rollout and I don’t refer you to A and B. They decide that go before Congress, Will they be talking to lawmakers without actual numbers? Is the secretary himself expecting to maybe end up being testifying before Congress without just maybe a skinny budget? Well, I mean, we have to wait and see terra I can’t get ahead of the ball and be on this. So I can’t tell you great specificity uh, when the secretary’s testimony starts, whether or not there will be a budget on the table at that point, as you’ve already seen the combatant commanders, of course, they always do their posture hearings, oftentimes, uh, without a budget necessarily being laid out there. But the service chiefs are already starting to testify to and um, uh, we uh, fully support the role of Congress and oversight here and uh in the requirement for our senior military leaders to be as honest and candid with them about their requirements and uh and what they believe they need to execute the national defense strategy. But again, I just can’t. But it’s a it’s a hypothetical, I just I won’t get ahead of O. N. B uh in their timeline. Uh nor can I then predict whether the Secretary’s first hearing will be pre or post the delivery of the budget, but obviously take these hearings and Congress’s oversight very, very seriously and uh with or without a budget on the table, uh the secretary of the Chairman and all the military leaders uh will and they have been uh as candid as they can be about the threats and challenges as they see them. Okay, silly. So, do you have any details on the attack today against the base in Iraq and you know, who is responsible? Do you intend to reciprocate? So, we’re aware of press reports of an attack at Blade uh in Iraq. I think you know, Sylvia that ballot in Iraqi base, there are no U. S. Or coalition troops assigned there. Uh There’s a private U. S. Company that does have contractors working there. Um An initial reports that we’ve seen are that there are no U. S. Casualties or damages. Um I’d have to refer you to the Iraqi Minister Ministry of Defense for more details because it is their base. So I have not seen and I have not seen a credible claim of attribution. Uh And again, this is really a question better put to officials in Baghdad since it’s their airbase. Okay, sure. How concerned are you with the repeated attacks on balance? We understand that there are no US soldiers, but there are contractors. How concerned? Well, of course, we’re concerned about any use of violence by any group in Iraq. Uh and I would remind again without speaking to attribution here because we’ve only seen press reporting on this um that the the purpose for the U. S. In Iraq at the invitation of the government is to continue to prosecute the war against ISIS. The operations against ISIS. That’s what we’re therefore we’re there to help Iraqi security forces as they also prosecute operations against uh ISIS. So any any uh violent attack on on them or US is of concern. Um And it does show that again without attribution that you know, um that it’s still a dangerous mission. Yeah, but the issue in here is that Jerold Mackenzie probably you also before talked about that there is a message that was sent to the to the Iranians that there is a message that was sent also to the militias and we thought that we have the tourists. But it seems that we don’t have the tourists. That you get occasional attacks doesn’t mean that all deterrence measures aren’t working. I mean, obviously you want zero. But as the secretary’s made clear that we take the safety and security of our people over there very, very seriously. And if and when there is a need to respond in a kinetic way, we’ll do that and we’ll do that in a time and a place of our choosing. Um, I was after the first attack and then our response to a staging base in Syria. You guys asked me the same question after there was yet another, uh, indirect fire incident. Clearly, we don’t want to see that happen. But you can’t draw a line from the fact that it happens every now and then, right to well, there’s no deterrent capability or you haven’t sent a strong enough message since we don’t know who did this and we don’t know why they did this. Uh So again, this is an Iraqi issue to to speak to and to investigate. We’re going to respect that. We’re also going to do whatever we need to do to make sure that we’re adequately protecting our troops on the ground and our national security interests there in Iraq. Uh Just Selden via a Mhm. Thanks very much for doing this. You the pentagon and U. S. Commanders in in Afghanistan have been very clear about the fact that the US will use force if necessary to protect troops as they withdraw. Can you clarify the what type of help or what type of support? Kinetic support is being offered to Afghan forces and have Afghan forces at this point, with some of the incidents that we’ve seen over the weekend, have they requested any sort of kinetic help or any sort of support from US forces? Yeah, Jeff, that’s a better question. Put the Central Command, I’m not going to get into tactical discussions here at the pentagon podium. Um, I think you’ve seen General Miller made clear that uh that to the degree we can we are going to continue to support Afghan national Security forces. Obviously, that support will change over time as our resources uh continue to dwindle in Afghanistan. But that support is ongoing. Um and we’ve, you know, even before the change of mission, even before the President’s decision, we’ve made it a habit not to speak to the details of that kind of support in a tactical way. So I had referring to centcom on that follow up. If I could, has there been any progress on any of the talks with countries in the region about basing agreements or ways to make the over the horizon counterterrorism capabilities bit easier, more effective. There’s been no decisions made that I’m aware of in terms of overseas basing with neighboring countries. Uh, there there is a lot of work and effort being put in right now too, determining what over the horizon counterterrorism capabilities we’re going to have, we’re going to employ uh, and options that we’re going to be able to take advantage of. Um, and as the secretary has said, we certainly will support any diplomatic efforts to try to pursue options with neighbouring nations. But that would really be something led by the State Department jenny. Thank you john on the interceptor missile system. It is reported that the department of depends is supported to develop but not interceptor missile system to defend this. Spend two nuclear missiles from North Korea and Iran. Do you have anything on the I don’t have much jenny. Um, except to say that there are, you know, there’s acquisition planning, um, two to carry too interceptor contractor teams through what we call critical design review. Um uh and once that’s complete, the missile defense agency, uh will make the choice, as we say in pentagon language will down select from the two uh proposals to one um to a single vendor to proceed with the remaining development testing and production efforts of this kind of capability. Next generation I’m talking about. Yeah. What did he do? Of course a lot. So how are you gonna, I think there’s an initial cost estimate that And this is life cycle estimate uh for the next generation interceptor of a bit more than $17 billion. But that’s life cycle. That’s procurement. It’s uh, you know that 17. No, it’s, Let me just make sure that I put my glasses on to make sure I get this right. Total is $17 billion. More than $17 billion. Lifecycle estimates. A lifecycle estimate. It’s not it’s not it’s not a budget line item. It’s uh, it’s an assessment by Cape over the life cycle of the program to include the research, development, acquisition and then service support and maintenance going forward. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Several times when we ask questions about what’s the force going to be in Afghanistan Iraq, You refer to the ongoing force studied a worldwide study of what the force posture will be. I’m wondering uh two things on that one. Is there a timeline for when that report, that review will be completed? And second, you have used the word everything’s going to be considered in that for review. Does everything mean Army, Navy, Air Force Marines, uh Space Force? Or does it also mean like Coast Guard and Merchant Marines? What does everything continue? Okay. Everything means everything. Well, that’s good. Uh, So yeah, no reason I ask that specifically is, you know, the Coast Guard has been involved now in the last three weeks in an incident in south china sea Persian gulf in the Black Sea. You know, the Coast Guard is being used more and more far from our coast. And so is that their assets going to be part of it? The merchant marine assets? What’s going to, what assets are considered in the fourth quarter? So asked me to get ahead of it. I’m just asking to give transparency, said, you guys know what I’m gonna say and before you are as you asked the question, um, so you’re right. I’m not going to get out of it. Um But to your question, um and it’s a fair one. Uh So first of all that’s we need to distinguish because I think in you first asked the question was, you know, Afghanistan, that’s what you would refer to us. That’s all gonna be taken in this big review. Well, I’ve been clear that, I mean since the president made his decision on Afghanistan, that that drawdown process and the uh the removal of U. S. Forces that’s separate and distinct from the global posture review. Global posture reviews ongoing Again as we’ve talked about it, we expect it to be able to wrap up uh probably uh late summer that time frame. Um There’s no exact deadline on it. The secretary wants them to do it right. Not fast. It will take a comprehensive look at our resources around the world and and try to look at whether those resources are aligned to our strategy into the National Defense Strategy. Now we are still operating under the National Defense Strategy that was released a couple of years ago. But there is also uh an effort inside OsD at the direction of secretary to take a look at the NDS and revise and be able to craft and develop a new national defense strategy. So these two efforts are ongoing at the same time and are informing one another. Um to your other question about the Coast Guard used the word resources and that’s why I’m going to get back to our the resources that are being considered as part of this. The study, my work not yours to study just what we would refer to as D. O. D. Resources, correct? Or would they include things like the Merchant Marines Coast Guard uh something else. But as you know, as you know, particularly in the Coast Guard, they do um execute certain diode emissions. And obviously the global posture review will be informed by their continued support to the Defense Department, knowledgeable of course that they primarily report through the Department of Homeland Security, but that they are in support of of the idea around the world in some very important places. And clearly the global posture review will be informed by that support and by the likelihood that we’re going to continue to need that support from the Coast Guard going forward. Yes. Thanks. So, to go back to the Irgc Navy, you made the distinction between that navy and the official Iranian Navy. Obviously the U. S. Is currently engaged in um negotiations with the Iranian government in Vienna. Does that distinction change the way you operate around the Irgc Navy because the end of last month, we saw that one ship was actually engaged in warning shots. I mean, what is the, from your own assessment, what is the Irgc Navy trying to do? Oh, with us ships there? I think that’s a question that should be asked of Tehran. I am, I am not going to speak to what their intentions are. Um, are the commanders at sea have the right and responsibility to defend themselves against threats? And you’re right. This incident a week or so ago did finally result what ended up finally breaking the fever. If you were, were warning shots fired, nobody wants to even see it come to that point. Um, and our commanding officers at sea understand the difference between the Irgc naval assets and uh, the way they operate as opposed to the way Iranian State Navy commanding officers operate. It’s a different, completely different reporting chain, uh, completely different type of assets that they have available. And certainly we’ve seen different conduct uh and our commanding officers understand the difference there, but regardless, they have very clear rules of engagement, which we won’t talk to you publicly and they have very clear responsibilities to protect themselves, their ships and their crews and they’ll do that. Uh huh. I’m asking this because Rear Admiral Al arida, thanks. Here is the commander of the IrgC Navy on friday to press Tv. Iranian Tv said every ship entering the Persian gulf has to identify itself. Are you planning on having us ships, identifying themselves and abiding by this requirement? No such requirement. You’re not. You’re not. I know of no such requirement and it’s an international ST and we continue to sail and operate in accordance with international law and international custom and will continue to do that. Yeah. In the back there on recent ISIS attacks, especially in the disputed areas in Iraq, there has been an increase in attacks and inherent resolve, spokesperson tweeted that they’re working with Iraqi and Kurdish government to help them to kind of curb on the ISIS attacks. Spokesman for who operation inherent result. Okay, of course, I’m just wondering, what can you do to help both sides to kind of, you know, controlled the area Kurdish forces, Kurdish officials, she creating a joint Peshmerga Iraqi RV in those areas would reduce those attacks. Is that something that those are decisions for Iraqis to make? Again, it’s uh this is this is their country and uh we wouldn’t get involved in those kinds of specific discussions. That’s uh that’s for Iraqi leaders to decide and to work out. I did not see the spokesman’s comments, but it sounds like from what you’re telling me, it’s very much in keeping with the relationships that we have in the region with government leaders, um and the focus on making sure that what we’re aligned against and what we’re working towards is counter ISIS missions and counter ISIS capability among the Iraqi security forces. But again, that’s a question better put to Iraqi leaders. It was just a tweet from him, but he was saying that they’re working with the Iraqi and kurdish government to respond to the violent extremists. I just want to I haven’t seen the tweet or the statement, so I I’m loath to get into more detail, but it sounds to me like um if that’s in fact what was said, it’s very much in line with our policy and our approach inside Iraq. And again, at the invitation of of the government. Yes, the back Al Qaeda recently issued new threats to the us. What’s the Pentagon assessments of these threats and al Qaeda’s capabilities 10 years after bin Laden’s killing, I haven’t seen the statements that you’re referring to. The President has been very clear. Again, I haven’t seen him. So I’m not, I’m not saying they are out there, just haven’t seen him. So I’m not gonna react specifically to comments. I haven’t seen except to say that the president has been very clear that we have an obligation to continue to protect the american people from the threat of terrorist networks, terrorists that uh, that ken, and are willing and able to threaten the homeland. Um, and we’re gonna, we’re gonna keep the press up. Nobody is uh, suggesting that al Qaeda has gone away or the threat of al Qaida’s gone uh, 10 years after the raid, which which killed Bin laden were still, it’s still a threat. Um and we still have to be focused on on that threat. And as I just said in the previous question, uh IsIS as an outgrowth of Al Qaeda is also still a threat. And that’s again one of the reasons why we’re in Iraq. Nobody’s taking our eye off off the continued challenge that al Qaeda and other uh terrorist networks continue to pose. It is a greatly diminished threat, no question uh since 9 11 and Al Qaeda is a greatly diminished network in terms of its reach in its power, but it still exists. It’s still uh it’s still does pose a threat not only to us but to our allies and partners in the region. And again, we’re not going to lose focus on that. You have concerns that Al Qaeda might try to return or seek the opportunity after that withdraw from Afghanistan. We have we always have concerns about threats to our national security interests and to our people and to those of our allies and partners that are posed by terrorist networks. Nothing’s changed about The concern that we have and to making sure that another attack like 9-11 can’t happen and we’re almost 20 years on and there hasn’t been one. Um and there’s a lot of reasons for that. Um A lot of hard work, a lot of blood, a lot of sacrifice. A lot of lessons learned that have prevented yet another attack like 9 11. And I don’t think you’ll see anything but a continued focus by this administration on on making sure that it doesn’t happen again. Yeah, Good. Turkey is currently Turkish military is currently conducting operation in Northern Iraq to approach PKK camps over there is in the past. We know that the United States provide some ideas are support. Is does the U. S. Military currently support this operation or not? I’m not going to speak to operational matters from the podium on Irgc. We know that in the previous administration designated this group as a terrorist organization and of course, they are arresting us ships and you guys are communicating with those groups, the designated terrorist groups. Is it permissible under the law to communicate with the terrorist group, designated group? Are you talking about? You see, uh huh administration has designated Irgc as a terrorist group. As you know, what I said was we’re talking to him on bridge the bridge radio in the middle of an incredibly unsafe and unprofessional exercise of of, you know, hostile activity uh, in the gulf. I mean, that is not, that is not uh some sort of diplomatic exchange. It’s getting on the radio and telling somebody that what they’re doing is unsafe and dangerous and they need to knock it off. And I don’t think that, I mean, there’s certainly nothing to apologize for their and there’s certainly nothing uh inappropriate about doing it. It’s it’s uh, it’s what navy commanding officers have to do on occasion. Unfortunately, to better protect their crews and their ships. That’s not diplomatic communication. That’s bridge to bridge, knock it off communication and it’s important. Let me take one from the phone. Uh, let’s see. I didn’t get Megan from military times. So the White House on Friday indicated that they were looking into the possibility of making the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for troops during this emergency use authorization. Has the White House reached out to the secretary or to OSD at all to consult? And does the secretary of OsD have a position on whether making the vaccine mandatory now would be an improvement to current readiness levels. I’m not aware of any communication uh from the White House with respect to this issue. Megan. And um as the secretary has made clear it remains of a voluntary vaccine under emergency use authorization. We continue to be focused on informing and educating our men and women to make to make the best decisions for them and for their family and for their teammates. And as the president said last week, um uh and we would agree and we’ve seen it in the force that the more and more people who elect to take the vaccine leads to more and more people also making a similar decision and that’s where our focus is right now. Yeah. To follow up about north Korea policy attribute to just to clarify, does the review have no direct impact? Whole net post posters capabilities, military exercises of the U. S. Forces in Korea. Uh The policy review is complete um and I’d point you to uh white house colleagues to speak to more detail about um about how they want to see that policy executed as I said, um uh whatever the outreach looks like to to help with the denuclearization of North Korea, the department will support that. We also have con commitment uh alliance requirements on the peninsula with our South korean allies to continue to make sure we are as the saying goes ready to fight tonight. Um and so that work continues. I mean, we have from the Department Defense perspective, one thing that hasn’t changed is our commitment to um to the treaty alliance with South Korea. Okay, I got time for a couple more here um steve lucy military dot com Hi uh regarding the announcement about the cancellation of the border projects, can you describe, is there any more of a picture on how much money exactly the pentagon might be um expecting uh would be become would become available again as a result of the cancellation of these projects. Question steve we’re working our way through that right now. I don’t have details for you on specifically um what this is going to mean in terms of reinvested dollars or dollars sunk that can’t be recruited. We’re still working our way through that paul, Shenkman U. S. News. Yeah. Hi john um can I ask you to take the question about whether the Defense Department is doing any reviews about a potential mandatory order for military forces to take the vaccine, Jake. Sullivan talked about this on friday at the Aspen Security forum and he said and this is a quote. That is something the Defense Department is looking at in consultation with the interagency process. So that that sounds different than what you just said earlier. Yeah. I mean paul, I’m happy to take the question. But again I I know of no such change in in our policy. We continue to focus on informing and educating the force and again our our acceptance rates are getting better with each passing week. Uh But I’m happy to take that question. It sounds different. So I just wanted to be sure that we understood what you were saying. Um And then going back to Afghanistan, the special inspector had a fairly troubling report last week about some statistics uh for the N. D. S. F. Including that Insider attacks have increased by 82 in the first quarter of this year compared to the first quarter of last year. I wonder how concerned the department is about that trend and whether it believes there’s anything that the U. S. And the coalition can do about that before it leaves. By september 11. Obviously we have concerned about uh the insider threat and we have for quite some time, sadly it’s not a new threat um And it is of concern. Um And as the Secretary has made clear as General Mackenzie and Miller have also said that in this, in the period between now and our complete uh draw down, we’re going to continue to support the Afghan national Security Forces in whatever way we can. Uh that relationship will change after um uh we’re out of the country and were and after the resolute support mission is over. Um But in the time that we have remaining uh to the degree that we can assist uh the Afghan national Security forces will continue to do that. So yes, it’s a um it’s of concern and it’s also of concern to Afghan National Security Force leaders. I mean, it’s not like they’re not uh aware of this as a potential problem for them going forward. Tony Tony now. You already got you jenny, Tony Tony? Yeah. He had his hand up to. You’ve already had a question, Tony, hasn’t you want Tony to get the last one? You want to get the last one Tony? It’s up to you. What do you think? Mhm. Do you mind go ahead? Ok. One of the china task force when it’s complete, what are your plans and the interest of transparency to brief on how you do air quotes on transparency? You’re skeptical? We didn’t say crib sheet this time or whatever he’s going to ask you. Like what? So I think there will be uh we will obviously be as transparent as we can be about the results of the china task force. I don’t think it will be shocked to you that there will be some things that the china task force comes up with that we’re not gonna want to talk about publicly but to the degree that we can uh lay out what they found and the and uh their overarching recommendations to department again, remember what this is about is about helping the secretary uh to organize the department resource. The department developed the right operational concepts to meet the pacing challenge to the degree we can be transparent about those recommendations. We will be exactly what that’s gonna look like Tony right now. I don’t know. I mean is it gonna be a piece of paper we give you, I’m not gonna be able to bring dr ratner up here to the podium. We haven’t worked out the Specific details of that transparency, but we obviously are going to want to be as transparent with you and the American people as we can. One budget does come out. One of the items that’s going to get a lot of scrutiny is the F 35 fighter. Two weeks ago, Congress had a hearing to congressional come in. His head of hearing nobody from LSD was invited. But can you talk a little bit about the level of scrutiny the aircraft program has received in the 22 budget drill? Not specifics on numbers, but the level of scrutiny it’s receiving again, without getting too specific budget issues. Uh This is this is a critically important program uh to the department, you know, that uh and the department remains committed uh to the f 35 going forward, as do so many of our allies and partners. Um the secretary and the deputy secretary of certainly mindful of problems within the program. We take those problems and those challenges seriously. Uh And again, I think you’ll see uh reflected uh in the budget going forward, our continued commitment to this program uh and again, without getting into specifics, I can assure you that program difficulties are being fleshed out and um and dealt with in the budget preparatory process. Okay. I think that’s all you had one more. Uh When were the development to be completed? I mean, interceptor this development. So when will the development be completed? Like I’m not prepared to speak to specifics about completion yet. Uh We’re just we’re not that we’re not at that stage yet. Okay. Alright. Thanks everybody. Okay.