Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby briefs the media at the Pentagon, April 19, 2021.

Transcript

Everybody, couple of things here at the top. So I think all you know, effective today, all Defense Department eligible and authorized adults are able to make an appointment by contacting their local military treatment facility for a covid vaccine directly or using their military treatments facilities appointing process. This obviously supports President Biden’s direction to make the vaccine available to all eligible and authorized adults. By Today 19 April the services will also redirect 31,500 additional doses of Moderna to overseas locations in European command. On top of their already allocated Moderna vaccine Services will also redirect approximately 30,000 additional doses of Moderna Two vaccine to Indo Pacific Command and Central Command. And we’ll be and that we expect that will be completed by the end of May, May 21. Roughly, this will help keep the vaccination efforts on pace To provide initial doses to over 80 of our overseas personnel and their families by the end of that month. Uh just to remind, 83 of vaccines received by the Defense Department have been administered exceeding the us average of 78 and more than 28 of our total forces now vaccinated. So we’re making progress and we’re happy to see that um on an exercise front, the U. S. Pacific fleet unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem 21 exercises taking place off the coast of San Diego from the 16th to the 26th, settlers will have the opportunity to engage with the latest unmanned technology which will drive faster learning and rapid employment of these systems in the fleet. This exercise will improve U. S. Pacific fleet warfighting advantages by integrating multi domain manned and unmanned capabilities. Uh as exercises of this nature evolved the opportunity for coordination among allies and partner nations will also arise, creating stronger relationships in the indo pacific and with that we’ll take some questions. I think leader, your first john thanks um to thanks. The Eu you’ve probably seen is now saying that they believe They are estimating that there are 150,000 Russian troops um along Ukraine’s borders. And I know you have not wanted to put a number on that previously, but I’m wondering if you can tell us if that is indeed um an accurate or relatively accurate number. Um And then secondly, um can you say how many National Guard troops the district has requested? Even if you can’t say whether or not it’s gonna prove or how many are being approved and at least talk to give us a some sort of sense of the scope of the request from D. C. For the Garden. Thank you. Thanks, lita. Um You’re right. I’m not gonna get into specific numbers or troop formations in terms of the Russian build up. We do can continue to see that build up uh uh as it was before very seriously concerning to us. Um And uh we call on Russia to obviously make their intentions uh more clear. We don’t believe that this build up is conducive to security and stability along the border with Ukraine and certainly not in occupied Crimea. Um So again we call on the Russians to um to cease their provocations uh and uh to contribute to better security and stability there. And they can start by being more transparent about what their intentions are and what they’re doing on the D. C. Guard request. I know that there is a request that the army is looking at right now lead to I don’t have the details of it. Um And I suspect we’ll know more once uh the army has made a final decision um and is able to speak to that in general. All I can tell you is that there is a request in the building army’s looking at that and I don’t want to get ahead of their process. Certainly the I could refer you to the army too to speak to it as well, but if and when we get more information about this will certainly pass it on as a follow up of course, um on Ukraine. Are you seeing or can you even characterize whether this build up has grown over the last several days since last week or because there’s been some discussion that some things are sort of kind of, is that a study state? Can you give us a sense as to whether there’s more activity or additional troops in recent days? Well, without getting into too much tactile uh um specifics sort of day by day, what I can tell you is in general, we have continued to see this build up increase. Um and uh and again, that is concerning to us. And I said we certainly uh would like to have a better sense of what their intentions are. But in the in the main over the last couple of weeks we have continued to see uh an increase uh in the in the forces along the border with Ukraine in occupied Crimea. Okay, in the room, Yes, sir, who are you? I’m sorry. Who are you? I just still not a Russian agent. No. Well, my name is Roger Zala. I work for an Iraqi kurdish tv. Okay. And my question is on Iraq, obviously the recent attacks, we’ve seen more and more attacks, do you think uhh your small scale limited kind of counterattacks, are they are they enough to deter these attacks? Because we’re seeing more and more attacks happening? And then including the recent one with a drone that we’re not really sure how was that? Not detected before? You know, targeting the airport in there, Bill? Well, I’m not gonna get into the specific details of each attack. Obviously, in that case of this, of the one you’re mentioning, there was a measure of success there, right, Because it hit it, hit a hanger. Uh And what I would say is that so a couple of things. First, our forces in Iraq are there to help our Iraqi partners continue to prosecute their operations against ISIS were their invitation, that’s what we’re there to do. And it’s a fairly limited presence on the ground in Iraq. We had a terrific Iraqi Iraq strategic dialogue just a couple of weeks ago where we talked about the importance of this mission. We talked about the ways we are enabling and improving the capability of Iraqi security forces. And of course there was talk about holding technical talks in the future about what that footprints going to look like going forward. Um uh So uh I think the relationship with uh the government uh in uh in Iraq and with Iraqi security forces is strong um when it comes to these uh these attacks and the ones you mentioned, the Iraqis are as is their right investigating and looking at that. We’re gonna give them the time and space to do that. Um And I’m not gonna Presuppose or speculate about future responses except to say that if response is deemed warranted, then we’re gonna work with the Iraqis uh to do that on our own time and in a manner of our own choosing um uh to have the effect that we want. Clearly you’re right, uh uh these attacks continue and that’s concerning and we’re in consultations with our Iraqi partners right now about what the best way forward is on that. But first and foremost, we want to make sure they have the time to look at this, give us their views um and to reinforce for our own commanders, not that they needed it, but just to reinforce that they always have the right of self defense. Is it fair to say that right now, you’re not sure what’s the best way forward is? I wouldn’t go so far as to say, we don’t know what the best way forward is. We’re working with our Iraqi partners and they’re investigating these and I think we want to let them do their work before we jump to conclusions here about what to do next. What’s the what’s the next approach? Uh Well, I won’t go there, that’s fine. Megan extremism. Working group has a number of short term fast action items to work on. Are there details about the deadlines for those yet? I don’t have specific details for deadlines. And those guys you saw in the memo, some of those were immediate actions that they’re moving out on now. Uh And so it’s not as if there’s a deadline to complete their moving out on them now. But then the working group will take as you saw in the memo, take a longer view of uh say like data collection and how to better do a job at data collection and there that’s a longer term project. I’m not aware that there is a specific deadline on the calendar for when they have to come back for that. Sure. But in terms of the coming up with a definition or this study that they’re supposed to get off the ground or their milestones there, that they’re supposed to, I don’t have any milestones the report today. I’m happy to go back to the working group and see if they’ve developed something in the interim, but I’m not aware of any right now. It’s only no, I would like to go back to Ukraine. The EU says that this military build up is the largest ever, uh near Ukraine. So, I wanted to know if you are more concerned than last week about this build up or if you still think it’s linked to military exercise, It is the largest build up we’ve seen certainly since 2014, which resulted in the violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity. Um, and again, I’m not gonna I’m not prepared to qualify for you. How much bigger it is? It is, it is certainly uh Biggest than that than that than that went into 2014. Um, and again, as for, you know, we certainly heard that the Russians proclaim that this is all about training. It’s not completely clear to us that that’s exactly the purpose. And so we are going to remain seriously concerned about this build up and we call on Russia to be more transparent about their intentions. And um in addition to that, to cease the provocations were there was a couple of Ukrainian soldiers killed just a couple of weeks ago, uh, to abide by their Minsk agreement requirements. Um, and to take actions that decrease that not escalate the tensions on that border and in Crimea. And also today, Poland announced that american F 15 and F 16 fighters have arrived in the country. I wanted to know if it’s linked to the military build up or if it’s no relationship at all. This is an exercise that they they call an agile combat employment exercise. Um, it’s uh, it’s basically both an active and a reactive operational scheme of maneuver executed uh, within tight timelines, uh, to try to test and improve our, uh, survivability while generating combat power from the air. So it’s a routine exercise, been in the works for quite some time. It is not a specific reaction to what’s going on on the border with Ukraine or in Crimea. This is, this is fairly routine. We do this all the time. As you know, we have had a rotational presence in Poland, which we greatly appreciate and welcome. Uh, and this is all part of that rotational element of training and readiness on the european continent. Let’s see address from Reuters. Hey john, thanks for doing this. Um If I could just go back to the Russian bounty uh story from last week, the reports, um just to make sure that I understand it correctly. So last week, from from the White House podium, jen Psaki said the intel community had concluded that there was only a load of moderate confidence in the reports about the bounties on friday. You said, you know, you won’t speak to intel from the podium and there is a direct quote is enough uncertainty about it, that we believe we need to know more End quote. So two questions. firstly, uh, is it that the White House can talk about until from the podium, but the pentagon can’t, or does it depend on the circumstances? And secondly, does the department and the secretary believed that the intel community, the conclusions they’ve come to on the Russian bounties are wrong and further investigation is needed. If you could just clarify those two. Look I wasn’t trying to separate the pentagon from the White House on this. We certainly agree with the way uh my colleague at the White House couch this and the way the intelligence community has spoken to it of a low to moderate degree of confidence. So I wasn’t trying to walk away from that at all. But uh low to moderate doesn’t mean non existent either. Uh And so as I said the other day uh we believe it’s a serious enough issue that we that we would like more clarity from their Russians on this. Okay. Uh Mike go ahead. Not about Russia. Uh ask you but it’s been about six months since the covid rollout or the code vaccine rollout. Aaron bot was wanting to get your get your take on how you think it’s been so far and how you see it going forward. What the vaccine rollout within D. O. D. Yeah. Well I mean I think I kind of I sort of tease to that a little bit mike in my in my opening um We know we’ve got a lot more work to do here. So I think I said 28 of the forces now vaccinated. That means there’s an awful lot that isn’t fully vaccinated right now. Um but uh we’re not keeping vaccines on the shelf, said 83 of what we have in stock is being administered. So it’s not waiting too long before we get we’re getting it into arms. Um And we’re moving pretty healthily through the tears. Um And as I also announced at the top now we believe we’re far enough along that now we can open up eligibility to everybody uh including beneficiaries, retirees, and adult uh dependence as well. Um We’ve so like Just in raw numbers, more than three million doses have been delivered to Dodie. We’ve administered 2.5 million plus. Um Uh so that, you know, 1.5 million have their initial dose, another one million have their second dose. So and of the single dose vaccines, some like 66,000 of them have had that. So we believe we’re making progress here. There’s a lot more work to do. And as I also said at the opening were making efforts to get, You know, more modern vaccines overseas uh to help out our overseas populations as well. But it’s not just vaccinating the force, it’s helping vaccinate the American people. And we still have more than 30 teams out there. Uh this doesn’t even count. The more than I think 20,000 National Guards, men and women who have been already have been doing this in support of their states and local communities. Uh, but we have more than 30 teams are out there assisting with the fema federalized mission around the country. Uh, so, I mean, we’re not just leaning in to try to help our people were leaning in to try to help the american people follow up on this refusal issue. Is there anyway? Why dont couldn’t do something to incentivize it? Like some companies are doing maybe a three day pass or whatever is there, you know? Yeah. So you’ve seen reports that some local commanders are putting in place, some, some local sort of uh, incentives. Um, we don’t believe that that’s our mandate to do that. And we, we we know we have to be careful here because it is, it is still under emergency use authorization. Therefore it’s still voluntary. Um And what we want is to provide enough information and education so people can make the right decisions and can talk to their doctors and their families about what’s right for them because it may not be right for everybody given whatever pre existing conditions they might have. So at our at the D. O. D. Level, I think you’re going to see us continue to be very careful about not implementing or instituting incentives, artificial incentives to try to do this again. The secretary believes that the best incentive um is to make the best decision for you and your family and to think about your teammates. Uh and if and if the vaccine makes sense for you from a medical perspective, that should be incentive enough uh to get it so that you’re helping out your teammates and your family and your friends. Does that help? Dark? Oh I know you said you didn’t have a lot about the National Guard request. But I do want to come back to that they made according to the mayor and the D. C. Uh talked to D. C. Officials earlier today. They made the request a couple of weeks ago. It has been pending at the pentagon has been under consideration and they wanted to have a National Guard capability in place as soon as today knowing the verdict and the Children trial could come at any time. So I don’t understand why this is still pending and still being discussed. You would the secretary, given what happened last time? Not be extremely concerned about having the proper public safety measures in place. Of course he would barb I can’t speak to the specific process by which this request was handled inside the pentagon. I would refer you to our me to speak to more detail about uh when it came in and and how it’s been worked. I can tell you that army leadership are looking at this as you, I think you know the army secretary has the authority to approve D. C. National Guard employment. Um and that still remains his authority. So again a specific process, I’d have to point you to army on that. And let me also ask just to follow up on what the dress asked just to completely be absolutely clear. You have not closed the door here today to the notion that some type of payment was made in furtherance of an effort to kill american forces in Afghanistan. You just haven’t closed the door that some kind of bounty was paid. It’s not it’s not the pentagon not closing the door barb. The intelligence community’s assessment as has been stated more than once, is low to moderate level of confidence and that’s why on friday, I said, given that there’s at least some measure of confidence, perhaps not high, but some it’s serious enough for us to be concerned about. And you want more answers. And when you say that and the if biden administration is keeping the door open to the notion that there were bounties paid by someone who was Russian. Do you believe that you’re looking for official Russian support for this effort? Do you believe it was just people in africa, you know anything about what it is you’re looking for? As I said, we’d like we’d like to know more. We we believe Russia should hold themselves to account for that given it with military personnel potentially victimized by this. Has there been any reach out recently to the Russian military to ask them to explain? Well, first of all, as I said, friday, I know if I can’t, I know of no specific linkage to casualties. Two american service members in Afghanistan to this idea. I know no linkage there and I want to be clear about that. And I’m also aware of no specific outreach to the Russian military with respect to this. So what’s the door open to here? As I said, it’s a, uh, the low to moderate serious enough that that we’re concerned about this. Um, and we we believe that the Russians need to be more forthcoming, um, and to be transparent, um, about the, the veracity of this. Yeah. Hey brian, thanks. I want to follow up on, my colleague likes a question about vaccination and no you did. Um, there was a letter from California Congress member of Congress, you might recall to the president, uh asking to make it obligatory for service members to have the vaccine. Is that something that Secretary Austin favors? And then also, uh does Secretary Austin still, is he still not interested in asking service secretaries for rates of declination or for service secretary to collect that data? And also used to release data for infection rates and then compare it to the general population. Do you have that? And then also, finally, as you open up to the full military, um, service members who could schedule their vaccines? Uh, there’s always that top tier, that top tier in those people, uh in strategic areas who are deploying and you’re going back two times three times four times and asking them, is anything further more effective in getting that top tier to accept their new strategies that are working? Thanks. Is there more questions you think you’re good with those five or six? Yeah. I want to cover all the bases with you covered a lot of them. All right. So I’m, I’m probably gonna miss him. I should’ve been writing this down and I apologize for that. I’m sure you do. Um, as of today, the total cumulative cases, uh, COVID cases that we’ve experienced is 278,686. That’s cumulative. That’s not. Who has it now. Um, and total deaths, uh, in the department are 338 and again our thoughts and prayers go out to all the families that are grieving those losses. Um, and this, those numbers include active duty military as well as reservists. It includes civilians dependence and contractors. It’s the universe. That’s and those are cumulative numbers. Uh, the vaccine is still under emergency use authorization. The secretary respects that and it remains a voluntary vaccine. Um, uh, what else did you ask? Uh, we’re doing? Uh, as for, as for education and information, we continue to look at ways that we can do a better job at providing information about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. Um, and what we’re doing to get it to more places. Um, we’ve tried here for our part to, to put regular covid briefings back on the schedule. There’ll be another one this week that we’re gonna do here in the briefing room and the services have all uh, done a terrific job using their own communication vehicles to help get the word out about the vaccine. Um, and how it’s being distributed. Their combatant commanders are, are doing this as well, trying to the best they can to make sure they’re informing their population. So it’s a it’s a constant effort. We’re always looking at what we’re doing to inform and educate and asking ourselves are we doing enough? Uh is there is there more context we can provide? And can we do that in a more efficient way? So I can certainly speak for our our organization here? And it’s something I talk to my staff about every day. You know, what are we doing? Right? What are we, what are we doing more to to get more information out there in a timely fashion? Can just as a follow up, Can you clarify, wow, Why is it that the secretary is not interested in rates of declination? I didn’t say the secretary is not interested in declination. I never said that. What I said was and I’ve said it quite a bit is that we’re not tracking it right now. At the OsD level. At the D. O. D. Level. The services are beginning to get a better sense now but you gotta remember Abraham the reason why they’re able to get a better sense now because now we’ve moved out of tier one and Tier one B. Tier one A. And one B. And the services are now moving into one C. And tier two which is basically everybody. So now there’s just a larger percentage of people vaccinated or who have been offered the vaccine in the force. So it’s so it’s easier to get a better sense but that number you call it declination rate. I’ve heard some people say refusal rate whatever you want to call it. It’s really only as valid as the population offered is I mean so you know you can say of the of the tear that we’ve worked through say tier one A what you know in your service, how many are in that? You know what the denominator is And so you can do a better job with the numerator because it’s it’s done. It’s complete but you can’t take that rate, that acceptance rate and say it applies to the whole force when not a whole force has been offered it. Now we’re in a new category now we’re opening it up to everybody. Uh And so I think in a few weeks we’ll have a much better sense of what you call acceptance and refusal rates across the force. But you gotta remember, I mean it’s we’ve been working through this in tears and so the data is only as good as you work through those tears and complete them. That’s that’s and that’s why it’s really been more up to the services uh to try to track that then it would be be for us. But I wouldn’t say the secretary is not interested in and he’s done a public service announcement on this. He’s talked to troops about this when we go overseas. Uh, he’s obviously made it a priority and empowering the covid task force and in staff meetings. I mean, he’s certainly interested in more more than that, though. He’s interested in making sure that everybody has the information they need to make the best decision for them. That’s what he really wants to do. And that’s why your other question is frankly more valid. And that’s what are we doing to try to provide that information? And as I said, we’re looking at our own processes every day. Believe me, I know we could be doing more and doing it better and and and we’re working on that. Fine. I’m so sorry. But the word complete. When you say when we complete them. Tier one A one B. Read me by the word complete. I mean you get you vaccinated enough in those tears that it’s safe enough to use your vaccines now to to move into lower tiers that that there’s enough people are vaccinated in that tier, You’re not gonna get everybody right. Uh but you want to get enough that it’s comfortable and this is where it comes down to service chiefs and commanders about where they’re comfortable moving to the next year. Okay, thank you. Let me take some more from Jeff Selten. That’s for doing this. I wanted to get back to Afghanistan wondering is the pentagon working with the current Afghan government to set up whatever agreements would be necessary? So should a counterterrorism force needs to go back into Afghanistan after the pullout is complete, that they’re able to do that. And how is that complicated by the negotiations going on between the Afghan government and the Taliban? Is any such agreements that you put in place right now? Is that going to have to be revised or redone if there’s a power sharing agreement? I’m not gonna? Yeah I’m not I can’t speculate about the future of the negotiated settlements and the and the negotiations that are going on. I mean that’s really for uh for our colleagues at the State Department to speak to the president was clear, we are removing all U. S. Military personnel from Afghanistan and we will remove them. But by the you know early september all of them, with the exception of what’s going to be required to protect the diplomatic mission in Afghanistan. So, I know of no discussions with the government in Kabul about reinserting counterterrorism forces inside Afghanistan. As the secretary made clear in brussels last week, we will maintain uh sufficient counterterrorism capabilities in the region uh to deal with emanating threats from Afghanistan threats to our homeland from terrorist groups. But but the president’s direction was crystal clear. All U. S. Military personnel with that exception are going to be leaving Afghanistan by the fall by early fall. So under the plan would U. S. Counterterrorism forces? It may be just going to Afghanistan without the Afghan government’s provisions if the president is determined it was necessary. Uh There’s no plans to reintroduce american boots on the ground in Afghanistan. Uh We we we have, as the Secretary said, we have robust counterterrorism capabilities all around the world. Um and I think as he also, you heard him say in brussels, there’s not a parcel of earth that we can’t hit if we need to hit it. But there are no plants and no discussion about reintroducing american combat forces on the ground in Afghanistan. Okay, I can go here. Good sir. Thank you sir. Two quick questions on us. Africom as it relates to the headquarters and set card Germany. Last year trump planned to relocate Afrikaans headquarters in step card Germany. And last week the secretary said they’re going to be an additional 500 troops in Germany. So is this plan to relate to relocate africa and headquarters and stood still on the table? And the second question is why is Africa even based in europe in the first place? Wouldn’t it make more sense that he based in somewhere like the Horn of Africa? Somewhere near Camp Lemonnier? Djibouti? Because it’s a strategic area. Thank you. There was a long discussion years ago going, Africom was established about where it was going to be based and it was decided to base it in europe. I’m not going to relitigate that decision today. Um You’re right. The Secretary did announce while we’re in Berlin an additional 500 soldiers that will be going to the West Baden area uh, to help us with coordination, uh, cyber issues, uh, and other regional security requirements. Um uh, there is, as you know, a global posture review going on right now that the Secretary has commissioned. We expect it will be complete by mid summer. I’m not going to get ahead of decisions about what that’s gonna come back and look like. But the idea is to take a look at where we have our resources. Um are they, are they the right ones and the right places? And do we need to adjust given the threats and talent challenges uh, of the security environment that we face and I just won’t get ahead of that right now. Um See, paul shankman us news john I’d like to ask you about the Afghanistan withdrawal. So there’s been a lot of reporting in recent days about top military leaders having disagreed with President Biden’s ultimate decision uh to order the withdrawal. I know that the Secretary said that he expects his commanders to obey orders, but I wonder does he have any concerns that it appears publicly? At least that the military’s top leaders are diverging from the president on how to proceed in Afghanistan secretaries. Concern right now is making sure that we execute on the president’s direction, which is for a safe, orderly and effective drawdown by september 11th. That’s what his focus is on. And I think that’s what it’s going to remain on. And then one quick question about the Black Sea, I tell that you spoke on friday about uh not commenting on the reports of the two Navy ships that were deployed there. Can you say today? Can could the Navy conduct foreign ops in the Black Sea if it wanted to? We will continue to sail, operate uh where international law permits. We routinely operate uh in the Black Sea. And as I said on friday, I would expect those operations to continue as appropriate. Uh Yeah, in the back there man, Christina, Anderson VPs News. So I wanted to ask, given that given the climate summit this week at the White House, is there anything going on with the working group here, the Climate Change working group here that we can talk about? And he knew I don’t have an update for you from the working group today. I mean, the secretary is very much looking forward to the climate summit. Uh, he’ll be participating and uh, he believes strongly that that climate change is a national security threat. That’s one of the reasons why he stood up. The working group, uh networking group is engaged in the planning for the summit as as it relates to our equities there and the Secretary’s participation. But I don’t have anything specific to announce uh huh on Space Force. There’s been some reporting that the billets are going unfilled. And is there anything there that you can tell us? I’d have to refer you to the space force to speak to their recruiting and retention issues there. So central, so much of industry and everything we do. I don’t disagree. But I I’m not prepared to speak to individual services and their recruiting and retention programs that referring to space forces. Last thing, is there anything uh general Walters last week spoke about Wagner group being active in some of these combat areas. Is there any um, any idea that they might be involved in Ukraine and along the border there or anything? I’m afraid. I don’t have anything for you on that. Today. I’d refer you to General Walters and his staff to speak to that laura Seligman politico. Hey john, I wanted to ask you, um actually, just to follow up on a question that was asked earlier, um, specifically on moving out Africa Command out of Germany, you didn’t really enter the question. Is that something that is still on the table? Africom and headquarters. Africom Headquarters? They’re doing great work. Secretary had a chance to get a brief while he was there. Uh, and uh, and he’s very confident that uh, that there, that they’re leading um, that they’re working on the alliance, are our partnerships in Africa is very comfortable that headquarter staff um uh knows what it’s doing and knows that its mission is really important and I certainly have nothing to speak to that. Would that would change that perspective. So the headquarters of Africa command will have no change. I know of no plans to change the headquarters location, Laura, but again, there’s a global force posture review going on and I’m not going to get ahead of that process On it. And then just a quick clarification, I wanted to make sure I understood what you said earlier. Did you say that the Russian build up today on Ukraine’s border is bigger than the build up we saw in 2014? Yes, I did say that. Oh, okay, thank you, You’re welcome. Yeah. So on Syria, Russian media are reporting that There’s been a major air strike by Russian air forces on militants based in Central Syria, that killed over 200 militants. Did you monitor any such strike? Or do you have any information on that? I don’t I don’t. Can you guys take the question of if I’m happy to take the question, but I would not expect us to be able to give you a detailed answer about what we monitor uh overseas in real time. Uh, that’s not the kind of thing that we’re going to talk about. And there’s been at least one news report about a new mechanism that’s been agreed between Russia and Iran. By which Russian uh military ships, warships will Iranian tankers moving uh wheat and oil from Iran to Syria to prevent any attacks on Iranian um, tankers. Did you detect any such mechanism? Do you have anything on this? I don’t have anything to add on that report, but I think that is a great question for somebody to ask officials in Moscow and Tehran. Well thank you. Yes, sir. Nippon television At the Japan us some meeting last weekend. Uh the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait was clarified in a joint statement for the first time in 52 years and also it was agreed to strengthen the defense cooperation between two countries. So my question is in what specific areas and the fuse do Japan? The United States need to develop defense cooperation uh in order to maintain peace in the Taiwan strait? And do you think uh it is necessary to formulate a joint operation plan in preparation for Taiwan confrontation and to provide a kind of the joint exercise in anticipation of the case? Well, without speaking specifically to Taiwan, as I’ve said, we support the one china policy and nobody wants to see things come to blows over Taiwan. We remain committed as we, as we have for multiple administrations to the, to aiding Taiwan and it’s self defense to providing uh material for their for their for them to defend themselves. Um so I’m not gonna get into speculation about that. The secretary was proud and privileged to be able to participate in a meeting on friday with Prime Minister Saga. As you know, his very first overseas trip was to that region and his very first stop outside the continental outside of the United States was to Tokyo to to to meet with his counterparts. And it was a terrific a couple of days we had there, which gave him a chance to learn more about the region from the Japanese perspective and to also reaffirm our commitment to our treaty obligations and to our assistance in in the defense of Japan. There are a lot of things that they talked about and you can go back and I won’t restate it, but you can go back and look at the press conference. They did uh Secretary Blinken was there, but there’s obviously a lot of things that we can continue to work on bilaterally with the Japanese self defense force to improve our collective capabilities uh in the, in that region, given the scope of the threats across the region, uh you know, to include, you know, the threats emanating from north Korea. So there’s a lot of work to do. Secretary was delighted to be able to start uh in Tokyo and and to have those discussions and we look forward to continued close relationship going forward Quick for is how do you create the importance of the joints new joint statement between two leaders? I think it was significant. I mean any time you get uh two leaders like uh President biden, Prime Minister Seaga together like that to talk about the strategic issues and then the issue a joint statement. Obviously that’s significant. And as I said, the secretary was proud and privileged to be a part of that meeting on friday. Okay to gender. Hello, can you hear me? I got you. Yeah, I have two short questions. One is about the media reports are saying that you know, we know that there’s a modest increase in the pentagon budget for this coming year. I think it’s 715 billion or something. Will this impact Pentagon’s commitments towards its alliances in the indo pacific area? Well, I’m not going to get ahead of the actual um specifics in the budget to gender. Uh we’re still working through that process I think, you know, that I would say, and I point you back to what the secretary said when he was testifying to the Senate Armed Services Committee before his confirmation. Um that uh he believes the PRC is the pacing challenge for this department. He believes we do need to make sure we’re ready for great power competition and for the threats and challenges that that many nations states pose uh to our national security. Um and a lot of that exists. A lot of those threats and challenges exist in the indo pacific area of responsibility. Which is again, why that was the first uh geographic area outside the country that he visited uh after becoming the Secretary Defense. So, again, I won’t get into details of the program. Uh you’ll see that developed in the appropriate time. But I do think you’re going to continue to see Secretary Austin focused keenly on the indo pacific area. Okay. And my question is about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the peace process in Afghanistan. Everyone, you know, talks about Afghanistan Taliban. But if you remember in february, the Financial Action Task Force, every t uh get Pakistan on its grey list and it had the president in his uh press conference are answering my question. Had said that most of the items that Pakistan is yet to address is about terrorism financing and all. So we all know that without Pakistan stopping its support for terrorism, there cannot be peace in Afghanistan. So what what what are the steps the U. S. Is taking to stop Pakistan from supporting terrorism activities in and around the region? We continue to have a dialogue with Pakistan about uh about uh terrorist issues uh along that border with Afghanistan. I think it’s helpful to remind that they too have uh suffered from terrorist attacks inside their country. Um and uh as I said, the the president was clear, we were removing U. S. Forces from Afghanistan and we will maintain the sufficient counterterrorism capabilities we need uh to prevent detect and prevent threats to our homeland that could emanate from Afghanistan. Uh see tom Squitieri talk media. Hey john, thanks. Good afternoon. I wanted to touch a few bases that Abraham been in touch uh first versus the Philippines and the United States. They’re involved in their annual military exercise right now. It’s still a bit larger than last year when it was restricted from Covid 19. I’m wondering with the tension with china being so close with its quote unquote fishing ships near the Philippines. What the tenor of the exercises this year. I don’t have specific details about that exercise. Tom I mean, we can get back to you with a better answer but as you pointed out these are routine exercises that we continue to conduct um and uh and glad to do it with our Philippine allies. But I don’t have any you know specifics about what the scenario is and how that scenario may or may not apply to uh two recent activities. Again, most of these exercises are designed to improve our training and readiness and to improve alliance readiness and capability. And they’re not times or necessarily plan to address a specific issue or specific nation or specific threat by a specific nation. But well I just don’t have more detail on it. Um Tom So let me take that question. We’ll get your second. My second question is uh is what’s the level of unease within the pentagon upon hearing the news that Beijing is considering a peacekeeping force to Afghanistan? If the U. S. Troops pull out basically because of its border with Afghanistan? I’m sorry, I lost you. Say that again. Uh Beijing is considering a peacekeeping force to Afghanistan. Once the US pulls out to send into the neighbouring province it has with Afghanistan across that 44 mile border. What’s the level of unease in the pentagon? Thinking that the chinese would be sending in a peacekeeping force? Well, we certainly wouldn’t speak for another nation and obviously we would call on all of Afghans, Afghanistan’s neighbors to respect its sovereignty um and respect its territorial integrity as well. Um And that, you know, if there if there’s a a legitimate a terrorism threat that’s that’s emanating from Afghanistan to work in accordance with international law and and with the Afghan government to address that. But we want Afghan Afghanistan sovereignty to be respected. Thanks. Um, Okay. I think that’s about it for today. I think the Senate tomorrow on Afghanistan. I have nothing on the secretary of scheduled to speak to today. What about the chairman? I can’t speak for the Chairman. I only speak for the Secretary of Defense, but I can’t speak training with the secretary Schedule. Let me put it into the way. I don’t have anything. No. Now to speak to you about the secretary schedule tomorrow. I got a little tongue tied on that. All right. Okay. Thanks. Thanks guys. Thank you. Yeah.