LIVE: Pentagon Holds News Briefing As Israeli Announces It Rescued Hostage Held By Hamas | N18G

and partners around the world and how best to support Ukraine uh towards uh the the you know ultimate end state of ensuring a free and Sovereign uh Ukraine that can deter future aggression from Russia and so are there still restrictions on Ukrainian weapons provided by the United States so our policies haven't changed you've heard us say that that the ukrainians can use us uh security assistance to defend themselves from crossb attacks in other words counter uh but as it relates to long range strike deep strikes uh into Russia our policy has not changed let me go back out to the phone here uh JJ green WTOP thanks General um question regarding um Israel and Hamas the Pentagon has said for quite a while now that one of its stated goals was to prevent this conflict from spreading So based on what happened over the weekend between Israel and Hezbollah um how does the Pentagon view that does does this seem to be an expansion because they've done attacks against each other but this was these attacks these these were much more much bigger and um seemingly had much more impact how does that impact the pentagon's view of whether this is expanding or not yeah thanks JJ uh so again just to put this into context when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th um you you heard us say that you know we deployed a significant amount of uh additional capability into the middle east region uh and the and the ukom region in order to uh send a very clear message of deterrence and to prevent this from becoming uh a wider regional conflict right now we still assess uh that the conflict between Israel and Hamas uh is contained to Gaza uh you have seen the uh you know cross B strikes between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah since October 8 what you saw over the weekend of course was a much larger scale than what we've seen previously but it is in our view not a wider regional conflict at this stage and so we're going to continue to stay very focused on deescalation of tensions in the region as I highlighted and preventing it from becoming a wider Regional War thank you Tony Afghanistan you were pillar this week about the the the third anniversary of not only the abig gate tragedy but also Friday is going to Mark the 30 anniversary of the fall of our withdrawal you've been criticized quite a bit by the by conservatives Republicans I and Trump yesterday I you saw that I wanted to get you what is the perspective of Pentagon leadership at this point three years later to the criticisms the word chaotic is the most widely used adjective to describe it three years later what's the perspective here in terms of how you guys view what happened yeah thanks Tony um well I'm sure you can appreciate I'm I'm not going to be able to comment on any remarks from any political candidates okay um but separately secretary Austin has spoken many times about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and his pride in the tremendous work of the men and women of the US military so I would point you to some of his previous statements to include in April of 2023 uh which reads in part and if you just allow me here quote over the course of 20 years of war in Afghanistan our service members and their families served bravely selflessly and with and with compassion as the Secretary of Defense and as a veteran of the Afghanistan War I am proud of and deeply grateful for the men and women who stood up to serve after Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11 2001 we remember the 2,461 American Service members and Personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war even on the hardest days including August 26 2021 when we tragically lost 13 of our finest our Force performed admirably under incredibly challenging conditions end quote And in regards to the withdrawal he's also underscored that no other military in the world could have accomplished what we and our allies and partners did in such a short time span and that this is a testament not only to our forces's capabilities and courage but also to our relationships and the capabilities of our allies and partners ask you to hunting down the perpetrators the enablers of the gate attack Chris Meyer your commando Chief talked to reporters on Friday he talked a little bit about the network was degraded but from from the podium can you give a feel for that President Biden said at the time we will hunt you down so what's the status of the hunt today yeah um well as uh assistant secretary defense Meer highlighted we are laser focused on defending our citizens from terrorist threats that could emanate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe we know that we can't turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as Isis K uh and that we must keep a Relentless focus on counter counterterrorism and we're doing that um we have and continue to invest in uh and deploy modern capabilities to keep Americans safe we're working closely with the intelligence Community as well as to deepen our cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving threats I know that Mr Mayor addressed this as well in terms of how we've been able to foil plots and disrupt terrorist networks to include Isis K by sharing information and intelligence and enabling Allied and partner Nations to be the ones conducting arrests or taking actions and you've seen that demonstrated here recently with some high-profile news coverage of a foiled terrorist plot in Europe for example um but we've also demonstrated our ability to reach anywhere in the world when there is a threat including in Central Asia or in the Middle East and we've shown that we will not hesitate to take action to keep America safe safe as evidenced by centcom's recent strike in Syria which killed the senior leader of an Al-Qaeda Associated group thank you very much J thank you General C North Korean Kim Jun announced that it would fully deploy suicide drones for the world what concerns does the United States have about this and what is the US's response to North Korea's aset power to its I'm sorry Jan to its what what is the US's response to North Korea's asymmetri power um on your first question uh you I've seen the Press reporting certainly it's something that we we're keeping an eye on I I do find it interesting uh that everywhere else it's known as one way attack drone but for some reason when North Korea says it it's suicide drone uh interesting um but uh you know we clearly want to take that threat seriously and it's something that we'll keep an eye on I know that our South Korean allies are also keeping an eye on it and monitoring that uh and I'll just you know conclude by saying that we will continue to consult closely with the r and Japan and other partners and allies in the region to ensure uh that our Collective defense remains strong in terms of uh North Korea and its capabilities you know look they have a long history here of uh of destabilizing ing rhetoric and and activities uh again our focus in the region is defensive in nature and I'm working with allies and partners to promote Regional security and stability uh and to be prepared for any threats that North Korea poses or presents obviously don't want conflict with North Korea and we continue to call for uh diplomatic uh communication uh but so far they've not been willing to to take that Olive Branch can you can you predict the possibility that suicide drone drones mass produced with the tact tactical support Pro Russia and Iran will be used on the battlefield of Ukraine and Middle East yeah I don't have anything on that nor do I want to predict so thank you yes ma'am thank you sir Naz Academy Afghan journalist uh as he said something about Afghanistan Afghan people also concerned about dish activity based on Europe opinion D get increase in Afghanistan and Taliban concerned about their activity too and what is the difference between Taliban and Das um how much time do you have uh I mean you know look first of all uh as as you well know the Taliban currently uh is the the government uh in in Afghanistan and I'll use that term loosely um and so as the uh so-called ruling entity in there clearly uh there is a difference between that uh Isis K but there are many other uh Terror groups that that are resident right now in Afghanistan uh so you know we're continuing to keep an eye on that that region at large ultimately at the end of the day our Focus continues to be broadly speaking on working with allies and partners throughout the world and to include Central Asia as I highlighted on promoting Regional security and stability and safeguarding US National Security interest uh to include uh the counterterrorism efforts and and nonproliferation so um just leave it there thank you very much body thank you General um the US um provided intelligence and ISR support to Israel to u to in order to deal with the attack from hisbah what is your assessment of of that attack and do you think it was was a would failed or succeed in achieving some of the goals that were declared by hisbah leader Hassan yeah thanks for the question I'm going to refrain uh from putting a label on it and just you know it it was it was a large scale attack um Lebanese Hezbollah had uh essentially previewed that they intended to retaliate and B accounts they did uh and so um you know Israel uh was what well prepared to respond and and defend themselves uh but I'll let the leaders from each of those uh you know from Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah speak to the nature of that from a US standpoint we were very focused again on uh supporting the defense of Israel uh as well as ensuring that this did not escalate into a wider regional conflict and that continues to be our focus and on the um threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel do you see uh Iran still poised to attack Israel or in light of the weekend events between hisbah and Israel there's been some changes in What You observe Vis A Iran you know I'm I'm not going to go into intelligence but again I you know as I've said previously uh Iran has made uh those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take that very seriously and so we will continue to remain postured and we are well postured uh to be able to support the defenses of Israel as well as protect our own forces thank you Noah Admiral paparo said recently that the US could um escort Filipino vessels during resupply missions that this would be within the bounds of the mutual defense treaty I wanted to know if that's consistent with the secretary's thinking yeah thanks Noah um what I would say is the the Philippines Remains the lead for its own operations in the South China Sea and we continue to provide significant advisory support in addition to our efforts to help modernize uh the Philippine military and so as allies we continue to stand with the Philippines given especially the PRC has consistently prevented them from executing lawful maritime operations in the South China Sea and so our commitment to that Alliance is Ironclad uh as you know our governments have close continual consultations so any Military Support would be the request of the government of the Philippines and in that light Admiral paparo simply called it an option within the context of consultations so you're saying that if they requested such Military Support that that could be on the table for consultation that that wouldn't be in immediate closed door well again without getting into hypotheticals I think as allies uh it would require any type it would require require consultation between our two Nations thank you Courtney you're setting way in the back there today yeah all right um the several Russian officials have spoken out recently about the us being involved in the K incursion the deputy foreign minister said consequences for the United States could be much harsher than those they are already experiencing they know where and in what areas we are reacting in Practical terms what is do you know what does that I guess what are the areas that they are reacting that the US knows about guess do you have any comment to their um labov also spoke out saying us was complicit in this Cur incursion so truth and advertising I'm not a kremlinology so I'm not going to pretend to be able to translate for uh Russian bureaucratese said previously uh we did not have advanced notification of Ukraine's uh intent uh and operations to go into KK uh certainly again you've heard president zalinski say that their efforts there are to create a buffer zone and so we are continue to have conversations with them about what that means um but more broadly speaking how the US can support Ukraine's efforts uh to preserve its sovereignty and deter future Russian aggression but but specifically on the on the this allegation that the US knows that the the consequences are going to be harsher than previously have you seen any indications of of consequences against the United States I I don't know what what that means again we're not at war with Russia we're not seeking conflict with Russia we are simply supporting a democratic Nation who was invaded two and a half years ago and enabling them to protect themselves thank you last question General uh the Iranian commander of rgc says Iran with Islamic resistance in Iraq and elsewhere will take uh retaliation but how does the Pentagon see the involvement of progress in Iraq in the existing war between Israel and Hamas well kind of taking a step back um you know there there have definitely been actions by uh Iranian back groups in Iraq in Syria as it relates to attempting to uh conduct rocket attacks against Israel uh largely unsuccessful but you know we we've seen that um we've also seen those groups attack US forces that are uh in Iraq and Syria in support of the enduring defeat of Isis mission so you know what they may do in the future I can't predict um but we take that threat seriously and we'll continue and the you know just like we're going to continue to support the defense of Israel uh we will stay very focused on ensuring that our forces are protected as well uh and we won't tolerate any taxs against our forces uh and to purposely belabor the point uh if we are threatened or attacked uh we will always respond in a time and manner of our choosing thank you thank you thank you very much everybody last one one domestic question related to a justice department plea that came down last night against one of the Navy's top uh ship Builders AA limited they pleaded guilty to product substitution and uh procure and a fraud accounting fraud what steps is the dod General councel taking with the Navy to review whether they are a responsible contractor to keep getting Federal contracts or face debarment yeah thanks Tony um we've seen the Press reporting on it however I'm going to have to refer you to the Department of Justice for details and then to the Navy for any action that they're undertaking as a result I just don't have any more to Pro you don't have any more can you also check on the status of the Boeing review you were asked about like a month and a half ago in terms of their ple and you guys said at the time there's a review of Bo what steps Boeing is taking to be a responsible contractor can you take that as a question in terms of the status of yeah I'll take the question I don't know that we'll have much more to but I'll take that question okay thanks oh Louis seriously you walk in like last minute all right only because it's ABC Louis Martinez thank you uh and congratulations to TA um oh yeah okay um ta was on time but um going back to the jots it was announced last week I think that um that last cargo shipment have left Cypress is there an update has it been uploaded what's happened since um so what I'm tracking Louis is is that uh essentially the ship is in the queue uh waiting for its turn to uh dock in ashdod and unload uh its contents uh but as of right now still at c um but that's the latest update I have okay thank you thanks very much everybody appreciate it thank you [Music] all right well good afternoon everyone welcome back good to see you again uh just a few items at the top and then I'll be happy to take your questions uh first we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and remain postured to support the defense of Israel and Protect US troops and Assets in the region in two calls with his Israeli counterpart Minister Gant this past weekend secretary Austin underscored the United States's Ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its Regional partners and proxies as many of you are tracking in support of this the secretary ordered our two carrier strike groups the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to remain in the region as we have been from the start we remain intently focused on de-escalating tensions in the Middle East while also remaining focused on securing a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza turning to the Red Sea last week on August 21st the MV Delta San a Greek flag greek-owned oil tanker carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil was attacked by iranian-backed houthi crude vessels as reported by the Greek shipping Ministry the MV Delta San was sailing from Iraq to Greece with a crew of two Russian and 23 Filipino Sailors the crew has since evacuated the ship with the assistance of a partner Nation vessel the MV Delta sonion now sits immobilized in the Red Sea where it is currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil presenting both a navigational Hazard and a potential Environmental catastroph y although the houthis have claimed that they're conducting these attacks in support of the Palestinian people their actions Pro to the contrary in fact these are simply Reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize Global and Regional Commerce put the lives of innocent civilian Mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant Maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aiden the hou's own backyard us Central Command continues to actively monitor the situation and is coordin a with other Maritime Partners in the region to determine how best to assist the vessel and mitigate the potential environmental impact shifting gears and a display of an enduring and robust defense partnership the United States and the Indonesian National Armed Forces kicked off the 2024 super Garuda Shield exercise yesterday with an opening ceremony at an Indonesian military base at Janda Naval Airbase suraya super Garuda Shield is the largest annual us Indonesian training exercise and this year service members from the US Indonesia Australia Canada Japan Singapore and the United Kingdom will engage in various training opportunities including Airborne operations amphibious operations and interoperability information exchanges as well as academic exchanges professional development workshops command and control exercises and a joint field training exercise culminating in a live fire event sponsored by US Army Pacific the exercise will will last through September 6 and involves around 3,000 combined Armed Forces including approximately 1,800 us Personnel it enhances interoperability through training and cultural exchanges solidifying the US Indonesia major defense partnership and supporting a free and open Indo Pacific for more information on super Guru Shield I'd refer you to US Army Pacific finally on behalf of all who have served here in the office of the secretary of defense for public affairs I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate our very own Mr Taft febus on his 40-year uh Milestone of federal service in the defense press press operations office always the early bird in early and out late taed humbly and selflessly plays a foundational role here at ospa supporting the Pentagon press Corps and ensuring they have the support they need to do their jobs effectively anyone who has had the Good Fortune of working alongside Taft is familiar with the wisdom and professionalism he brings to the job every day so once more congratulations Taft and thank you for your service here's to 40 more uh and with that I will take your [Applause] questions I know ta also likes all the attention so all right all right with that uh we'll go to Associated Press first who I believe is on the phone today uh Lita thank you Pat and congratulations to Taft he's a huge help as always um I have a quick followup on the ship and then I have a Ukraine question um on the um the ship in the Red Sea that's on fire can I um assume that what you're saying is that at this point NE neither the us nor any of the other allies have been able to do anything to uh stop the fire or to do something actual to address the the ship's condition right now is that accurate yeah thanks Lita uh as I highlighted sencom continu continues to Monitor and assess the situation uh we are aware of a third party uh that attempted to send two tugs uh to the The Vessel to help Salvage uh but they were warned away uh by the houthis uh and threatened with being attacked which again demonstrates uh their blatant disregard uh for for not only human life uh but Al for also uh for the potential environmental catastrophe that this present so uh again sencom continues to Monitor and and uh look at you know and assess the situation and we'll keep you updated on that front and then you said you had a question on Ukraine uh yes um does the uh does secretary Austin expect to meet with uh M umarov this week and can you provide any update on whether the US has seen much Movement by Russians out of other part of Ukraine to go to curse thank you um in terms of uh the secretary meeting with Minister umarov I don't have anything to announce uh as you know he regularly speaks the secretary Austin regularly speaks with Minister umarov and so uh I would uh foresee them speaking again uh in the near future but again I I don't have anything to to provide from the podium today um in terms of KK again we continue to keep an eye on this uh as we've said previously we have seen the Russians divert some forces uh to the KK region um largely uh they have used forces that are already there uh and as they put together a defense a hasty defense um but but nothing large scale uh that I've seen at this point uh but again i' I'd refer you to the Russians uh to talk more about their operations and I'll just leave it there Jennifer um General Ryder the US doesn't have any Naval warships in the Red Sea right now do you think that if there had been USS coal or other uh destroyers in or an aircraft carry in the Red Sea that they could have prevented this hooti attack on this vessel that's now on fire um well you know I at this point the fact is is that there is a vessel that's on fire and as you know we've been uh patrolling those waterways for a while and have been able to intercept and mitigate the vast majority of of houthi attacks uh and so we'll we'll continue to stay focused on that uh but the reality is right now we have this situation and so again sencom will continue to assess uh we'll keep you updated on on any potential involvement there how long do you expect that there won't be an aircraft carrier strike group in the Indo Pacific isn't it risky right now not having an aircraft carrier strike group there well look you know as we as we look at Global Force management and as we look at requirements uh around the world and support report of our national security interest we're always taking great care to make sure that we can cover those commitments to include uh in our priority Theater which is the indopacific region and so we have a significant amount of capability there uh to include a large Naval presence uh and so in the case of the Middle East uh as I highlighted the secretary wanted uh those two carrier groups carrier strike groups to remain in the region for now to be able to provide us with additional capability and capacity to protect our forces support the defense of Israel and also be ready for a variety of contingencies but how long do you expect to have this carrier Gap uh you know look I'm not going to get into uh deployment timelines for operation security reasons but the bottom line is we can walk and chw gum at the same time Carla thank you Pat um Ukrainian president zalinski said yesterday that there should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine he said this before but he added that the terrorists referencing Russia have no such restrictions does the Pentagon agree with that statement well look I I won't speak for president zalinsky clearly uh he's made his his views and perspective uh well known both publicly and privately from a US perspective we're going to continue to consult closely with our Ukrainian Partners as well as our allies and partners around the world and how best to support Ukraine uh towards uh the the you know ultimate end state of ensuring a free and Sovereign uh Ukraine that can deter future aggression from Russia and so are there still restrictions on Ukrainian weapons provided by the United States so our policies haven't changed you've heard us say that the the ukrainians can use us uh security assistance to defend themselves from crossb attacks in other words counterfire uh but as it relates to long range strike deep strikes uh into Russia our policy has not changed let me go back out to the phone here uh JJ green WTOP thanks General um question regarding um Israel and Hamas the Pentagon is said for quite a while now that one of its stated goals was to prevent this conflict from spreading So based on what happened over the weekend between Israel in Hezbollah um how does the Pentagon view that does does this seem to be an expansion because they've done attacks against each other but this was these attacks these these were much more much bigger and um seemingly had much more impact how does that impact the pentagon's view of whether this is expanding or not yeah thanks JJ uh so again just to put this into context when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th um you heard us say that you know we deployed a significant amount of uh additional capability into the middle east region uh and the and the ukom region in order to uh send a very clear message of deterrence and to prevent this from becoming uh a wider regional conflict right now we still assess uh that the conflict between Israel and Hamas uh is contained to Gaza uh you have seen the uh you know crossb strikes between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah since October 8 what you saw over the weekend of course was a much larger scale uh than what we've seen previously but it is in our view not a wider regional conflict at this stage and so we're going to continue to stay very focused on deescalation of tensions in the region as I highlighted and preventing it from becoming a wider Regional War thank you Tony Afghanistan uh you were pillar this week about the the the third anniversary of not only the abig gate tragedy but also Friday is going to Mark the third anniversary of the fall of our withdrawal you've been criticized quite a bit by the by conservatives Republicans I want and Trump yesterday I you saw that I wanted to get you what is the perspective of Pentagon leadership at this point three years later to the criticisms the word chaotic is the most widely used adjective to describe it three years later what's the perspective here in terms of how you guys view what happened yeah thanks Tony um well as I'm sure you can appreciate I'm I'm not going to be able to comment on any remarks from any political candidates okay um but separately secretary Austin has spoken many times about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and his pride in the tremendous work of the men and women of the US military so I would point you to some of his previous statements to include in April of 2023 uh which reads in part and if you just allow me here quote over the course of 20 years of war in Afghanistan our service members and their families serve bravely selflessly and with and with compassion as the Secretary of Defense and as a veteran of the Afghan an War I am proud of and deeply grateful for the men and women who stood up to serve after Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11 2001 we remember the 2,461 American Service members and Personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war even on the hardest days including August 26 2021 when we tragically lost 13 of our finest our Force performed admirably under incredibly challenging conditions end quote And in regards to the withdrawal he's also underscore that no other military in the world could have accomplished what we and our allies and partners did in such a short time span and that this is a testament not only to our forces capabilities and courage but also to our relationships and the capabilities of our allies and partners ask you to hunting down the perpetrators the enablers of the abig gate attack Chris Meyer your commando Chief talked to reporters on Friday he talked a little bit about the network was degraded but from from the podium can you give a feel for that President Biden said at the time we will hunt you down so what's the status of the hunt today yeah um well as uh assistant Secretary of Defense Meer highlighted we are laser focused on defending our citizens from terrorist threats that could emanate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe we know that we can't turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as Isis K uh and that we must keep a Relentless focus on counter counterterrorism and we're doing that um we have and continue to invest in uh and deploy modern capabilities to keep Americans safe we're working closely with the intelligence Community as well as to deepen our cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving threats I know that Mr Mayor addressed this as well in terms of how we've been able to foil plots and disrupt terrorist networks to include Isis K by sharing information and intelligence and enabling Allied and partner Nations to be the ones conducting arrests or taking actions and you've seen that demon at here recently with some high-profile news coverage of a foiled terrorist plot in Europe for example um but we've also demonstrated our ability to reach anywhere in the world when there is a threat including in Central Asia or in the Middle East and we've shown that we will not hesitate to take action to keep America safe as evidenced by senc comm's recent strike in Syria which killed the senior leader of an Al-Qaeda Associated group thank you very much Janie thank you General CS North Korean Kim Jun announced that it would fully deploy suicide drones for the world what concerns does the United States have about this and what is the US's response to North Korea's ASC power to its I'm sorry Jan to its what what is the US's response to North Korea's asymmetric power um on your first question question uh you I've seen the Press reporting certainly it's something that we're we're keeping an eye on I I do find it interesting uh that everywhere else it's known as one way attack drone but for some reason when North Korea says it it's suicide drone uh interesting um but uh you know we clearly want to take that threat seriously and it's something that we'll keep an eye on I know that our South Korean allies are also keeping an eye on it and monitoring that uh and I'll just you know conclude by saying that we will continue to consult closely with the r and Japan and other partners and allies in the region to ensure uh that our Collective defense remains strong in terms of uh North Korea and its capabilities you know look they have a long history here of uh of destabilizing uh rhetoric and and activities uh again our focus in the region is defensive in nature and I'm working with allies and partners to promote Regional security and stability uh and to be prepared for any threats that North Korea poses or presents obviously don't want conflict with North Korea and we continue to call for uh diplomatic uh communication uh but so far they've not been willing to to take that allive Branch can you can you predict the possibility that suicide drone drones mass produced with the tact tactical support supp put of Russia and Iran will be used on the battlefield of Ukraine and the Middle East yeah I don't have anything on that nor do I want to predict so thank you yes ma'am thank you sir Nazir Academy Afghan journalist uh as he said something about Afghanistan Afghan people also concerned about dis activity based of European D get increase in Afghanistan and Taliban concerned about their activity too and what is the difference between Taliban and dises um how much time do you have U I mean you know look first of all as you well know the Taliban currently uh is the the government uh in in Afghanistan and I'll use that term loosely um and so as the uh so-called ruling entity in there clearly uh there is a difference between that uh Isis K but there are many other uh Terror groups that that are resident right now in Afghanistan uh so you know we're continuing to keep an eye on that that region at large ultimately at the end of the day our Focus continues to be broadly speaking on working with allies and partners throughout the world and to include Central Asia as I highlighted on promoting Regional security and stability and safeguarding US National Security interests uh to include uh the counterterrorism efforts and and non-proliferation so um just leave it there thank you very much body thank you General um the US um provided intelligence and ISR support to Israel to u to in order to deal with the attack from hisbah what is your assessment of of that attack and do you think was was a would failed or succeed in achieving some of the goals that were declared byah leader Hassan yeah thanks for the question I'm going to refrain uh from putting a label on it and just you know it was it was a large scale attack um Lebanese Hezbollah had uh essentially previewed that they intended to retaliate and by all accounts they did uh and so um you know Israel uh was well prepared to respond and and defend themselves uh but I'll let the leaders from each of those uh you know from Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah speak to the nature of that from a US stando point we were very focused again on uh supporting the defense of Israel uh as well as ensuring that this did not escalate into a wider regional conflict and that continues to be our focus and on the um threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel do you see uh Iran still uh poised to attack Israel or in light of the weekend events between hisbah and Israel there's been some changes in What You observe Vis A Iran you know I'm I'm not going to go into intelligence but again I you know as I've said previously uh Iran has made uh those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take that very seriously and so we will continue to remain postured and we are well postured uh to be able to support the defenses of Israel as well as protect our own forces thank you Noah Admiral paparo said recently that the us could um escort Filipino vessels during resupply missions that this would be within the bounds of the mutual defense treaty I wanted to know if that's consistent with the secretary's thinking yeah thanks Noah um what I would say is the the Philippines Remains the lead for its own operations in the South China Sea and we continue to provide significant advisory support in addition to our efforts to help modernize uh the Philippine military and so as allies we continue to stand with the Philippines given especially the PRC has consistently prevented them from executing lawful maritime operations in the South China Sea and so our commitment to that Alliance is Ironclad uh as you know our governments have close continual consultations so any Military Support would be at the request of the government of the Philippines and in that light Admiral paparo simply called it an option within the context of consultations so you're saying that if they requested such Military Support that that could be on the table for consultation that that wouldn't be an immediate closed door well again without getting into hypotheticals I think as allies uh it would require any type it would re require consultation between our two Nations thank you Courtney you're sitting way in the back there today yeah all right um the several Russian officials have spoken out recently about the us being involved in the K incursion the deputy foreign minister said consequences for the United States could be much harsher than those they are already experiencing they know where and in what areas we are reacting in Practical terms what is do you know what do that I guess what are the areas that they are reacting that the US knows about guess do you have any comment to their um lavro also spoke out saying that the US was complicit in this Cur incursion so truth and advertising I'm not a kremlinology so I'm not going to pretend to be able to translate for uh Russian bureaucratese um what I will say is that as we've said previously uh we did not have advanced notification of Ukraine's uh intent uh and operations to go into KK uh certainly again you've heard president zalinski say that their efforts there are to create a buffer zone and so we are continue to have conversations with them about what that means um but more broadly speaking how the US can support Ukraine's efforts uh to preserve its sovereignty and deter future Russian aggression but but specifically on the on the this allegation that the US knows that the the consequences are going to be harsher than previously have you seen any indications of of consequences against the United States I I don't know what what that means again we're not at war with Russia we're not seeking conflict with Russia we are simply supporting a democratic Nation who was invaded two and a half years ago and enabling them to protect themselves thank you last question uh the Iran Comm rgc says Iran with Islamic resistance in Iraq and elsewhere will take uh retaliation but how does the Pentagon see the involvement of progress in Iraq in the existing war between Israel and Hamas well kind of taking a step back um you know there there have definitely been actions by uh Iranian back groups in Iraq and Syria as it relates to attempting to uh conduct rocket attacks against Israel uh largely unsuccessful but you know we we've seen that um we've also seen those groups attack US forces that are uh in Iraq and Syria in support of the enduring defeat of Isis Mission so you know what they may do in the future I can't predict um but we take that threat seriously and we'll continue and the you know just like we're going to continue to support the defense of Israel uh we will stay very focused on ensuring that our forces are protected as well uh and we won't tolerate any taxs against our forces uh and to purposely belabor the point uh if we are threatened or attacked uh we will always respond in a time and manner of our choosing thank you thank you thank you very much everybody up last one domestic question related to a justice department plea that came down last night against one of the Navy's top ship builders limited they pleaded guilty to product substitution and uh procure and fraud accounting fraud what steps is the dod General cul taken with the Navy to review whether they are a responsible contractor to keep getting Federal contracts or face dearment yeah thanks Tony um we've seen the Press reporting on it however I'm going to have to refer you to the Department of Justice for details and then to the Navy for any action that they're undertaking as a result I just don't have any more to Pro anymore can you also check on the status of the Boeing review you were asked about like a month and a half ago in terms of their plea and you guys said at the time there's a review of Bo what steps Boeing is taking to be a responsible contractor can you take that as a question in terms of the status of yeah I'll take the question I don't know that we'll have much more to provide but I'll take that question okay thanks oh Louie seriously you walk in like last minute all right only because it's ABC Louis Martinez thank you uh and congratulations to T um yeah okay um tap was on time but um going back to the jots it was announced last week I think that um that last cargo shipment had left Cypress is there an update has it been offloaded what's happened since um so what I'm tracking Lou is that uh essentially the ship is in the queue uh waiting for its turn to uh dock in ashdod and unload uh its contents uh but as of right now still at see um but that's the latest update I have okay thank you thanks very much everybody appreciate it thank you all right well good afternoon everyone afternoon everyone welcome back good to see you again uh just a few items at the top and then I'll be happy to take your questions uh first we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and remain postured to support the defense of Israel and protect us US troops and Assets in the region in two calls with his Israeli counterpart Minister Gant this past weekend secretary Austin underscored the United States's Ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its Regional partners and proxies as many of you are tracking in support of this the secretary ordered our two carrier strike groups the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to remain in the region as we have been from the start we remain intent focused on deescalate tensions in the Middle East while also remaining focused on securing a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza turning to the Red Sea last week on August 21st the MV Delta San a Greek flag greek-owned oil tanker carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil was attacked by Iranian backed houthi crude vessels as reported by the Greek shipping Ministry the MV Delta San was sailing from Iraq to Greece with a crew of two Russian and 23 Filipino Sailors the crew has since evacuated the as ship with the assistance of a partner Nation vessel the MV Delta sonion now sits immobilized in the Red Sea where it is currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil presenting both a navigational Hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe although the houthis have claimed that they're conducting these attacks in support of the Palestinian people their actions proed to the contrary in fact these are simply Reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize Global and Regional Commerce put the lives of innocent civilian Mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant Maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aiden the hou's own backyard us Central Command continues to actively monitor the situation and is coordinating with other Maritime Partners in the region to determine how best to assist the vessel and mitigate the potential environmental impact shifting gears and a display of an enduring and robust defense partnership the United States and the Indonesian National Armed Forces kicked off the 2024 super Garuda Shield exercise yesterday with an opening ceremony at an Indonesian military base at Janda Naval Airbase suraya super Garuda Shield is the largest annual us Indonesian trading exercise and this year service members from the US Indonesia Australia Canada Japan Singapore and the United Kingdom will engage in various training opportunities including Airborne operations amphibious operations and interoperability information exchanges as well as academic exchanges professional development workshops command and control exercises and a joint field training exercise culminating in a live fire event sponsored by US Army Pacific the exercise will last through September 6 and involves around 3,000 combined Armed Forces including approximately 1,800 us Personnel it enhances interoperability through training and cultural exchanges solidifying the US Indonesia major defense partnership and supporting a free and open Indo Pacific for more information on super Guru Shield I'd refer you to US Army Pacific finally on behalf of all who have served here in the office of the secretary of defense for public affairs I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate our very own Mr Taft febus on his 40-year uh Milestone of federal service in the defense press press operations office always the early bird in early and out late taed humbly and selflessly plays a foundational role here at ospa supporting the Pentagon press Corps and ensuring they have the support they need to do their jobs effectively anyone who has had the Good Fortune of working alongside Taft is familiar with the wisdom and professionalism he brings to the job every day so once more congratulations Taft and thank you for your service here's to 40 more uh and with that I will take your [Applause] questions I know ta also likes all the attention so all right all right with that uh we'll go to Associated Press first who I believe is on the phone today uh Lita thank you Pat and congratulations to Taff he's a huge help as always um I have a quick followup on the ship and then I have a Ukraine question um on the um the ship and the sea that's on fire can I um assume that what you're saying is that at this point NE neither the us nor any of the other allies have been able to do anything to uh stop the fire or to do something actual to address the the ship's condition right now is that accurate yeah thanks Lita uh as I highlighted sencom continued to continues to Monitor and assess the situation uh we are aware of a third part party uh that attempted to send two tugs uh to the The Vessel to help Salvage uh but they were warned away uh by the houthis uh and threatened with being attacked which again demonstrates uh their blatant disregard uh for for not only human life uh but Al for also uh for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents so uh again sencom continues to Monitor and and uh look at you know and assess the situation and we'll keep you updated on that front and then you said you had a question on Ukraine uh yes um does these uh does secretary Austin expect to meet with uh Min umarov this week and can you provide any update on whether the US has seen much Movement by Russians out of other parts of Ukraine to go to curse thank you um in terms of uh the secretary meeting with minister umov I don't have anything to announce uh as you know he regularly speaks the secretary Austin regularly speaks with Minister umarov and so uh I would uh foresee them speaking again uh in the near future but again I I don't have anything to to provide from the podium today um in terms of KK again we continue to keep an eye on this uh as we've said previously we have seen the Russians divert some forces uh to the KK region um largely uh they have used forces that are already there uh and as they put together a defense a hasty defense um but but nothing large scale uh that I've seen at this point uh but again i' I'd refer you to the Russians uh to talk more about their operations and I'll just leave it there Jennifer um General Ryder the US doesn't have any Naval warships in the redc right now do you think that if there had been USS coal or other uh Destroyers in or an aircraft carryer in the Red Sea that they could have prevented this hooti attack on this vessel that's now on fire um well you know I at this point the fact is is that there is a vessel that's on fire and as you know we've been uh patrolling those waterways for a while and have been able to intercept and mitigate the vast majority of of houthi attacks uh and so we'll we'll continue to stay focused on that uh but the reality is right now we have this situation and so again and sencom will continue to assess uh we'll keep you updated on on any potential involvement there how long do you expect that there won't be an aircraft carrier strike group in the Indo Pacific isn't it risky right now not having an aircraft carrier strike group there well look you know as we as we look at Global Force management and as we look at requirements uh around the world in support of our national security interest we're always taking great care to make sure that we can cover those commitments to include uh in our priority Theater which is the Indo Pacific region and so we have a significant amount of capability there uh to include a large Naval presence uh and so in the case of the Middle East uh as I highlighted the secretary wanted uh those two carrier groups carrier strike groups to remain in the region for now to be able to provide us with additional capability and capacity to protect our forces support the defense of Israel and also be ready for a variety of contingencies but how long do you expect to have this carrier again uh you know look I'm not going to get into uh deployment timelines for operation security reasons but the bottom line is we can walk and chew gum at the same time Carla thank you Pat um Ukrainian president zalinski said yesterday that there should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine he said this before but he added that the terrorists referencing Russia have no such restrictions does the Pentagon agree with that statement well look I I won't speak for president zalinsky clearly uh he's made his his views and perspective uh well known both publicly and privately from a US perspective we're going to continue to consult closely with our Ukrainian Partners as well as our allies and partners around the world and how best to support Ukraine uh towards uh the the you know ultimate end state of ensuring a free and Sovereign uh Ukraine that can deter future aggression from Russia and so are there still restrictions on Ukrainian weapons provided by the United States so our policies haven't changed you've heard us say that the the ukrainians can use us uh security assistance to defend themselves from crossb attacks in other words counterfire uh but as it relates to long range strike deep strikes uh into Russia our policy is not changed let me go back out to the phone here uh JJ green WTOP thanks General um question regarding um Israel and Hamas the Pentagon has said for quite a while now that one of its stated goals was to prevent this conflict from spreading So based on what happened over the weekend between Israel and Hezbollah um how does the Pentagon view that does does this seem to be an expansion because they've done attacks against each other but this was these attacks these these were much more much bigger and um seemingly had much more impact how does that impact the pentagon's view of whether this is is expanding or not yeah thanks JJ uh so again just to put this into context when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th um you heard us say that you know we deployed a significant amount of uh additional capability into the middle east region uh and the and the ukom region in order to uh send a very clear message of deterrence and to prevent this from becoming uh a wider regional conflict right now we still assess uh that the conflict between Israel and Hamas uh is contained to Gaza uh you have seen the uh you know crossb strikes between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah since October 8th what you saw over the weekend of course was a much larger scale than what we've seen previously but it is in our view not a wider regional conflict at this stage and so we're going to continue to stay very focused on deescalation of tensions in the region as I highlighted and preventing it from becoming a wider Regional War thank you Tony Afghanistan uh you were pillar this week about the the third anniversary of not only the abig gate tragedy but also Friday is going to Mark the 30 anniversary of the fall of our withdrawal you've been criticized quite a bit by the by conservative as Republicans I want and Trump yesterday I you saw that I wanted to get you what is the perspective of pentagon leadership at this point 3 years later to the criticisms the word chaotic is the most widely used adjective to describe it 3 years later what's the perspective here in terms of how you guys view what happened yeah thanks Tony um well as I'm sure you can appreciate I'm not going to be able to comment on any remarks from any political candidates okay um but separately secretary Austin has spoken many times about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and his pride in the tremendous work of the men and women of the US military so I would point you to some of his previous statements to include in April of 2023 uh which reads in part and if you just allow me here quote over the course of 20 years of war in Afghanistan our service members and their families serve bravely selflessly and with and with compassion as the Secretary of Defense and as a veteran of the Afghanistan War I am proud of and deeply grateful for the men and women who stood up to serve after Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11 2001 we remember the 2,461 American Service members and Personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war even on the hardest days including August 26 2021 when we tragically lost 13 of our finest our Force performed admirably under incredibly challenging conditions end quote And in regards to the withdrawal he's also underscored that no other military in the world could have accomplished what we and our allies and partners did in such a short time span and that this is a Testament not only to our forces capabilities and courage but also to our relationships and the capabilities of our allies and partners ask you to hunting down the perpetrators the enablers of the abig gate attack Chris Meyer your commando Chief talked to reporters on Friday he talked a little bit about the network was degraded but from from the podium can you give a feel for that President Biden said at the time we will hunt you down so what's the status of the hunt today yeah um well as uh assistant Secretary of Defense Meer highlight we are laser focused on defending our citizens from terrorist threats that could emanate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe we know that we can't turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as Isis K uh and that we must keep a Relentless focus on counter counterterrorism and we're doing that um we have and continue to invest in uh and deploy modern capabilities to keep Americans safe we're working closely with the intelligence community as well as to deepen our cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving threats I know that Mr Mayor addressed this as well in terms of how we've been able to foil plots and disrupt terrorist networks to include Isis K by sharing information and intelligence and enabling Allied and partner Nations to be the ones conducting arrests or taking actions and you've seen that demonstrated here recently with some high-profile news coverage of a foiled terrorist plot in Europe for example um but we've also demonstrated our ability to reach anywhere in the world when there is a threat including in Central Asia or in the Middle East and we've shown that we will not hesitate to take action to keep America safe as evidenced by senc comm's recent strike in Syria which killed the senior leader of an Al-Qaeda Associated group thank you very much Janie thank you General North Korean Kim Jun announced that it would fully deploy suicide drone support the world what concerns does the United States have about this and what is the US's response to North Korea's as metric power to its I'm sorry Jan to its what what is the US's response to North Korea's asymmetric power um on your first question uh you I've seen the Press reporting certainly it's something that we're we're keeping an eye on I I do find it interesting uh that every or else it's known as oneway attack drone but for some reason when North Korea says it it's suicide drone uh interesting um but uh you know we clearly want to take that threat seriously and it's something that we'll keep an eye on I know that our South Korean allies are also keeping an eye on it and monitoring that uh and I'll just you know conclude by saying that we will continue to consult closely with the r and Japan and other partners and allies in the region to ensure uh that our Collective defense remains strong in terms of uh North Korea and its capabilities you know look they have a long history here of uh of destabilizing uh rhetoric and and activities uh again our focus in the region is defensive in nature and I'm working with allies and partners to promote Regional security and stability uh and to be prepared for any threats that North Korea poses or presents obviously don't want conflict with North Korea and we continue to call for uh diplomatic uh communication uh but so far they've not been willing to to take that Olive Branch can you can you predict the possibility that suicide drone drones mass produced with the TCT tactical support put Russia and Iran will be used on the battlefield of Ukraine and Middle East yeah I don't have anything on that nor do I want to predict so thank you yes ma'am thank you sir Nazir Academy Afghan journalist uh as he said something about Afghanistan Afghan people also concerned about dis activity based of European dis get increase in Afghanistan and Taliban concerned about their activity too and what is the difference between Taliban and dases um how much time do you have um I mean you know look first of all uh as you well know the Taliban currently uh is the the government uh in in Afghanistan and I'll use that term loosely um and so as the uh so-called ruling entity in there clearly uh there is a difference between that uh Isis K but there are many other uh Terror groups that that are resident right now in Afghanistan uh so you know we're continuing to keep an eye on that that region at large ultimately at the end of the day our Focus continues to be broadly speaking on working with allies and partners throughout the world and to include Central Asia as I highlighted on promoting Regional security and stability and safeguarding US National Security interests uh to include uh the counter terrorism efforts and and non-proliferation so um just leave it there thank you very much body thank you General um the US um provided intelligence and ISR support to Israel to to to in order to deal with the attack from hisbah what is your assessment of of that attack and do you think was was a would failed or succeed in achieving some of the goals that were declared by hisbah leader h yeah thanks for the question I'm going to refrain uh from putting a label on it and just you know it it was it was a large scale attack um Lebanese Hezbollah had uh uh C previewed that they intended to retaliate and by all accounts they did uh and so um you know Israel uh was well prepared to respond and and defend themselves uh but I'll let the leaders from each of those uh you know from Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah speak to the nature of that from a US standpoint we were very focused again on uh supporting the defense of Israel uh as well as ensuring that this did not escalate into a wider regional conflict and that continues to be our focus and on the um threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel do you see uh Iran still uh poised to attack Israel or in light of the weekend events between hisbah and Israel there's been some changes in What You observe Vis A Iran you know I'm I'm not going to go into intelligence but again I you know as I've said previously uh Iran has made uh those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take that very seriously and so we will continue to remain postured and we are well postured uh to be able to support the defenses of Israel as well as protect our own forces thank you Noah Admiral paparo said recently that the US could um escort Filipino vessels during resupply missions that this would be within the bounds of the mutual defense treat I wanted to know if that's consistent with the secretary's thinking yeah thanks Noah um what I would say is the the Philippines Remains the lead for its own operations in the South China Sea and we continue to provide significant advisory support in addition to our efforts to help modernize uh the Philippine military and so as allies we continue to stand with the Philippines given especially the PRC has consistently prevented them from executing lawful maritime operations in the South China and so our commitment to that Alliance is Ironclad uh as you know our governments have close continual consultations so any Military Support would be at the request of the government of the Philippines and in that light Admiral paparo simply called it an option within the context of consultations so you're saying that if they requested such Military Support that that could be on the table for consultation that that wouldn't be an immediate closed door well again without getting into hypotheticals I think as allies uh it would require any type it would re require consultation between our two Nations thank you Courtney you're setting way in the back there today yeah all right um the several Russian officials have spoken out recently about the us being involved in the K incursion the deputy foreign minister said consequences for the United States could be much harsher than those they are already experiencing they know where and in what areas we are reacting in Practical terms what is do you know what does that I guess what are the areas that they are reacting that the US knows about guess do you have any comment to their um lavro also spoke out saying that the US is complicit in this Cur incursion so truth and advertising I'm not a kremlinology so I'm not going to pretend to be able to translate for uh Russian bureaucratese um what I will say is that as we've said previously uh we did not have advanced notification of Ukraine's uh intent uh and operations to go into KK uh certainly again you've heard president zalinski say that their efforts there are to create a buffer zone and so we are continue to have conversations with them about what that means um but more broadly speaking how the US can support Ukraine's efforts uh to preserve its sovereignty and deter future Russian aggression but but specifically on the on the this allegation that the US knows that the the consequences are going to be harsher than previously have you seen any indications of of consequences against the United States I I don't know what what that means again we're not at war with Russia we're not seeking conflict with Russia we are simply supporting a democratic Nation who was invaded two and a half years ago and enabling them to protect themselves thank you last question uh the Iranian command of rgc says Iran with Islamic resistance in Iraq and elsewhere will take uh retaliation but how does the Pentagon see the involvement of prox in Iraq in the existing war between Israel and Hamas well kind of taking a step back um you know there there have definitely been actions by uh Iranian back groups in Iraq and Syria as it relates to attempting to uh conduct rocket attacks against Israel uh largely unsuccessful but you know we we've seen that um we've also seen those groups attack US forces that are uh in Iraq and Syria in support of the enduring defeat of Isis Mission so you know what they may do in the future I can't predict um but we take that threat seriously and we'll continue and the you know just like we're going to continue to support the defense of Israel uh we will stay very focused on ensuring that our forces are protected as well uh and we won't tolerate any taxs against our forces uh and to purposely belabor the point uh if we are threatened or attacked uh we will always respond in a time and manner of our choosing thank you thank you thank you very much everybody oh last one domestic question related to a justice department plea that came down last night against one of the Navy's top ship Builders AA limited they pleaded guilty to product substitution and uh procure and fraud accounting fraud what steps is the dod General counil taking with the Navy to review whether they are a responsible contractor to keep getting Federal contracts or face debarment yeah thanks Tony um we've seen the Press reporting on it however I'm going to have to refer you to the Department of Justice for details and then to the Navy for any action that they're undertaking as a result I just don't have any more to Prov you don't have any more can you also checking the status of the Boeing review you were asked about like a month and a half ago terms of their plea and you guys said at the time there's a review of Bo what steps Boeing is taking to be a responsible contractor can you take that as a question in terms of the status yeah I'll take the question I don't know that we'll have much more to provide but I'll take that question okay thanks oh Louie seriously you walk in like last minute all right only because it's ABC Louis Martinez thank you uh and congratulations to tap um oh yeah okay um tap was on time but um going back to the jots it was announced last last week I think that um that last cargo shipment had left Cypress is there an update has it been offloaded what's happened since um so what I'm tracking Louie is that uh essentially the ship is in the queue uh waiting for its turn to uh dock in ashdod and unload uh its contents uh but as of right now still at c u but that's the latest update I have okay afternoon everyone welcome back good to see you again uh just a few items at the top and then I'll be happy to take your questions uh first we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and remain postured to support the defense of Israel and Protect US troops and Assets in the region in two calls with his Israeli counterpart Minister Galant this past weekend secretary Austin underscored the United States's Ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its Regional partners and proxies as many of you are tracking in support of this the secretary ordered our two carrier strike groups the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to remain in the region as we have been from the start we remain intently focused on deescalate tensions in the Middle East while also remaining focused on securing a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza turning to the Red Sea last week on August 21st the MV to San a Greek flag greek-owned oil tanker carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil was attacked by Iranian backed houthi crude vessels as reported by the Greek shipping Ministry the MV Delta San was sailing from Iraq to Greece with a crew of two Russian and 23 Filipino Sailors the crew has since evacuated the ship with the assistance of a partner Nation vessel the MV Delta sonion now sits immobilized in the Red Sea where it is currently ly on fire and appears to be leaking oil presenting both a navigational Hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe although the houthis have claimed that they're conducting these attacks in support of the Palestinian people their actions Pro to the contrary in fact these are simply Reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize Global and Regional Commerce put the lives of innocent civilian Mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant Maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aiden the 's own backyard us Central Command continues to actively monitor the situation and is coordinating with other Maritime Partners in the region to determine how best to assist the vessel and mitigate the potential environmental impact shifting gears and a display of an enduring and robust defense partnership the United States and the Indonesian National Armed Forces kicked off the 2024 super Garuda Shield exercise yesterday with an opening ceremony at an Indonesian military base at Janda Naval Airbase suraya super Garuda Shield is the largest annual us Indonesian training exercise and this year service members from the US Indonesia Australia Canada Japan Singapore and the United Kingdom will engage in various training opportunities including Airborne operations amphibious operations and interoperability information exchanges as well as academic exchanges professional development workshops command and control exercises and a joint field training exercise culminating in a live fire event sponsored by US Army Pacific the exercise will last through September 6 and involves around 3,000 combined Armed Forces including approximately 1,800 us Personnel it enhances inoperability through training and cultur exchanges solidifying the US Indonesia major defense partnership and supporting a free and open Indo Pacific for more information on super Guru Shield I'd refer you to US Army Pacific finally on behalf of all who have served here in the office of the secretary of defense for public affairs I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate our very own Mr Taft febus on his 40-year uh Milestone of federal service in the defense press press operations office always the early bird in early and out late taed humbly and selflessly plays a foundational role here at ospa supporting the Pentagon press Corps and ensuring they have the support they need to do their jobs effectively anyone who has had the Good Fortune of working alongside Taft is familiar with the wisdom and professionalism he brings to the job every day so once more congratulations Taft and thank you for your service here's to 40 more uh and with that I will take your [Applause] questions I know ta also likes all the attention so all right all right with that uh we'll go to Associated Press first who I believe is on the phone today Lita thank you Pat and congratulations to Taft he's a huge help as always um I have a quick followup on the ship and then I have a Ukraine question um on the um the ship in the Red Sea that's on fire can I um assume that what you're saying is that at this point NE neither the us nor any of the other allies have been able to do anything to uh stop the fire or to do something actual to address the the ship's condition right now is that accurate yeah thanks Lita uh as I highlighted sencom continued to continues to Monitor and assess the situation uh we are aware of a third party uh that attempted to send two tugs uh to the The Vessel to help Salvage uh but they were warned away uh by the houthis uh and threatened with being attacked which again demonstrates uh their blatant disregard uh for for not only human life uh but Al for also uh for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents so uh again sencom continues to Monitor and and uh look at you know and assess the situation and we'll keep you updated on that front and then you said you had a question on Ukraine uh yes um does the uh does secretary Austin expect to meet with uh Min Umar off this week and can you provide any update on whether the US has seen much Movement by Russians out of other parts of Ukraine to go to curse thank you um in terms of uh the secretary meeting with Minister umarov I don't have anything to announce uh as you know he regularly speaks the secretary Austin regularly speaks with Minister umarov and so uh I would uh foresee them speaking again uh in the near future but again I I don't have anything to to provide from the podium today um in terms of KK uh again we continue to keep an eye on this uh as we've said previously we have seen the Russians divert some forces uh to the kurk region um largely uh they have used forces that are already there uh and as they put together a defense a hasty defense um but but nothing large scale uh that I've seen at this point uh but again i' I'd refer you to the Russians uh to talk more about their oper operations and I'll just leave it there Jennifer um General Ryder the US doesn't have any Naval warships in the Red Sea right now do you think that if there had been USS coal or other uh destroyers in or an aircraft carrier in the red SE that they could have prevented this hooti attack on this vessel that's now on fire um well you know I at this point the fact is is that there is a vessel that's on fire and as you know we've been patrolling those w waterways for a while and have been able to intercept and mitigate the vast majority of of houthi attacks uh and so we'll we'll continue to stay focused on that uh but the reality is right now we have this situation and so again sencom will continue to assess um we'll keep you updated on on any potential involvement there how long do you expect that there won't be an aircraft carrier strike group in the indopacific isn't it risky right now not having an aircraft carrier strike group there well look you know as we as we look at Global Force management and as we look at requirements uh around the world in support of our national security interest we're always taking great care to make sure that we can cover those commitments to include uh in our priority Theater which is the indopacific region and so we have a significant amount of capability there uh to include a large Naval presence uh and so in the case of the Middle East uh as I highlighted the secretary wanted uh those two carrier groups strike groups to remain in the region for now to be able to provide us with additional capability and capacity to protect our forces support the defense of Israel and also be ready for a variety of contingencies but how long do you expect to have this carrier Gap uh you know look I'm not going to get into uh deployment timelines for operation security reasons but the bottom line is we can walk and chew gum at the same time Carla thank you Pat um Ukrainian president zalinski said yesterday that there should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine he said this before but he added that the terrorists referencing Russia have no such restrictions does the Pentagon agree with that statement well look I I won't speak for president zalinski clearly uh he's made his his views and perspective uh well known both publicly and privately from a US perspective we're going to continue to consult closely with our Ukrainian Partners as well as our allies and partners around the world and how best to support Ukraine uh towards uh the the you know ultimate end state of ensuring a free and Sovereign uh Ukraine that can deter future aggression from Russia and so are there still restrictions on Ukrainian weapons provided by the United States so our policies haven't changed you've heard us say that the the ukrainians can use us uh security assistance to defend themselves from crossb attacks in other words counterfire uh but as it relates to long range strike deep strikes uh into Russia our policy is not changed let me go back out to the phone here uh JJ green WTOP thanks General um question regarding um Israel and Hamas the Pentagon has said for quite a while now that one of its stated goals was to prevent this conflict from spreading So based on what happened over the weekend between Israel and Hezbollah um how does the Pentagon view that does does this seem to be an expansion because they've done attacks against each other but this was these attacks these these were much more much bigger and um seemingly had much more impact how does that impact the pentagon's view of whether this is expanding or not yeah thanks JJ uh so again just to put this into context when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th um you heard us say that you know we deployed a significant amount of uh additional capability into the middle east region uh and the and the Yukon region in order to uh send a very clear message of deterrence and to prevent this from becoming uh a wider regional conflict right now we still assess uh that the conflict between Israel and Hamas uh is contained to Gaza uh you have seen the uh you know crossb strikes between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah since October 8 what you saw over the weekend of course was a much larger scale than what we've seen previously but it is an our view not a wider regional conflict at this stage and so we're going to continue to stay very focused on deescalation of tensions in the region as I highlighted and preventing it from becoming a wider Regional War thank you Tony Afghanistan uh you were pillar this week about the the the third anniversary of not only the Abby gate tragedy but also Friday is going to Mark the 30 anniversary of the fall of our withdrawal you've been criticized quite a bit by the by conservatives as Republicans I want and Trump yesterday I you saw that I wanted to get you what is the perspective of Pentagon leadership at this point three years later to the criticisms the word chaotic is the most widely used adjective to describe it three years later what's the perspective here in terms of how you guys view what happened yeah thanks Tony um well as I'm sure you can appreciate I'm I'm not going to be able to comment on any remarks from any political candidates okay um but separately secretary Austin has spoken many times about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and his pride in the tremendous work of the men and women of the US military so I would point you to some of his previous statements to include in April of 2023 uh which reads in part and if you just allow me here quote over the course of 20 years of war in Afghanistan our service members and their families serve bravely selflessly and with and with compassion as the Secretary of Defense and as a veteran of the Afghanistan War I am proud of and deeply grateful for the men and women who stood up to serve after Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11 2001 we remember the 2,461 American Service members and Personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war even on the hardest days including August 26 2021 when we tragically lost 13 of our finest our forc performed admirably under incredibly challenging conditions end quote And in regards to the withdrawal he's also underscored that no other military in the world could have accomplished what we and our allies and partners did in such a short time span and that this is a testament not only to our forces's capabilities and courage but also to our relationships and the capabilities of our allies and partners ask you to hunting down the perpetrators the enablers of the abig gate attack Chris Meyer your commando Chief talked to reporters on Friday he talked a little bit about the work was degraded but from from the podium can you give a feel for that President Biden said at the time we will hunt you down so what's the status of the hunt today yeah um well as uh assistant Secretary of Defense Meer highlighted we are laser focused on defending our citizens from terrorist threats that could emanate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe we know that we can't turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as Isis K uh and that we must keep a Relentless focus on counter counterterrorism and we're doing that um we have and continue to invest in uh and deploy modern capabilities to keep Americans safe we're working closely with the intelligence Community as well as to deepen our cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving threats I know that Mr Mayor addressed this as well in terms of how we've been able to foil plots and disrupt terrorist networks to include Isis K by sharing information and intelligence and enabling Allied and partner Nations to be the ones conducting arrests or taking actions and you've seen that demonstrated here recently with some high profile news coverage of a foiled terrorist plot in Europe for example um but we've also demonstrated our ability to reach anywhere in the world when there is a threat including in Central Asia or in the Middle East and we've shown that we will not hesitate to take action to keep America safe as evidenced by centcom's recent strike in Syria which killed the senior leader of an Al-Qaeda Associated group thank you very much J thank you general question North Korean Kim J announced that it would fully deploy suicide drones for the world what concerns does the United States have about this and what is the US's response to North Korea's aetc power to its I'm sorry Jan to its what what is the US is response to North Korea's asymmetric power um on your first question uh you I've seen the Press reporting certainly it's something that we're we're keeping an eye on I I do find it interesting uh that everywhere else it's known as one way attack drone but for some reason when North Korea says it it's suicide drone uh interesting um but uh you know we clearly want to take that threat seriously and it's something that we'll keep an eye on I know that our South Korean allies are ALS also keeping an eye on it and monitoring that uh and I'll just you know conclude by saying that we will continue to consult closely with the r and Japan and other partners and allies in the region to ensure uh that our Collective defense remains strong in terms of uh North Korea and its capabilities you know look they have a long history here of uh of destabilizing uh rhetoric and and activities uh again our focus in the region is defensive in nature and I'm working with allies and partners to promote Regional security and stability uh and to be prepared for any threats that North Korea poses or presents obviously don't want conflict with North Korea and we continue to call for uh diplomatic uh communication uh but so far they've not been willing to to take that Olive Branch can you can you predicted the possibility that suicide drone drones mess produced with TCT Tactical supposed to put Russia and Iran will be used on the battlefield of Ukraine and Middle East yeah I don't have anything on that nor do I want to predict so thank you yes ma'am thank you sir Naz Academy afan journalist uh as he said something about Afghanistan Afghan people also concerned about dish activity based of Europe and Das get increase in Afghanistan and Taliban concerned about their activity too and and what is the difference between Taliban and dises um how much time do you have uh I mean you know look first of all uh as as you well know the Taliban currently uh is the the government uh in in Afghanistan and I'll use that term loosely um and so as the uh so-called uh ruling entity in there clearly uh there is a difference between that Isis K but there are many other uh Terror groups that that are resident right now in Afghanistan uh so you know we're continuing to keep an eye on that that region at large ultimately at the end of the day our Focus continues to be broadly speaking on working with allies and partners throughout the world and to include Central Asia as I highlighted on promoting Regional security and stability and safeguarding US National Security interests uh to include uh the counter teror is efforts and and non-proliferation so um just leave it there thank you very much body thank you General um the US um provided intelligence and ISR support to Israel to u to in order to deal with the attack from hisbah what is your assessment of of that attack and do you think was was a would failed or succeed in achieving some of the goals that were declared by hisbah leader yeah thanks for the question I'm going to refrain uh from putting a label on it and just you know it it was it was a large scale attack um Lebanese Hezbollah had uh essentially previewed that they intended to retaliate and by all accounts they did uh and so um you know Israel uh was well prepared to respond and and defend themselves uh but I'll let the leaders from each of those uh you know from Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah speak to the nature of that from a US standpoint we were very focused again on uh supporting the defense of Israel uh as well as ensuring that this did not escalate into a wider regional conflict and that continues to be our focus and on the um threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel do you see uh Iran still uh poised to attack Israel or in light of the weekend events between hisbah and Israel there's been some changes in What You observe Vis A Iran you know I'm I'm not going to go into intelligence but again I you know as I've said previously uh Iran has made uh those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take that very seriously and so we will continue to remain postured and we are well postured uh to be able to support the defenses of Israel as well as protect our own forces thank you Noah Admiral paparo said recently that the US could um escort Filipino vessels during resupply missions that this would be within the bounds of the mutual defense treaty I wanted to know if that's consistent with the secretary's thinking yeah thanks Noah um what I would say is the the Philippines Remains the lead for its own operations in the South China Sea and we continue to provide significant advisory support in addition to our efforts to help modernize uh the Philippine military and so as allies we continue to stand with the Philippines given especially the PRC has consistently prevented them from executing lawful maritime operations in the South China Sea and so our commitment to that Alliance is Ironclad uh as you know our governments have close continual consultations so any Military Support would be at the request of the government of the Philippines and in that light Admiral paparo simply called it an option within the context of consultations so you're saying that if they requested such Military Support that that could be on the table for consultation that that wouldn't be an immediate closed door well again without getting into hypotheticals I think as allies uh it would require any type it would re require consultation between our two Nations thank you Courtney you're setting way in the back there today yeah all right um the several Russian officials have spoken out recently about the us being involved in the kers incursion the deputy foreign minister said consequences for the United States could be much harsher than those they are already experiencing they know where and in what areas we are reacting in Practical terms what is do you know what ises that I guess what are the areas that they are reacting that the US knows about guess do you have any comment to their um lavro also spoke out saying that the US was complicit in this Cur incursion so truth and advertising I'm not a kremlinology so I'm not going going to pretend to be able to translate for uh Russian bureaucratese um what I will say is that as we've said previously uh we did not have advanced notification of Ukraine's uh intent uh and operations to go into KK uh certainly again you've heard president zalinski say that their efforts there are to create a buffer zone and so we continue to have conversations with them about what that means um but more broadly speaking how the US can support Ukraine's efforts uh to preserve its sovereignty and deter future Russian aggression but but specifically on the on the this allegation that the US knows that the the consequences are going to be harsher than previously have you seen any indications of of consequences against the United States I I don't know what what that means again we're not at war with Russia we're not seeking conflict with Russia we are simply supporting a democratic Nation who was invaded 2 and a half years ago and enabling them to protect themselves thank you last question uh the Iranian command of rgc says Iran with Islamic resistance in Iraq and elsewhere will take uh retaliation but how does the Pentagon see the involvement of progress in Iraq in the existing war between Israel and Hamas well kind of taking a step back um you know there there have definitely been actions by um Iranian back groups in Iraq and Syria as it relates to attempting to uh conduct rocket attacks against Israel uh largely unsuccessful but you know we we've seen that um we've also seen those groups attack US forces that are uh in Iraq and Syria in support of the enduring defeat of Isis Mission so you know what they may do in the future I can't predict um but we take that threat seriously and we'll continue and the you know just like we're going to continue to support the defense of Israel uh we will stay very focused on ensuring that our forces are protected as well uh and we won't tolerate any tax against our forces uh and to purposely belabor the point uh if we are threatened or attacked uh we will always respond in a time and manner of our choosing thank you thank you thank you very much everybody oh last one domestic question related to a justice department plea that came down last night against one of the Navy's top ship Builders austa limited they pleaded guilty to product substitution and uh proc and fraud accounting fraud what steps is the dod General Council taking with the Navy to review whether they are a responsible contractor to keep getting Federal contracts or face debarment yeah thanks Tony um we've seen the Press reporting on it however I'm going to have to refer you to the Department of Justice for details and then to the Navy for any action that they're undertaking as a result I just don't have any more to Prov you don't have any more can you also check on the status of the Boeing review you were asked about like a month and a half ago in terms of their ple I you guys said at the time there's a review of Bo what steps Boeing is taking to be a responsible contractor can you take that as a question in terms of the status of yeah I'll take the question I don't know that we'll have much more to provide but I'll take that question okay thanks oh Louis seriously you walk in like last minute all right only because it's ABC Louis Martinez thank you and congratulations to TA oh yeah okay um tap was on time but um going back to the jots it was announced last week I think that um that last cargo shipment have left Cypress is there an update has it been offloaded what's happened since um so what I'm tracking Louie is that uh essentially the ship is in the queue uh waiting for its turn to uh dock in ashdod and unload its contents but as of right now still at C but that's the latest update I have okay afternoon everyone welcome back good to see you again uh just a few items at the top and then I'll be happy to take your questions uh first we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and remain postured to support the defense of Israel and Protect US troops and Assets in the region in two calls with his Israeli counterpart Minister Gant this past weekend secretary Austin underscored the United States's Ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its Regional partners and proxies as many of you are tracking in support of this the secretary ordered our two carrier strike groups the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to remain in the region as we have been from the start we remain intently focused on deescalate tensions in the Middle East while also remaining focused on securing a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza turning to the Red Sea last week on August 21st the MV Delta San a Greek flag greek-owned oil tanker carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil was attacked by iranian-backed houthi crude vessels as reported by the Greek shipping Ministry the MV Delta San was sailing from Iraq to GRE gree with a crew of two Russian and 23 Filipino Sailors the crew has since evacuated the ship with the assistance of a partner Nation vessel the MV Delta sonion now sits immobilized in the Red Sea where it is currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil presenting both a navigational Hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe although the houthis have claimed that they're conducting these attacks in support of the Palestinian people their actions proed to the contrary in fact these are simp Reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize Global and Regional Commerce put the lives of innocent civilian Mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant Maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aiden the hou's own backyard us Central Command continues to actively monitor the situation and is coordinating with other Maritime Partners in the region to determine how best to assist the vessel and mitigate the potential environmental impact shifting gear in a display of an enduring and robust defense partnership the United States and the Indonesian National Armed Forces kicked off the 2024 super Garuda Shield exercise yesterday with an opening ceremony at an Indonesian military base at Janda Naval Airbase seraya super Garuda Shield is the largest annual us Indonesian training exercise and this year service members from the US Indonesia Australia Canada Japan Singapore and the United Kingdom will engage in various training opportuni unities including Airborne operations amphibious operations and interoperability information exchanges as well as academic exchanges professional development workshops command and control exercises and a joint field training exercise culminating in a live fighter event sponsored by US Army Pacific the exercise will last through September 6 and involves around 3,000 combined Armed Forces including approximately 1,800 us Personnel it enhances inter operability through training and cultural exchanges solidifying the US Indonesia major defense partnership and supporting a free and open Indo Pacific for more information on super Guru Shield I'd refer you to US Army Pacific finally on behalf of all who have served here in the office of the secretary of defense for public affairs I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate our very own Mr Taft feus on his 40-year uh Milestone of federal service in the defense press press operation office always the early bird in early and out late taed humbly and selflessly plays a foundational role here at ospa supporting the Pentagon press Corps and ensuring they have the support they need to do their jobs effectively anyone who has had the Good Fortune of working alongside Taft is familiar with the wisdom and professionalism he brings to the job every day so once more congratulations Taft and thank you for your service here's to 40 more uh and with that I will take your questions [Applause] yeah I know ta also likes all the attention all right all right with that uh we'll go to Associated Press first who I believe is on the phone today uh Lita thank you Pat and congratulations to Taft he's a huge help as always um I have a quick followup on the ship and then I have a Ukraine question um on the um the ship in the Red Sea that's on fire can can I um assume what you're saying is that at this point NE neither the us nor any of the other allies have been able to do anything to uh stop the fire or to do something actual to address the the ship's condition right now is that accurate yeah thanks Lita uh as I highlighted sencom continues continues to Monitor and assess the situation uh we are aware of a third party uh that attempted to send and two tugs uh to the The Vessel to help Salvage uh but they were warned away uh by the houthis uh and threatened with being attacked which again demonstrates uh their blatant disregard uh for for not only human life uh but Al for also uh for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents so uh again sencom continues to Monitor and and uh look at you know and assess the situation and we'll keep you updated on that front and then you said you had a question on Ukraine uh yes um does the uh does secretary Austin expect to meet with uh minist Umar off this week and can you provide any update on whether the US has seen much Movement by Russians out of other parts of Ukraine to go to curse thank you um in terms of uh the secretary meeting with Minister umarov I don't have anything to announce uh as you know he regularly speaks the secretary Austin regularly speaks with Minister umarov and so uh I would uh foresee them speaking again uh in the near future but again I I don't have anything to to provide from the podium today um in terms of KK again we continue to keep an eye on this uh as we've said previously we have seen the Russians divert some forces uh to the KK region um largely uh they have used forces that are already there uh and as they put together a defense a hasty defense um but but nothing large scale uh that I've seen at this point uh but again i' I'd refer you to the Russians uh to talk more about their operations and I'll just leave it there Jennifer um General Ryder the US doesn't have any Naval warships in the Red Sea right now do you think that if there had been USS coal or other uh destroyers in or an aircraft carryer on the red SE see that they could have prevented this hooti attack on this vessel that's now on fire um well you know I at this point the fact is is that there is a vessel that's on fire and as you know we've been uh patrolling those waterways for a while and have been able to intercept and mitigate the vast majority of of houthi attacks uh and so we'll we'll continue to stay focused on that uh but the reality is right now we have this situation and so again sencom will continue to assess um we'll keep you updated on on any potential involvement there how long do you expect that there won't be an aircraft carrier strike group in the indopacific isn't it risky right now not having an aircraft carrier strike group there well look you know as we as we look at Global Force management and as we look at requirements uh around the world in support of our national security interest we're always taking great care to make sure that we can cover those commitments to include uh in our priority Theater which is the indopacific region and so we have a significant amount of capability there uh to include a large Naval presence uh and so in the case of the Middle East uh as I highlighted the secretary wanted uh those two carrier groups carrier strike groups to remain in the region for now to be able to provide us with additional capability and capacity to protect our forces support the defense of Israel and also be ready for a variety of contingencies but how long do you expect to have this carrier Gap uh you know look I'm not going to get into uh deployment timelines for operation security reasons but the bottom line is we can walk and chew gum at the same time Carla thank you Pat um Ukrainian president zalinski said yesterday that there should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine he said this before but he added that the terrorists referencing Russia have no such restrictions does the Pentagon agree with that statement well look I I won't speak for president zalinsky clearly uh he's made his his views and perspective uh well known both publicly and privately from a US perspective we're going to continue to consult closely with our Ukrainian Partners as well as our allies and partners around the world and how best to support Ukraine uh towards uh the the you know ultimate end state of ensuring a free and Sovereign uh Ukraine that can deter future aggression from Russia and so are there still restrictions on Ukrainian weapons provided by the United States so our policies haven't changed you've heard us say that the the ukrainians can use us uh security assistance to defend themselves from crossb attacks in other words counterfire uh but as it relates to long range strike deep strikes uh into Russia our policy has not changed let me go back out to the phone here uh JJ green WTOP thanks General um question regarding um Israel and Hamas the Pentagon has said for quite a while now that one of its stated goals was to prevent this conflict from spreading So based on what happened over the weekend between Israel and Hezbollah um how does the Pentagon view that does does this seem to be an expansion because they've done attacks against each other but this was these attacks these these were much more much bigger and um seemingly had much more impact how does that impact the pentagon's view of whether this is expanding or not yeah thanks J uh so again just to put this into context when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th um you heard us say that you know we deployed a significant amount of uh additional capability into the middle east region uh and the and the ukom region in order to uh send a very clear message of deterrence and to prevent this from becoming uh a wider regional conflict right now we still assess uh that the conflict between Israel and Hamas uh is contained to Gaza uh you have seen the uh you know crossb strikes between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah since October 8 what you saw over the weekend of course was a much larger scale than what we've seen previously but it is in our view not a wider regional conflict at this stage and so we're going to continue to stay very focused on deescalation of tensions in the region as I high ated and preventing it from becoming a wider Regional War thank you Tony Afghanistan uh you were pillar this week about the the the third anniversary of not only the abig gate tragedy but also Friday is going to Mark the 30 anniversary of the fall of our withdrawal you've been criticized quite a bit by the by conservatives Republicans I want and Trump yesterday I you saw that I wanted to get you what is the perspective of Pentagon leadership at this point three years later to the criticisms the word chaotic is the most widely used adjective to describe it three years later what's the perspective here in terms of how you guys view what happened yeah thanks Tony um well as I'm sure you can appreciate I'm I'm not going to be able to comment on any remarks from any political candidates okay um but separately secretary Austin has spoken many times about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and his pride in the tremendous work of the men and women of the US Military so I would point you to some of his previous statements to include in April of 2023 uh which reads in part and if you just allow me here quote over the course of 20 years of war in Afghanistan our service members and their families served bravely selflessly and with and with compassion as the Secretary of Defense and as a veteran of the Afghanistan War I am proud of and deeply grateful for the men and women who stood up to serve after Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11 2001 we remember the 2,461 American Service members and Personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war even on the hardest days including August 26 2021 when we tragically lost 13 of our finest our Force performed admirably under incredibly challenging conditions end quote And in regards to the withdrawal he's also underscored that no other military in the world could have accomplished what we and our allies and partners did in such a short time span and that this is a testament not only to our forces capabil I and courage but also to our relationships and the capabilities of our allies and partners ask you to hunting down the perpetrators the enablers of the abig gate attack Chris Meyer your commando Chief talked to reporters on Friday he talked a little bit about the network was degraded but from from the podium can you give a feel for that President Biden said at the time we will hunt you down so what's the status of the hunt today yeah um well as uh assistant secretary defense Meer highlighted we are laser focused on defense end in our citizens from terrorist threats that could emanate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe we know that we can't turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as Isis K uh and that we must keep a Relentless focus on counter counterterrorism and we're doing that um we have and continue to invest in uh and deploy modern capabilities to keep Americans safe we're working closely with the intelligence Community as well as to deepen our Co op operation with allies and partners to address evolving threats I know that Mr Mayor addressed this as well in terms of how we've been able to foil plots and disrupt terrorist networks to include Isis K by sharing information and intelligence and enabling Allied and partner Nations to be the ones conducting arrests or taking actions and you've seen that demonstrated here recently with some high-profile news coverage of a foiled terrorist plot in Europe for example um but we've also demonstrated our ability to reach anywhere in the world when there is a threat including in Central Asia or in the Middle East and we've shown that we will not hesitate to take action to keep America safe as evidenced by centcom's recent strike in Syria which killed the senior leader of an Al-Qaeda Associated group thank you very much jie thank you generals North Korean Kim Jong-un announced that it would fully deploy suicide drones for the world what concerns does the United States stes have about this and what is the US's response to North Korea's aetc power to its I'm sorry Jan to its what what is the US's response to North koreas asymmetri Power um on your first question uh you I've seen the Press reporting certainly it's something that we're we're keeping an eye on I I do find it interesting uh that everywhere else it's known as oneway attack drone but for some reason when North Korea says it it's suicide drone uh interesting um but uh you know we clearly want to take that threat seriously and it's something that we'll keep an eye on I know that our South Korean allies are also keeping an eye on it and monitoring that uh and I'll just you know conclude by saying that we will continue to consult closely with the r and Japan and other partners and allies in the region to ensure uh that our Collective defense remains strong in terms of uh North Korea and its capabilities you know look they have a long history here of uh of destabilizing uh rhetoric and and activities uh again our focus in the region is defensive in nature and I'm working with allies and partners to promote Regional security and stability uh and to be prepared for any threats that North Korea poses or presents obviously don't want conflict with North Korea and we continue to call for uh diplomatic uh communication but so far they've not been willing to to take that Olive Branch can you can you predict the possibility that suicide drone drones mass produced with the TCT tactical support Pro Russia and Iran will be used on the battlefield of Ukraine and the Middle East yeah I I don't have anything on that nor do I want to predict so thank you yes ma'am thank you sir n Academy AF journalist uh as he said something about Afghanistan Afghan people also concerned about dish activity based of europein and D get increase in Afghanistan and Taliban concerned about their activity too and what is the difference between Taliban and Das um how much time do you have uh I mean you know look first of all uh as you well know the Taliban currently uh is the the government uh in in Afghanistan and I'll use that term loosely um and so as the uh so-called uh ruling entity in there clearly uh there is a difference between that uh Isis K but there are many other uh Terror groups that that are resident right now in Afghanistan uh so you know we're continuing to keep an eye on that that region at large ultimately at the end of the day our Focus continues to be broadly speaking on on working with allies and partners throughout the world and to include Central Asia as I highlighted on promoting Regional security and stability and safeguarding US National Security interests uh to include uh the counterterrorism efforts and and non-proliferation so um just leave it there thank you very much body thank you General um the US um provided intelligence and ISR support to Israel to uh to in order to deal with the attack from hisbah what is your assessment of of that attack and do you think it was was a would failed or succeed in achieving some of the goals that were declared byah leader Hassan yeah thanks for the question I'm going to refrain uh from putting a label on it and just you know it it was it was a large scale attack um Lebanese Hezbollah had uh essentially previewed that they intended to retaliate and by all accounts they did uh and so um you know Israel uh was well prepared to respond and and defend themselves uh but I'll let the leaders from each of those uh you know from Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah speak to the nature of that from a US standpoint we were very focused again on uh supporting the defense of Israel uh as well as ensuring that this did not escalate into a wider region conflict and that continues to be our focus and on the um threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel do you see uh Iran still uh poised to attack Israel or in light of the weekend events between hisbah and Israel there's been some changes in What You observe Vis A Iran you know I'm I'm not going to go into intelligence but again I you know as I've said previously uh Iran has made uh those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take that very seriously and so we will continue to remain postured and we are well postured uh to be able to support the defenses of Israel as well as protect our own forces thank you Noah Admiral paparo said recently that the US could um escort Filipino vessels during resupply missions that this would be within the bounds of the mutual defense treaty I wanted to know if that's consistent with the SEC is thinking yeah thanks Noah um what I would say is the the Philippines Remains the lead for its own operations in the South China Sea and we continue to provide significant advisory support in addition to our efforts to help modernize uh the Philippine military and so as allies we continue to stand with the Philippines given especially the PRC has consistently prevented them from executing lawful maritime operations in the South China Sea and so our commitment to that Alliance is Ironclad uh as you know our governments have close continual consultations so any Military Support would be at the request of the government of the Philippines and in that light Admiral paparo simply called it an option within the context of consultations so you're saying that if they requested such Military Support that that could be on the table for consultation that that wouldn't be an immediate closed door well again without getting into hypotheticals I think as allies uh it would require any type it would re require consultation between our two Nations thank you Courtney you're setting way in the back there today yeah all right um the several Russian officials have spoken out recently about the us being involved in the K incursion the deputy foreign minister said consequences for the United States could be much harsher than those they are already experiencing they know where and in what areas we are reacting in Practical terms what is do you know what does that I guess what are the areas that they are reacting that the US knows about guess do you have any comment to their um labov also spoke out saying that the US is complicit in this K incursion so truth and advertising I'm not a kremlinology so I'm not going to pretend to be able to translate for uh Russian bureaucrats um what I will say is that as we've said previously uh we did not have advanced notification of Ukraine's uh intent uh and operations to go into KK uh certainly again you've heard president zalinski say that their efforts there are to create a buffer zone and so we continue to have conversations with them about what that means um but more broadly speaking how the US can support Ukraine's efforts uh to preserve its sovereignty and deter future Russian aggression but but specifically on the on the this allegation that the US knows that the the consequences are going to be harsher than previously have you seen any indications of of consequences against the United States I I don't know what what that means again we're not at war with Russia we're not seeking conflict with Russia we are simply supporting a democratic Nation who was invaded two and a half years ago and enabling them to protect themselves thank you last question General uh the Iranian command of rgc says Iran with Islamic resistance in Iraq and elsewhere will take uh retaliation but how does the Pentagon see the involvement of progress in Iraq in the existing war between Israel and Hamas well kind of taking a step back um you know there there have definitely been actions by uh Iranian back groups in Iraq in Syria as it relates to attempting to uh conduct rocket attacks against Israel uh largely unsuccessful but you know we we've seen that um we've also seen those groups attack US forces that are uh in Iraq and Syria in support of the enduring defeat of Isis Mission so you know what they may do in the future I can't predict um but we take that threat seriously and we'll continue and the you know just like we're going to continue to support the defense of Israel uh we will stay very focused on ensuring that our forces are protected as well uh and we won't tolerate any taxs against our forces uh and to purposely belabor the point uh if we are threatened or attacked uh we will always respond in a time and manner of our choosing thank you thank you thank you very much everybody last one one domestic question related to a justice department plea that came down last night against one of the Navy's top ship Builders AA limited they pleaded guilty to product substitution and uh proc and a fraud accounting fraud what steps is the dod General Council taking Within Navy to review whether they are a responsible contractor to keep getting Federal contracts or face debarment yeah thanks Tony um we've seen the Press reporting on it however I'm going to have to refer you to the Department of Justice for details and then to the Navy for any action that they're undertaking as a result I just don't have any more to Pro you don't have any more can you also check on the status of the Boeing review you were asked about like a month and a half ago in terms of their ple and you guys said at the time there's a review what steps Boeing is taking to be a responsible contractor can you take that as a question in terms of the status of yeah I'll take the question I don't know that we'll have much more to provide but I'll take that question okay thanks oh Louie seriously you walk in like last minute all right only because it's ABC Louis Martinez thank you uh and congratulations to tap um oh yeah okay um tap was on time but right um going back to the jots it was announced last week I think that um that last cargo shipment have left Cyprus is there an update has it been offloaded what's happened since um so what I'm tracking Lou is that uh essentially the ship is in the queue uh waiting for its turn to uh dock in ashdod and unload uh its contents uh but as of right now still at c um but that's the latest update I have okay afternoon everyone welcome back good to see you again uh just a few items at the top and then I'll be happy to take your questions uh first we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and remain postured to support the defense of Israel and Protect US troops and Assets in the region in two calls with his Israeli counterpart Minister Gant this past weekend secretary Austin underscored the United States's Ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its Regional partners and proxies as many of you are tracking in support of this the secretary ordered our two carrier strike groups the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to remain in the region as we have been from the start we remain intently focused on deescalate tensions in the Middle East while also remaining focused on securing a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza turning to the Red Sea last week on August 21st the MV Delta San a Greek flag Greek owned oil tanker carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil was attacked by iranian-backed houthi crude vessels as reported by the Greek shipping Ministry the MV Delta San was sailing from Iraq to Greece with a crew of two Russian and 23 Filipino Sailors the crew has since evacuated the ship with the assistance of a partner Nation vessel the MV Delta San now sits immobilized in the Red Sea where it is currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil presenting both a navigational Hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe although the houthis have claimed that they're conducting these attacks in support of the Palestinian people their actions proed to the contrary in fact these are simply Reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize Global and Regional Commerce put the lives of innocent civilian Mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant Maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aiden the hou's own backyard us Central Command continues to actively monitor the situation and is coordinating with other Maritime Partners in the region to determine how best to assist the vessel and mitigate the potential environmental impact shifting gears and a display of an enduring and robust defense partnership the United States and the Indonesian National Armed Forces kicked off the 2024 super Garuda Shield exercise yesterday with an opening ceremony at an Indonesian military base at Janda Naval Airbase Sur super Garuda Shield is the largest annual us Indonesian training exercise and this year service members from the US Indonesia Australia Canada Japan Singapore and the United Kingdom will engage in various training opportunities including Airborne operations amphibious operations and interoperability information exchanges as well as academic exchanges professional development workshops command and control exercises and a joint field training exercise culminating in a live fight event sponsored by US Army Pacific the exercise will last through September 6 and involves around 3,000 combined Armed Forces including approximately 1,800 us Personnel it enhances interoperability through training and cultural exchanges solidifying the US Indonesia major defense partnership and supporting a free and open indopacific for more information on super Guru Shield I'd refer you to US Army Pacific finally on behalf of all who have served here in the office of the secretary of defense for public affairs I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate our very own Mr Taft febus on his 40-year uh Milestone of federal service in the defense press press operations office always the early bird in early and out late taed humbly and selflessly plays a foundational role here at ospa supporting the Pentagon press Corp and ensuring they have the support they need to do their jobs effectively anyone who has had the good Good Fortune of working alongside Taft is familiar with the wisdom and professionalism he brings to the job every day so once more congratulations Taft and thank you for your service here's to 40 more uh and with that I will take your [Applause] questions I know ta also likes all the attention so all right all right with that uh we'll go to Associated Press first who I believe is on the phone today uh Lita thank you Pat and congratulations to Taft he's a huge help as always um I have a quick followup on the ship and then I have a Ukraine question um on the um the ship and the Red Sea that's on fire can I um assume of what you're saying is that at this point NE neither the us nor any of the other allies have been able to do anything to uh stop the fire or to do something actual to address the the ships condition right now is that accurate yeah thanks Lita uh as I highlighted sencom continu continues to Monitor and assess the situation uh we are aware of a third party uh that attempted to send two tugs uh to the The Vessel to help Salvage uh but they were warned away uh by the houthis uh and threatened with being attacked which again demonstrates uh their blatant disregard uh for for not only human life uh but Al for also uh for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents so again sencom continues to Monitor and and uh look at you know and assess the situation and we'll keep you updated on that front and then you said you had a question on Ukraine uh yes um does the uh does secretary Austin expect to meet with uh Min umarov this week and can you provide any update on whether the US has seen much Movement by Russians out of other parts of Ukraine to go to curse thank you um in terms of uh the secretary meeting with Minister umarov I don't have anything to announce uh as you know he regularly speaks secretary Austin regularly speaks with Minister umarov and so uh I would uh foresee them speaking again uh in the near future but again I I don't have anything to to provide from the podium today um in terms of KK again we continue to keep an eye on this uh as we've said previously we have seen the Russians divert some forces uh to the KK region um largely uh they have used forces that are already there uh and as they put together a defense a hasty defense um but but nothing large scale uh that I've seen at this point uh but again i' I'd refer you to the Russians uh to talk more about their operations I'll just leave it there Jennifer um General Ryder the US doesn't have any Naval warships in the Red Sea right now do you think that if there had been USS coal or other uh destroyers in or an aircraft carrier in the Red Sea that they could have prevented this hooti attack on this vessel that's now on fire um well you know I at this point the fact is is that there is a vessel that's on fire and as you know we've been uh patrolling those waterways for a while and have been able to intercept and mitigate the vast majority of of houthi attacks uh and so we'll we'll continue to stay focused on that uh but the reality is right now we have this situation and so again sencom will continue to assess um we'll keep you updated on on any potential involvement there how long do you expect that there won't be an aircraft carrier strike group in the Indo Pacific isn't it risky right now not having an aircraft carrier strike group there well look you know as we as we look at global management and as we look at requirements uh around the world in support of our national security interest we're always taking great care to make sure that we can cover those commitments to include uh in our priority Theater which is the indopacific region and so we have a significant amount of capability there uh to include a large Naval presence uh and so in the case of the Middle East uh as I highlighted the secretary wanted uh those two carrier groups carrier strike groups to remain in the region from for now to be able to provide us with additional capability and capacity to protect our forces support the defense of Israel and also be ready for a variety of contingencies but how long do you expect to have this carrier Gap uh you know look I'm not going to get into uh deployment timelines for operation security reasons but the bottom line is we can walk and chew gum at the same time Carla thank you Pat um Ukrainian president zalinski said yesterday that there should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine he said before but he added that the terrorists referencing Russia have no such restrictions does the Pentagon agree with that statement well look I I won't speak for president zalinsky clearly uh he's made his his views and perspective uh well known both publicly and privately from a US perspective we're going to continue to consult closely with our Ukrainian Partners as well as our allies and partners around the world and how best to support Ukraine uh towards uh the the you know ultimate end state of ensuring a free and Sovereign uh Ukraine that can deter future aggression from Russia and so are there still restrictions on Ukrainian weapons provided by the United States so our policies haven't changed you've heard us say that the the ukrainians can use us uh security assistance to defend themselves from crossb attacks in other words counterfire uh but as it relates to long range strike deep strikes uh into Russia our policy has not changed let me go back out to the phone here uh JJ green WTOP thanks General um question regarding um Israel and Hamas the Pentagon has said for quite a while now that one of its stated goals was to prevent this conflict from spreading So based on what happened over the weekend between Israel and Hezbollah um how does the Pentagon view that does does this seem to be an expansion because they've done attacks against each other but this was these attacks these these were much more much bigger and um seemingly had much more impact how does that impact the pentagon's view of whether this is expanding or not yeah thanks JJ uh so again just to put this into context when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th um you heard us say that you know we deployed a significant amount of uh additional capability into the middle east region uh and the and the ukom region in order to uh send a very clear message of deterrence and to prevent this from becoming uh a wider regional conflict right now we still assess uh that the conflict between Israel and Hamas uh is contained to Gaza uh you have seen the uh you know crossb strikes between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah since October 8 what you saw over the weekend of course was a much larger scale than what we've seen previously but it is in our view not a wider regional conflict at this stage and so we're going to continue to stay very focused on deescalation of tensions in the region as I highlighted and preventing it from becoming a wider Regional War thank you Tony Afghanistan uh you were pillar this week about the the the third anniversary of not only the abig gate tragedy but also Friday is going to marked the 30 anniversary of the fall of our withdrawal you've been criticized quite a bit by the by conservatives Republicans I and Trump yesterday I you saw that I wanted to get you what is the perspective of Pentagon leadership at this point three years later to the criticisms the word chaotic is the most widely used adjective to describe it three years later what's the perspective here in terms of how you guys view what happened yeah thanks Tony um well as I'm sure you can appreciate I'm I'm not going to be able to comment on any remarks from any political candidates okay um but separately secretary Austin has spoken many times about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and his pride in the tremendous work of the men and women of the US military so I would point you to some of his previous statements to include in April of 2023 uh which reads in part and if you just allow me here quote over the course of 20 years of war in Afghanistan our service members and their families serve bravely selflessly and with and with compassion as the Secretary of Defense and as a veteran of the Afghanistan War I am proud of and deeply grateful for the men and women who stood up to serve after Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11 2001 we remember the 2,461 American Service members and Personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war even on the hardest days including August 26 2021 when we tragically lost 13 of our finest our Force performed admirably under incredibly challenging conditions end quote And in regards to the withdrawal he's also underscored that no other military in the world could have accomplished what we and our allies and partners did in such a short time span and that this is a testament not only to our forces capabilities and courage but also to our relationships and the capabilities of our allies and partners ask you to hunting down the perpetrators the enablers of the abig gate attack Chris Meyer your commando Chief talked to reporters on Friday and he talked a little bit about the network was degraded but from from the Podium can you give a feel for that President Biden said at the time we will hunt you down so what's the status of the hunt today yeah um well as uh assistant Secretary of Defense Meyer highlighted we are laser focused on defending our citizens from terrorist threats that could emanate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe we know that we can't turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as Isis K uh and that we must keep a Relentless focus on counter counterterrorism and we're doing that um we have and continue to invest in uh and deploy modern capabilities to keep Americans safe we're working closely with the intelligence Community as well as to deepen our cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving threats I know that Mr Mayor addressed this as well in terms of how we've been able to foil plots and disrupt terrorist networks to include Isis K by sharing information and intelligence and enabling Allied and partner Nations to be the ones conducting arrests or taking actions and you've seen that demonstrated here recently with some high-profile news coverage of a foiled terrorist plot in Europe for example um but we've also demonstrated our ability to reach anywhere in the world when there is a threat including in Central Asia or in the Middle East and we've shown that we will not hesitate to take action to keep America safe as evidenced by centcom's recent strike in Syria which killed the senior leader of an Al-Qaeda Associated group thank you very much J thank you General cations North Korean Kim Jun announced that it would fully deploy suicide drones for the world what concerns does the United States have about this and what is the US's response to North Korea's aetc power to its I'm sorry Jan to its what what is the US's response to North Korea asymmetri power um on your first question uh you I've seen the Press reporting certainly it's something that we're we're keeping an eye on I I do find it interesting uh that everywhere else it's known as one way attack drone but for some reason when North Korea says it it's suicide drone uh interesting um but uh you know we clearly want to take that threat seriously and it's something that we'll keep an eye on I know that our South Korean allies are also keeping an eye on it and monitoring that uh and I'll just you know conclude by saying that we will continue to consult closely with the r and Japan and other partners and allies in the region to ensure uh that our Collective defense remains strong in terms of uh North Korea and its capabilities you know look they have a long history here of uh of destabilizing uh rhetoric and and activities uh again our focus in the region is defensive in nature and I'm working with allies and partners to promote Regional security and stability uh and to be prepared for any threats that North Korea poses or presents obviously don't want conflict with North Korea and we continue to call for uh diplomatic uh communication uh but so far they've not been willing to to take that Olive Branch can you can you predict the possibility that suicide drone Dron mass produced with tact tactical support put Russia and Iran Iran will be used on the battlefield of Ukraine and the Middle East yeah I I don't have anything on that nor do I want to predict so thank you yes ma'am thank you sir Naz Academy Afghan journalist uh as he said something about Afghanistan Afghan people also concerned about dish activity B of European dis get increase in Afghanistan and Taliban concerned about their activity too and what is the difference between Taliban and um how much time do you have U I mean you know look first of all as as you well know the Taliban currently uh is the the government uh in in Afghanistan and I'll use that term loosely um and so as the uh so-called ruling entity in there clearly uh there is a difference between that uh Isis K but there are many other uh Terror groups that that are resident right now in Afghanistan uh so you know we're continuing to keep an eye on that that region at large ultimately at the end of the day our Focus continues to be broadly speaking on working with allies and partners throughout the world and to include Central Asia as I highlighted on promoting Regional security and stability and safeguarding US National Security interest uh to include uh the counterterrorism efforts and and nonproliferation so um just leave it there thank you very much body thank you General um the US um provided intelligence and ISR support to Israel to u to in order to deal with the attack from hisbah what is your assessment of of that attack and do you think was was a would failed or succeed in achieving some of the goals that were declared byah leader Hassan yeah thanks for the question I'm going to refrain uh from putting a label on it and just you know it it was it was a large scale attack um Lebanese Hezbollah had uh essentially previewed that they intended to retaliate and B all accounts they did uh and so um you know Israel uh was well prepared to respond and and defend themselves uh but I'll let the leaders from each of those uh you know from Israel and Lebanese has speak to the nature of that from a US standpoint we were very focused again on uh supporting the defense of Israel uh as well as ensuring that this did not escalate into a wider regional conflict and that continues to be our focus and on the um threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel do you see uh Iran still uh poised to attack Israel or in light of the weekend events between hisbah and Israel there's been some changes in What You observe Vis A Iran you know I'm I'm not going to go into intelligence but again I you know as I've said previously uh Iran has made uh those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take that very seriously and so we will continue to remain postured and we are well postered uh to be able to support the defenses of Israel as well as protect our own forces than thank you Noah Admiral paparo said recently that the US could um escort Filipino vessels during resupply missions that this would be within the bounds of the mutual defense treaty I wanted to know if that's consistent with the secretary's thinking yeah thanks Noah um what I would say is the the Philippines Remains the lead for its own operations in the South China Sea and we continue to provide significant advisory support in addition to our efforts to help modernize uh the Philippine military and and so as allies we continue to stand with the Philippines given especially the PRC has consistently prevented them from executing lawful maritime operations in the South China Sea and so our commitment to that Alliance is Ironclad uh as you know our governments have close continual consultations so any Military Support would be at the request of the government of the Philippines and in that light Admiral paparo simply called it an option within the context of consultations so you're saying that if they requested such Military Support that that could be on the table for consultation that that wouldn't be an immediate closed door well again without getting into hypotheticals I think as allies uh it would require any type it would require require consultation between our two Nations thank you Courtney you're sitting way in the back there today yeah all right um the several Russian officials have spoken out recently about the us being involved in the K incursion the deputy foreign minister said consequences for the United States could be much harsher than those they are already experiencing they know where and in what areas we are reacting in Practical terms what is do you know what is that I guess what are the areas that they are reacting that the US knows about guess do you have any comment to their um lavro also spoke out saying that the US is complicit in this Cur con cursion so truth and advertising I'm not a kremlinology so I'm not going to pretend to be able to translate for Russian bureaucratese said previously uh we did not have advanced notification of Ukraine's uh intent uh and operations to go into KK uh certainly again you've heard president zalinski say that their efforts there are to create a buffer zone and so we are continue to have conversations with them about what that means um but more broadly speaking how the US can support Ukraine's efforts uh to preserve its sovereignty and deter future Russian aggression but but specifically on the on the this allegation that the US knows that the the consequences are going to be harsher than previously have you seen any indications of of consequences against the United States I don't know what what that means again we're not at war with Russia we're not seeking conflict with Russia we are simply supporting a democratic Nation who was invaded 2 and A2 years ago and enabling them to protect themselves thank you last question uh the Iranian command of rgc says Iran with Islamic resistance in Iraq and elsewhere will take uh retaliation but how does the Pentagon see the involvement of PRX in Iraq in the existing war between Israel and Hamas well kind of taking a step back um you know there there have definitely been actions by uh Iranian back groups in Iraq and Syria as it relates to attempting to uh conduct rocket attacks against Israel uh largely unsuccessful but you know we we've seen that um we've also seen those groups attack US forces that are uh in Iraq and Syria in support of the enduring defeat of Isis Mission so you know what they may do in the future I can't predict um but we take that threat seriously and we'll continue and the you know just like we're going to continue to support the defense of Israel uh we will stay very focused on ensuring that our forces are protected as well uh and we won't tolerate any tax against our forces uh and to purposely belabor the point uh if we are threatened or attacked uh we will always respond in a time and manner of our choosing you thank you thank you very much everybody last one one uh domestic question related to a Justice Department plea that came down last night against one of the Navy's top ship Builders austa limited they pleaded guilty to product substitution and uh procure and a fraud accounting fraud what steps is the dod General counil taking with the Navy to review whether they are a responsible contractor to keep getting Federal contracts or face dearment yeah thanks Tony um we've seen the Press reporting on it however I'm going to have to refer you to the Department of Justice for details and then to the Navy for any action that they're undertaking as a result I just don't have any more to provide you don't have any more can you also check on the status of the Boeing review you were asked about like a month and a half ago in terms of their plea and you guys said at the time there's a review of Bo what steps Boeing is taking to be a responsible contractor can you take that as a question in terms of the status of yeah I'll take the question I don't know that we'll have much more to provide but I'll take that question okay thanks oh Louie seriously you walk in like last minute all right only because it's ABC Louis Martinez thank you uh and congratulations to tap um oh yeah okay um tap was on time but um going back to the jots it was announced last week I think that um that last cargo shipment had left Cypress is there an update has it been offloaded what's happened since um so what I'm tracking Louie is that uh essentially the ship is in the queue uh waiting for its turn to uh dock in ashdod and unload uh its contents uh but as of right now still at se um but that's the latest update I have okay afternoon everyone welcome back good to see you again uh just a few items at the top and then I'll be happy to take your questions uh first we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and remain postured to support the defense of Israel and Protect US troops and Assets in the region and two calls with his Israeli counterpart heart Minister Galant this past weekend secretary Austin underscored the United States's Ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its Regional partners and proxies as many of you are tracking in support of this the secretary ordered our two carrier strike groups the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to remain in the region as we have been from the start we remain intently focused on de-escalating tensions in the Middle East while also remaining focused on securing a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza turning to the Red Sea last week on August 21st the MV Delta San a Greek flag Greek owned oil tanker carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil was attacked by iranian-backed houthi crude vessels as reported by the Greek shipping Ministry the MV Delta San was sailing from Iraq to Greece with a crew of two Russian and 23 Filipino Sailors the crew has since evacuated the ship with the assistance of a partner Nation vessel the MV Delta San now sits immobilized in the Red Sea where it is currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil presenting both a navigational Hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe although the houthis have claimed that they're conducting these attacks in support of the Palestinian people their actions prove to the contrary in fact these are simply Reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize Global and Regional Commerce put the lives of innocent civilian Mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant Maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aiden the hou's own backyard us Central Command continues to actively monitor the situation and is coordinating with other Maritime Partners in the region to determine how best to assist the vessel and mitigate the potential environmental impact shifting gears and a display of an enduring and robust defense partnership the United States and the Indonesian National Armed Forces kicked off the 2024 super Garuda Shield exercise yesterday with an opening ceremony at an Indonesian military base at Janda Naval Airbase suraya super Garuda Shield is the largest annual us Indonesian training exercise and this year service members from the US Indonesia Australia Canada Japan Singapore and the United Kingdom will engage in various training opportunities including Airborne operation ations amphibious operations and interoperability information exchanges as well as academic exchanges professional development workshops command and control exercises and a joint field training exercise culminating in a live fire event sponsored by US Army Pacific the exercise will last through September 6 and involves around 3,000 combined Armed Forces including approximately 1,800 us Personnel it enhances interoperability through training and cultural exchanges solidifying the US Indonesia major defense partnership and supporting a free and open Indo Pacific for more information on super Guru Shield I'd refer you to US Army Pacific finally on behalf of all who have served here in the office of the secretary of defense for public affairs I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate our very own Mr Taft febus on his 40-year uh Milestone of federal service in the defense press press operations office always the early bird in early and out late taed humbly and selflessly plays a foundational role here at ospa supporting the Pentagon press Corp and ensuring they have the support they need to do their jobs effectively anyone who has had the Good Fortune of working alongside Taft is familiar with the wisdom and professionalism he brings to the job every day so once more congratulations Taft and thank you for your service here's to 40 more uh and with that I will take your questions [Applause] I know ta also likes all the attention so all right all right with that uh we'll go to Associated Press first who I believe is on the phone today uh Lita thank you Pat and congratulations to TA he's a huge help as always um I have a quick followup on the ship and then I have a Ukraine question um on the um the ship and the Red Sea that's on fire can I um assume what you're saying is that at this point NE neither the us nor any of the other allies have been able to do anything to uh stop the fire or to do something actual to address the the ship's condition right now is that accurate yeah thanks Lita uh as I highlighted sencom continues continues to Monitor and assess the situation uh we are aware of a third party uh that attempted to send two tugs uh to the The Vessel to help Salvage uh but they were warned away uh by the houthis uh and threatened with being attacked which again demonstrates uh their blatant disregard uh for for not only human life uh but Al for also uh for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents so uh again sencom continues to Monitor and and uh look at you know and assess the situation and we'll keep you updated on that front and then you said you had a question on Ukraine uh yes um does the uh does secretary Austin expect to meet with uh Min umarov this week and can you provide any update on whether the US has seen much Movement by Russians out of other parts of Ukraine to go to curse thank you um in terms of uh the secretary meeting with Minister umarov I don't have anything to announce uh as you know he regularly speaks the secretary Austin regularly speaks with Minister umarov and so uh I would uh foresee them speaking again uh in the near future but again I I don't have anything to to provide from the podium today um in terms of K again we continue to keep an eye on this uh as we've said previously we have seen the Russians divert some forces uh to the Kur region um largely uh they have used forces that are already there uh and as they put together together a defense a hasty defense um but but nothing large scale uh that I've seen at this point uh but again i' I'd refer you to the Russians uh to talk more about their operations and I'll just leave it there Jennifer um General Ryder the US doesn't have any Naval warships in the Red Sea right now do you think that if there had been USS coal or other uh destroyers in or an aircraft carrier in the Red Sea that they could have prevented this hooti attack on this vessel that's now on fire um well you know I at this point the fact is is that there is a vessel that's on fire and as you know we've been uh patrolling those waterways for a while and have been able to intercept and mitigate the vast majority of of houthi attacks uh and so we'll we'll continue to stay focused on that uh but the reality is right now we have this situation and so again sencom will continue to assess U we'll keep you updated on on any potential involvement there how long do you expect that there won't be an aircraft carrier strike group in the Indo Pacific isn't it risky right now not having an aircraft carrier strike group there well look you know as we as we look at Global Force management and as we look at requirements uh around the world in support of our national security interest we're always taking great care to make sure that we can cover those commitments to include uh in our priority Theater which is the indopacific region and so we have a significant amount of capability there uh to include a large Naval presence uh and so in the case of the Middle East uh as I highlighted the secretary wanted uh those two carrier groups carrier strike groups to remain in the region for now to be able to provide us with additional capability and capacity to protect our forces support the defense of Israel and also be ready for a variety of contingencies but how long do you expect to have this carrier Gap uh you know look I'm not going to get into uh deployment time lines for operation security reasons but the bottom line is we can walk and chew gum at the same time Carla thank you Pat um Ukrainian president zalinsky said yesterday that there should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine he said this before but he added that the terrorists referencing Russia have no such restrictions does the Pentagon agree with that statement well look I I won't speak for president zalinsky clearly uh he's made his his views and perspective uh well known both publicly and privately from a US perspective we're going to continue to consult closely with our Ukrainian Partners as well as our allies and partners around the world and how best to support Ukraine uh towards uh the the you know ultimate end state of ensuring a free and Sovereign uh Ukraine that can deter future aggression from Russia and so are there still restrictions on Ukrainian weapons provided by the United States so our policies haven't changed you've heard us say that the the ukrainians can use us uh security assistance to defend themselves from crossb attacks in other words counterfire uh but as it relates to long range strike deep strikes uh into Russia our policy has not changed let me go back out to the phone here uh JJ green WTOP thanks General um question regarding um Israel and Hamas the Pentagon has said for quite a while now that one of its stated goals was to prevent this conflict from spreading So based on what happened over the weekend between Israel and Hezbollah um how does the Pentagon view that does does this seem to be an expansion because they've done attacks against each other but this was these attacks these these were much more much bigger and um seemingly had much more impact how does that impact the pentagon's view of whether this is expanding or not yeah thanks JJ uh so again just to put this into context when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th um you heard us say that you know we deployed a significant amount of uh additional capability into the middle east region uh and the and the ukom region in order to uh send a very clear message of deterrence and to prevent this from becoming uh a wider regional conflict right now we still assess uh that the conflict between Israel and Hamas uh is contained to Gaza uh you have seen the uh you know crossb strikes between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah since October 8 what you saw over the weekend of course was a much larger scale than what we've seen previously but it is in our view not a wider regional conflict at this stage and so we're going to continue to stay very focused on deescalation of tensions in the region as I highlighted and preventing it from becoming a wider Regional War thank you Tony Afghanistan uh you were pillar this week about the the third anniversary of not only the abig gate tragedy but also Friday is going to Mark the third anniversary of the fall of our withdrawal you've been criticized quite a bit by the by conservatives Republicans I want and Trump yesterday I you saw that I wanted to get you what is the perspective of Pentagon leadership at this point three years later to the criticisms the word chaotic is the most widely used adjective to describe it 3 years later what's the perspective here in terms of how you guys view what happened yeah thanks Tony um well as I'm sure you can appreciate I'm I'm not going to be able to comment on any remarks from any political candidates um but separately secretary Austin has spoken many times about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and his pride in the tremendous work of the men and women of the US military so I would point you to some of his pre previous statements to include in April of 2023 uh which reads in part and if you just allow me here quote over the course of 20 years of war in Afghanistan our service members and their families serve bravely selflessly and with and with compassion as the Secretary of Defense and as a veteran of the Afghanistan War I am proud of and deeply grateful for the men and women who stood up to serve after Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11 2001 we remember the 2,461 American service members and Personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war even on the hardest days including August 26 2021 when we tragically lost 13 of our finest our Force performed admirably under incredibly challenging conditions end quote And in regards to the withdrawal he's also underscored that no other military in the world could have accomplished what we and our allies and partners did in such a short time span and that this is a testament not only to our forces's capabilities and courage but also to our relation ship and the capabilities of our allies and partners ask you to hunting down the perpetrators the enablers of the abig gate attack Chris Meyer your commando Chief talked to reporters on Friday and he talked a little bit about the network was degraded but from from the podium can you give a feel for that President Biden said at the time we will hunt you down so what's the status of the hunt today yeah um well as uh assistant secretary defense Meer highlighted we are laser focused on defending our citizens from terrorist threats that could imate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe we know that we can't turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as Isis K uh and that we must keep a Relentless focus on counter counterterrorism and we're doing that um we have and continue to invest in uh and deploy modern capabilities to keep Americans safe we're working closely with the intelligence Community as well as to deepen our cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving threats I know that Mr Mayor addressed this as well in terms of how we've been able to foil plots and disrupt terrorist networks to include Isis K by sharing information and intelligence and enabling Allied and partner Nations to be the ones conducting arrests or taking actions and you've seen that demonstrated here recently with some high-profile news coverage of a foiled terrorist plot in Europe for example um but we've also demonstrated our ability to reach anywhere in the world when there is a threat including in Central Asia or in the Middle East and we've shown that we will not hesitate to take action to keep America safe as evidenced by centcom's recent strike in Syria which killed the senior leader of an Al-Qaeda Associated group thank you very much Janie thank you generals North Korean Kim Jun announced that it would fully deploy suicide drones for the world what concerns does the United States have about this and what is the US's response to North Korea's asimetric power to its I'm sorry Janie to its what what is the US's response to North Korea's asymmetric poers um on your first question uh you I've seen the Press reporting certainly it's something that we're we're keeping an eye on I I do find it interesting uh that everywhere else it's known as oneway attack drone but for some reason when North Korea says it it's suicide drone uh interesting um but uh you know we clearly want to take that threat seriously and it's something that we'll keep an eye on I know that our South Korean allies are also keeping an eye on it and monitoring that uh and I'll just you know conclude by saying that we will continue to consult closely with the r and Japan and other partners and allies in the region to ensure uh that our Collective defense remains strong in terms of uh North Korea and its capab abilities you know look they have a long history here of uh of destabilizing uh rhetoric and and activities uh again our focus in the region is defensive in nature and I'm working with allies and partners to promote Regional security and stability uh and to be prepared for any threats that North Korea poses or presents obviously don't want conflict with North Korea and we continue to call for uh diplomatic uh communication uh but so far they they've not been willing to to take that Olive Branch can you can you predict the possibility that suicide drone drones mass produced with the TCT tactical support Pro Russia and Iran will be used on the battlefield of Ukraine and the Middle East yeah I don't have anything on that nor do I want to predict so thank you yes ma'am thank you sir Naz Academy Afghan journalist uh as he said something about Afghanistan Afghan people also concerned about dis activity based of Europe and dis get increase in Afghanistan and Taliban concerned about their activity too and what is the difference between Taliban and Dash um how much time do you have U I mean you know look first of all uh as you well know the Taliban currently uh is the the government uh in in in Afghanistan and I'll use that term loosely um and so as the uh so-called ruling entity in there clearly uh there is a difference between that uh Isis K but there are many other uh Terror groups that that are resident right now in Afghanistan uh so you know we're continuing to keep an eye on that that region at large ultimately at the end of the day our Focus continues to be broadly speaking on working with allies and partners through throughout the world and to include Central Asia as I highlighted on promoting Regional security and stability and safeguarding US National Security interests uh to include uh the counterterrorism efforts and and nonproliferation so um just leave it there thank you very much body thank you General um the US um provided intelligence and ISR support to Israel to to in order to deal with the attack from hisbah what is your assessment of of that attack and do you think was was a would failed or succeed in achieving some of the goals that were declared byah leader Hass yeah thanks for the question I'm going to refrain uh from putting a label on it and just you know it it was it was a large scale attack um Lebanese Hezbollah had uh essentially previewed that they intended to retaliate and B accounts they did uh and so um you know Israel uh was well prepared to respond and and defend themselves uh but I'll let the leaders from each of those uh you know from Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah speak to the nature of that from a US standpoint we were very focused again on uh supporting the defense of Israel uh as well as ensuring that this did not escalate into a wider regional conflict and that continues to be our focus and on the um threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel do you see uh Iran still uh poised to attack Israel or in light of the weekend events between hisbah and Israel there's been some changes in What You observe Vis A Iran you know I'm I'm not going to go into intelligence but again I you know as I've said previously uh Iran has made uh those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take that very seriously and so we will continue to remain postured and we are well postured uh to be able to support the defenses of Israel as well as protect our own forces thank you Noah Admiral paparo said recently that the US could um escort Filipino vessels during resupply missions that this would be within the bounds of the mutual defense treaty I wanted to know if that's consistent with the secretary's thinking yeah thanks Noah um what would say is the the Philippines Remains the lead for its own operations in the South China Sea and we continue to provide significant advisory support in addition to our efforts to help modernize uh the Philippine military and so as allies we continue to stand with the Philippines given especially the PRC has consistently prevented them from executing lawful maritime operations in the South China Sea and so our commitment to that Alliance is Ironclad uh as you know our governments have close continual consultations so any Military Support would be at the request of the government of the Philippines and in that light Admiral paparo simply called it an option within the context of consultations so you're saying that if they requested such Military Support that that could be on the table for consultation that that wouldn't be an immediate closed door well again without getting into hypotheticals I think as allies uh it would require any type it would require require consultation between our two Nations thank you Courtney you're sitting way in the back there today yeah all right um the several Russian officials have spoken out recently about the us being involved in the K incursion the deputy foreign minister said consequences for the United States could be much harsher than those they are already experiencing they know where and in what areas we are reacting in Practical terms what is do you know what does that I guess what are the areas that they are reacting that the US knows about guess do you have any comment to their um lavro also spoke out saying that the US was complicit in this K incursion so truth and advertising I'm not a kremlinology so I'm not going to pretend to be able to translate for uh Russian bureaucratese justly uh we did not have advanced notification of Ukraine's uh intent uh and operations to go into KK uh certainly again you've heard president president zinski say that their efforts there are to create a buffer zone and so we continue to have conversations with them about what that means um but more broadly speaking how the US can support Ukraine's efforts uh to preserve its sovereignty and deter future Russian aggression but but specifically on the on the this allegation that the US knows that the the consequences are going to be harsher than previously have you seen any indications of of consequences against the United States I I don't know what what that means again we're not at war with Russia we're not seeking conflict with Russia we are simply supporting a democratic Nation who was invaded two and a half years ago and enabling them to protect themselves thank you last question uh the Iranian command of rgc says Iran with Islamic resistance in Iraq and elsewhere will take uh retaliation but how does the Pentagon see the involvement of pris in Iraq in the existing war between Israel and Hamas well kind of taking a step back um you know there there have definitely been actions by uh Iranian back groups in Iraq and Syria as it relates to attempting to uh conduct rocket attacks against Israel uh largely unsuccessful but you know we we've seen that um we've also seen those groups attack US forces that are uh in Iraq and Syria in support of the enduring defeat of Isis Mission so you know what they may do in the future I can't predict um but we take that threat seriously and we'll continue and the you know just like we're going to continue to support the defense of Israel uh we will stay very focused on ensuring that our forces are protected as well uh and we won't tolerate any taxs against our forces uh and to purposely belabor the point uh if we are threatened or attacked uh we will always respond in a time and manner of our choosing you thank you thank you very much everybody up last one one uh domestic question related to a justice department plea that came down last night against one of the Navy's top ship Builders austa limited they pleaded guilty to product substitution and uh procure and fraud accounting fraud what steps is the dod General Council taking with the Navy to review whether they are responsible contractor to keep getting Federal contracts or face debarment yeah thanks Tony um we've seen the Press reporting on it however I'm going to have to refer you to the Department of Justice for details and then to the Navy for any action that they're undertaking as a result I just don't have any more to provide you don't have any more can you also check on the status of the Boeing review you were asked about like a month and a half ago in terms of their ple and you guys said at the time there's a review of what steps Boeing is taking to be a respon responsible contractor can you take that as a question in terms of the status of yeah I'll take the question I don't know that we'll have much more to provide but I'll take that question okay thanks oh Louie seriously you walk in like last minute all right only because it's ABC Louis Martinez thank you congratulations to tap um oh yeah okay um tap was on time but um going back to the jots it was announced last week I think that um that last cargo shipment had left Cypress is there an update has it been offloaded what's happened since um so what I'm tracking Louie is that uh essentially the ship is in the queue uh waiting for its turn to uh dock in ashdod and unload uh its contents uh but as of right now still at c um but that's the latest update I have okay afternoon everyone welcome back good to see you again uh just a few items at the top and then I'll be happy to take your questions uh first we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and remain postured to support the defense of Israel and Protect US troops and Assets in the region in two calls with his Israeli counterpart Minister Gant this past weekend secretary Austin underscored the United States's Ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its Regional partners and proxies as many of you are tracking in support of this the secretary ordered our two carrier strike groups the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to remain in the region as we have been from the start we remain intently focused on de-escalating tensions in the Middle East while also remaining focused on securing a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza turning to the Red Sea last week on August 21st the MV Delta San a Greek flag Greek owned oil tanker carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil was attacked by iranian-backed houthi crude vessels as reported by the Greek shipping Ministry the MV Delta San was sailing from Iraq to Greece with a crew of two Russian and 23 Filipino Sailors the crew has since evacuated the ship with the assistance of a partner Nation vessel the MV Delta sonion now sits immobilized in the Red Sea where it is currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil presenting both a navigational Hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe although the houthis have claimed that they're conducting these attacks in support of the Palestinian people their actions proed to the contrary in fact these are simply Reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize Global and Regional Commerce put the lives of innocent civilian Mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant Maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aiden the hou's own backyard us Central Command continues to actively monitor the situation and is coordinating with other Maritime Partners in the region to determine how best to assist the vessel and mitigate the potential environmental impact shifting gears and a display of an enduring and robust defense partnership the United States and the Indonesian National Armed Forces kicked off the 2024 super Garuda Shield exercise yesterday with an opening ceremony at an Indonesian military base at Janda Naval Airbase suraya super Garuda Shield is the largest annual us Indonesian training exercise and this year service members from the US Indonesia Australia Canada Japan Singapore and the United Kingdom will engage in various training opportunities including Airborne operations amphibious operations and interoperability information exchanges as well as academic exchanges professional development workshops command and control exercises and a joint field training exercise culminating in a live fighter event sponsored by us US Army Pacific the exercise will last through September 6 and involves around 3,000 combined Armed Forces including approximately 1,800 us Personnel it enhances interoperability through training and cultural exchanges solidifying the US Indonesia major defense partnership and supporting a free and open Indo Pacific for more information on super Guru Shield I'd refer you to US Army Pacific finally on behalf of all who have served here in the office of the Secretary of defense for public affairs I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate our very own Mr Taft febus on his 40-year uh Milestone of federal service in the defense press press operations office always the early bird in early and out late taed humbly and selflessly plays a foundational role here at ospa supporting the Pentagon press Corps and ensuring they have the support they need to do their jobs effectively anyone who has had the Good Fortune of working alongside taus from Amar with the wisdom and professionalism he brings to the job every day so once more congratulations Taft and thank you for your service here's to 40 more uh and with that I will take your [Applause] questions I know ta also likes all the attention so all right all right with that uh we'll go to Associated Press first who I believe is on the phone today uh Lita thank you Pat and congratulations to Taff he's a huge help as always um I have a quick followup on the ship and then I have a Ukraine question um on the um the ship and the Red Sea that's on fire can I um assume that what you're saying is that at this point need neither the us nor any of the other allies have been able to do anything to uh stop the fire or to do something actual to address the the ship's condition right now is that accurate yeah thanks Lita uh as I highlighted sencom continu continues to Monitor and assess the situation uh we are aware of a third party uh that attempted to send two tugs uh to the The Vessel to help Salvage uh but they were warned away uh by the houthis uh and threatened with being attacked which again demonstrates uh their blatant disregard uh for for not only human life uh but Al for also uh for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents so uh again sencom continues to Monitor and and uh look at you know and assess the situation and we'll keep you updated on that front and then you said you had a question on Ukraine uh yes um does these uh does secretary Austin expect to meet with uh Min umarov this week and can you provide any update on whether the US has seen much Movement by Russ s out of other parts of Ukraine to go to curse thank you um in terms of uh the secretary meeting with Minister umarov I don't have anything to announce uh as you know he regularly speaks the secretary Austin regularly speaks with Minister umov and so uh I would uh foresee them speaking again uh in the near future but again I I don't have anything to to provide from the podium today um in terms of KK again we continue to keep an eye on this uh as we've said previously we have seen the Russians divert some forces uh to the KK region um largely uh they have used forces that are already there uh and as they put together a defense a hasty defense um but but nothing large scale uh that I've seen at this point uh but again i' I'd refer you to the Russians uh to talk more about their operations and I'll just leave it there Jennifer um Jen Ryder the US doesn't have any Naval warships in the Red Sea right now do you think that if there had been USS coal or other uh destroyers in or an aircraft carryer in the Red Sea that they could have prevented this hooti attack on this vessel that's now on fire um well you know I at this point the fact is is that there is a vessel that's on fire and as you know we've been uh patrolling those waterways for a while and have been able to intercept and mitigate the vast majority of of houthi attacks uh and so we'll we'll continue to stay focused on that uh but the reality is right now we have this situation and so again sencom will continue to assess U we'll keep you updated on on any potential involvement there how long do you expect that there won't be an aircraft carrier strike group in the Indo Pacific isn't it risky right now not having an aircraft carrier strike group there well look you know as we as we look at Global Force management and as we look at requirements uh around the world in support of our national security interest we're always taking great care to make sure that we can cover those commitments to include uh in our priority Theater which is the indopacific region and so we have a significant amount of capability there uh to include a a large Naval presence uh and so in the case of the Middle East uh as I highlighted the secretary wanted uh those two carrier groups carrier strike groups to remain in the region for now to be able to provide us with additional cap ability and capacity to protect our forces support the defense of Israel and also be ready for a variety of contingencies but how long do you expect to have this carrier Gap uh you know look I'm not going to get into uh deployment timelines for operation security reasons but the bottom line is we can walk and chew gum at the same time Carla thank you Pat um Ukrainian president zalinski said yesterday that there should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine he said this before but he added that the ter referencing Russia have no such restrictions does the Pentagon agree with that statement well look I I won't speak for president zalinsky clearly uh he's made his his views and perspective uh well known both publicly and privately from a US perspective we're going to continue to consult closely with our Ukrainian Partners as well as our allies and partners around the world and how best to support Ukraine uh towards uh the the you know ultimate end state of ensuring a free and Sovereign uh Ukraine that can deter future aggression from Russia and so are there still restrictions on Ukrainian weapons provided by the United States so our policies haven't changed you've heard us say that the the ukrainians can use us uh security assistance to defend themselves from crossb attacks in other words counterfire uh but as it relates to long range strike deep strikes uh into Russia our policy has not changed let me go back out to the phone here uh JJ green WTOP thanks General um question regarding um Israel and Hamas the Pentagon has said for quite a while now that one of its stated goals was to prevent this conflict from spreading So based on what happened over the weekend between Israel and Hezbollah um how does the Pentagon view that does does this seem to be an expansion because they've done attacks against each other but this was these attacks these these were much more much bigger and um seemingly had much more impact how does that impact the pentagon's view of whether this is expanding or not yeah thanks JJ uh so again just to put this into context when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th um you heard us say that you know we deployed a significant amount of uh additional capability into the middle east region uh and the and the Yukon region in order to uh send a very clear message of deterrence and to prevent this from becoming uh a wider regional conflict right now we still assess uh that the conflict between Israel and Hamas uh is contained to Gaza uh you have seen the uh you know crossb strikes between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah since October 8 what you saw over the weekend of course was a much larger scale than what we've seen previously but it is in our view not a wider regional conflict at this stage and so we're going to continue to stay very focused on deescalation of tensions in the region as I highlighted and preventing it from becoming a wider Regional War thank you Tony Afghanistan uh you were pillar this week about the the third anniversary of not only the abig gate tragedy but also Friday is going to Mark the third anniversary of the fall of our STW you've been criticized quite a bit by the by conservatives Republicans I want and Trump yesterday I you saw that I wanted to get you what is a perspective of Pentagon leadership at this point three years later to the criticisms the word chaotic is the most widely used adjective to describe it three years later what's the perspective here in terms of how you guys view what happened yeah thanks Tony um well as I'm sure you can appreciate I'm I'm not going to be able to comment on any remarks from any political candidates okay um but separately secretary Austin has spoken many times about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and his pride in the tremendous work of the men and women of the US military so I would point you to some of his previous statements to include in April of 20123 uh which reads in part and if you just allow me here quote over the course of 20 years of war in Afghanistan our service members and their families serve bravely selflessly and with and with compassion as the secretary defense and as a veteran of the Afghanistan War I am proud of and deeply grateful for the men and women who stood up to serve after Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11 2001 we remember the 2,461 American Service members and Personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war even on the hardest days including August 26 2021 when we tragically lost 13 of our finest our Force performed admirably under incredibly challenging conditions end quote in regards to the withdrawal he's also underscored that no other military in the world could have accomplished what we and our allies and partners did in such a short time span and that this is a testament not only to our forces capabilities and courage but also to our relationships and the capabilities of our allies and partn I ask you to hunting down the perpetrators the enablers of the abig gate attack Chris Meyer your commando Chief talked to reporters on Friday he talked a little bit about the network was degraded but from from the podium can you give a feel for that President Biden said at the time we will hunt you down so what's the status of the hunt today yeah um well as uh assistant secretary defense Meer highlighted we are laser focused on defending our citizens from terrorist threats that could emanate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe we know that we can't turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as Isis K uh and that we must keep a Relentless focus on counter counterterrorism and we're doing that um we have and continue to invest in uh and deploy modern capabilities to keep Americans safe we're working closely with the intelligence Community as well as to deepen our cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving threats I know that Mr Mayor addressed this as well in terms of how we've been able to foil plots and disrupt terrorist networks to include Isis K by sharing information and intelligence and enabling Allied and partner Nations to be the ones conducting arrests or taking actions and you've seen that demonstrated here recently with some high-profile news coverage of a foiled terrorist plot in Europe for example um but we've also demonstrated our ability to reach anywhere in the world when there is a threat including in Central Asia or in the Middle East and we've shown that we will not hesitate to take action to keep America safe as evidenced by centcom's recent strike in Syria which killed the senior leader of an Al-Qaeda Associated group thank you very much Janie thank you General C North Korean Kim Jun announced that it would fully deploy suicide drones for the world what concerns does the United States have about this and what is the US's response to North Korea's ASC power to its I'm sorry Jan to its what what is the US's response to North Korea's asymmetric power um on your first question uh you I've seen the Press reporting certainly it's something that we're we're keeping an eye on I I do find it interestingly uh that everywhere else it's known as one way attack drone but for some reason when North Korea says it it's suicide drone uh interesting um but uh you know we clearly want to take that threat seriously and it's something that we'll keep an eye on I know that our South Korean allies are also keeping an eye on it and monitoring that uh and I'll just you know CL clude by saying that we will continue to consult closely with the r and Japan and other partners and allies in the region to ensure uh that our Collective defense remains strong in terms of uh North Korea and its capabilities you know look they have a long history here of uh of destabilizing uh rhetoric and and activities uh again our focus in the region is defensive in nature and I'm working with allies and partners to promote Regional security and stability uh and to be prepared for any threats that North Korea poses or presents obviously don't want conflict with North Korea and we continue to call for uh diplomatic uh communication uh but so far they've not been willing to to take that all of Branch can you can you predict the possibility that suicide drone drones mess produced with the tact tactical support support on Russia and Iran will be used on the battlefield of Ukraine and the Middle East yeah I don't have anything on that nor do I want to predict so thank you yes ma'am thank you sir Nazir Academy Afghan journalist uh as he said something about Afghanistan Afghan people also concerned about dis activity B of European dis get increase in Afghanistan and Taliban concerned about their activity too and what is the difference between Taliban and dises uh um how much time do you have U I mean you know look first of all as you well know the Taliban currently uh is the the government uh in in Afghanistan and I'll use that term loosely um and so as the uh so-called ruling entity in there clearly uh there is a difference between that uh Isis K but there are many other uh Terror groups that that are res resent right now in Afghanistan uh so you know we're continuing to keep an eye on that that region at large ultimately at the end of the day our Focus continues to be broadly speaking on working with allies and partners throughout the world and to include Central Asia as a highlighted on promoting Regional security and stability and safeguarding US National Security interests uh to include uh the counterterrorism efforts and and non-proliferation so um just leave it there thank you very much body thank you General um the US um provided intelligence and ISR support to Israel to u to in order to deal with the attack from hisbah what is your assessment of of that attack and do you think was was a would failed or succeed in achieving some of the goals that were declared byah leader Hass yeah thanks for the question I'm going to refrain uh from putting a on it and just you know it it was it was a large scale attack um Lebanese Hezbollah had uh essentially previewed that they intended to retaliate and by all accounts they did uh and so um you know Israel uh was well prepared to respond and and defend themselves uh but I'll let the leaders from each of those uh you know from Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah speak to the nature of that from a US standpoint we were very focused again on uh supporting the defense of Israel uh as well as ensuring that this did not escalate into a wider regional conflict and that continues to be our focus and on the um threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel do you see uh Iran still uh poised to attack Israel or in light of the weekend events between hisbah and Israel there's been some changes in What You observe Vis A Iran you know I'm I'm not going to go into intelligence but again I you know as I've said previously uh Iran has made uh those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take that very seriously and so we will continue to remain postured and we are well postured uh to be able to support the defenses of Israel as well as protect our own forces thank you Noah Admiral said recently that the US could um escort Filipino vessels during resupply missions that this would be within the bounds of the mutual defense treaty I wanted to know if that's consistent with the secretary's thinking yeah thanks Noah um what I would say is the the Philippines Remains the lead for its own operations in the South China Sea and we continue to provide significant advisory support in addition to our efforts to help modernize uh the Philippine military and so as allies we continue to stand stand with the Philippines given especially the PRC has consistently prevented them from executing lawful maritime operations in the South China Sea and so our commitment to that Alliance is Ironclad uh as you know our governments have close continual consultation so any Military Support would be at the request of the government of the Philippines and in that light Admiral paparo simply called it an option within the context of consultations so you're saying that if they requ ested such Military Support that that could be on the table for consultation that that wouldn't be an immediate closed door well again without getting in hypotheticals I think as allies uh it would require any type it would re require consultation between our two Nations thank you Courtney you're setting way in the back there today yeah all right um the several Russian officials have spoken out recently about the us being involved in the K incursion the deputy foreign minister said consequences for the United States could be much harsher than those they are already experiencing they know where and in what areas we are reacting in Practical terms what is do you know what does that I guess what are the areas that they are reacting that the US knows about guess do you have any comment to their um lavro also spoke out saying that the US was complicit in this Cur incursion so truth and advertising I'm not a cremin olist so I'm not going to pretend to be able to translate for Russian bureaucratese um what I will say is that as we've said previously uh we did not have advanced notification of Ukraine's uh intent uh and operations to go into KK uh certainly again you've heard president zilinski say that their efforts there are to create a buffer zone and so we are continue to have conversations with them about what that means um but more broadly speaking how the US can support Ukraine's efforts uh to preserve its sovereignty and deter future Russia aggression but but specifically on the on the this allegation that the US knows that the the consequences are going to be harsher than previously have you seen any indications of of consequences against the United States I I don't know what what that means again we're not at war with Russia we're not seeking conflict with Russia we are simply supporting a democratic Nation who was invaded two and a half years ago and enabling them to protect themselves thank you last question yes uh the Iranian commander of rgc says Iran with Islamic resistance in Iraq and elsewhere will take uh retaliation but how does the Pentagon see the involvement of pris in Iraq in the existing war between Israel and Hamas well kind of taking a step back um you know there there have definitely been actions by uh Iranian back groups in Iraq and Syria as it relates to attempting to uh conduct rocket attacks against Israel uh largely unsuccessful but you know we we've seen that um we've also seen those groups attack US forces that are uh in Iraq and Syria in support of the enduring defeat of Isis Mission so you know what they may do in the future I can't predict um but we take that threat seriously and we'll continue and the you know just like we're going to continue to support the defense of Israel uh we will stay very focused on ensuring that our forces are protected as well uh and we won't tolerate any taxs against our forces uh and to purposfully belabor the point uh if we are threatened or attacked uh we will always respond in a time and manner of our choosing thank you thank you thank you very much everybody oh last one domestic question related to a justice department plea that came down last night against one the Navy's top ship Builders austa limited they pleaded guilty to product substitution and uh procure and fraud accounting fraud what steps is the dod General Council taking with the Navy to review whether they are a responsible contractor to keep getting Federal contracts or face debarment yeah thanks Tony um we've seen the Press reporting on it however I'm going to have to refer you to the Department of Justice for details and then to the Navy for any action that they're undertaking as a result I just don't have any more to Pro you don't have any more can you also check on the status of the Boeing review you were asked about like a month and a half ago in terms of their Le I you guys said at the time there's a review of Bo what steps Boeing is taking to be a responsible contractor can you take that as a question in terms of the status of yeah I'll take the question I don't know that we'll have much more to provide but I'll take that question okay thanks oh Louie seriously you walk in like last minute all right only because it's ABC Louis Martinez thank you congratulations to tap um oh yeah okay um tap was on time but um going back to the jots it was announced last week I think that um that last cargo shipment had left Cypress is there an update has it been out fled what's happened since um so what I'm tracking Lou is that uh essentially the ship is in the queue uh waiting for its turn to uh dock in ashdod and unload uh its contents um but as of right now still at se um but that's the latest update I have okay afternoon everyone welcome back good to see you again uh just a few items at the top and then I'll be happy to take your questions uh first we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and remain postured to support the defense of Israel and Protect US troops and Assets in the region and two calls with his Israeli counterpart Minister Gant this past weekend Secret secretary Austin underscored the United States's Ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its Regional partners and proxies as many of you are tracking in support of this the secretary ordered our two carrier strike groups the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to remain in the region as we have been from the start we remain intently focused on de-escalating tensions in the Middle East while also remaining focused on securing a ceasefire as part of a host deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza turning to the Red Sea last week on August 21st the MV Delta San a Greek flag Greek owned oil tanker carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil was attacked by iranian-backed houthi crude vessels as reported by the Greek shipping Ministry the MV Delta San was sailing from Iraq to Greece with a crew of two Russian and 23 Filipino Sailors the crew is s evacuated the ship with the assistance of a partner Nation vessel the MV Delta sonion now sits immobilized in the Red Sea where it is currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil presenting both a navigational Hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe although the houthis have claimed that they're conducting these attacks in support of the Palestinian people their actions Pro to the contrary in fact these are simply Reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize Global and Regional Commerce put the lives of innocent civilian Mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant Maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aiden the hou's own backyard us Central Command continues to actively monitor the situation and is coordinating with other Maritime Partners in the region to determine how best to assist the vessel and mitigate the potential environmental impact shifting gears and a display of an enduring and robust defense partnership the United States and the IND Ian National Armed Forces kicked off the 2024 super Garuda Shield exercise yesterday with an opening ceremony at an Indonesian military base at Janda Naval Airbase suraya super Garuda Shield is the largest annual us Indonesian trading exercise and this year service members from the US Indonesia Australia Canada Japan Singapore and the United Kingdom will engage in various training opportunities including Airborne operations amphibious operations and interoperability information exchanges as well as academic exchanges professional development workshops command and control exercises and a joint field training exercise culminating in a live fire event sponsored by US Army Pacific the exercise will last through September 6 and involves around 3,000 combined Armed Forces including approximately 1,800 us Personnel it enhances interoperability through training and cultural exchanges solidifying the US Indonesia a major defense partnership and supporting a free and open Indo Pacific for more information on super Guru Shield I'd refer you to US Army Pacific finally on behalf of all who have served here in the office of the secretary of defense for public affairs I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate our very own Mr Taft febus on his 40-year uh Milestone of federal service in the defense press press operations office always the early bird in early and out late C humbly and selflessly plays a foundational role here at ospa supporting the Pentagon press Corps and ensuring they have the support they need to do their jobs effectively anyone who has had the Good Fortune of working alongside Taft is familiar with the wisdom and professionalism he brings to the job every day so once more congratulations Taft and thank you for your service here's to 40 more uh and with that I will take your questions [Applause] I know ta also likes all the attention so all right all right with that uh we'll go to Associated Press first who I believe is on the phone today uh Lita thank you Pat and congratulations to Taft he's a huge help as always um I have a quick followup on the ship and then I have a Ukraine question um on the um the ship in the Red Sea that's on fire can I um assume that what you're saying is that at this point NE neither the us nor any of the other allies have been able to do anything to uh stop the fire or to do something actual to address the the ship's condition right now is that accurate yeah thanks Lita uh as I highlighted sencom continues continues to Monitor and assess the situation uh we are aware of a third party uh that attempted to send two tugs uh to the The Vessel to help Salvage uh but they were warned away uh by the houthis uh and threatened with being attacked which again demonstrates uh their blat and disregard uh for for not only human life uh but Al for also uh for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents so uh again sencom continues to Monitor and and uh look at you know and assess the situation and we'll keep you updated on that front and then you said you had a question on Ukraine uh yes um does the uh does secretary Austin expect to meet with uh Min umarov this week and can you provide any update on whether the US has seen much Movement by Russians out of other parts of Ukraine to go to curse thank you um in terms of uh the secretary meeting with Minister umarov I don't have anything to announce uh as you know he regularly speaks the secretary Austin regularly speaks with minister RoR off and so uh I would uh foresee them speaking again uh in the near future but again I I don't have anything to to provide from the podium today um in terms of K again we continue to keep an eye on this uh as we've said previously we have seen the Russians divert some forces uh to the kurk region um largely uh they have used forces that are already there uh and as they put together a defense a hasty defense um but but nothing large scale uh that I've seen at this point uh but again i' I'd refer you to the Russians uh to talk more about their operations I'll just leave it there Jennifer um General Ryder the US doesn't have any Naval warships in the Red Sea right now do you think that if there had been USS Cole or other uh destroyers in or an aircraft carry on the Red Sea that they could have prevented this hooti attack on this vessel that's now on fire um well you know I at this point the fact is is that there is a vessel that's on fire and as you know we've been uh patrolling those waterways for a while and have been able to intercept and mitigate the vast majority of of houthi attacks uh and so we'll we'll continue to stay focused on that uh but the reality is right now we have this situation and so again sencom will continue to assess U we'll keep you updated on on any potential involvement there how long do you expect that there won't be an aircraft carrier strike group in the Indo Pacific isn't it risky right now not having an aircraft carrier strike group there well look you know as we as we look at Global Force management and as we look at requirements uh around the world in support of our national security interest we're always taking great care to make sure that we can cover those commitments to include uh in our priority Theater which is the indopacific region and so we have a significant amount of capability there uh to include a large Naval presence uh and so in the case of the Middle East uh as I highlighted the secretary wanted uh those two carrier groups carrier strike groups to remain in the region for now to be able to provide us with additional capability and capacity to protect our forces support the defense of Israel and also be ready for a variety of contingencies but how long do you expect to have this carrier Gap uh you know look I'm not going to get into uh deployment timelines for operation security reasons but the bottom line is we can walk and chew gum at the same time Carla thank you Pat um Ukrainian president zalinski said yesterday that there should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine he said this before but he added that the terrorists referencing Russia have no such restrictions does the Pentagon agree with that statement well look I I won't speak for president zalinsky clearly uh he's made his his views and perspective uh well known both publicly and privately from a US perspective we're going to continue to cons consult closely with our Ukrainian Partners as well as our allies and partners around the world and how best to support Ukraine uh towards uh the the you know ultimate end state of ensuring a free and Sovereign uh Ukraine that can deter future aggression from Russia and so are there still restrictions on Ukrainian weapons provided by the United States so our policies haven't changed you've heard us say that the the ukrainians can use us uh security assistance to defend themselves from crossborder attacks in other words counterfire uh but as it relates to long range strike deep strikes uh into Russia our policy has not changed let me go back out to the phone here uh JJ green WTOP thanks General um question regarding um Israel and Hamas the Pentagon has said for quite a while now that one of its stated goals was to prevent this conflict from spreading So based on what happened over the weekend between Israel and Hezbollah um how does the Pentagon view that does does this seem to be an expansion because they've done attacks against each other but this was these attacks these these were much more much bigger and um seemingly had much more impact how does that impact the pentagon's view of whether this is expanding or not yeah thanks JJ uh so again just to put this into context when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th um you heard us say that you know we deployed a significant amount of uh additional capability into the middle east region uh and the and the ukom region in order to uh send a very clear message of deterrence and to prevent this from becoming uh a wider regional conflict right now we still assess uh that the conflict between Israel and Hamas uh is contained to Gaza you have seen the uh you know crossb strikes between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah since October 8 what you saw over the weekend of course was a much larger scale than what we've seen previously but it is in our view not a wider regional conflict at this stage and so we're going to continue to stay very focused on deescalation of tensions in the region as I highlighted and preventing it from becoming a wider Regional War thank you Tony Afghanistan uh you were pillar this week about the the third anniversary of not only the Abby gate tragedy but also Friday is going to Mark the third anniversary of the fall of our withdrawal you've been criticized quite a bit by the by conservatives Republicans I want and Trump yesterday I you saw that I wanted to get you what is the perspective of Pentagon leadership at this point three years later to the criticisms the word chaotic is the most widely used adjective to describe it three years later what's the perspective here in terms of how you guys view what happened yeah thanks Tony um well as I'm sure you can appreciate I'm I'm not going to be able to comment on any remarks from any political candidates okay um but separately secretary Austin has spoken many times about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and his pride in the tremendous work of the men and women of the US military so I would point you to some of his previous statements to include in April of 23 uh which reads in part and if you just allow me here quote over the course of 20 years of war in Afghanistan our service members and their families serve bravely selflessly and with and with compassion as the Secretary of Defense and as a veteran of the Afghanistan War I am proud of and deeply grateful for the men and women who stood up to serve after Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11 2001 we remember the 2,461 American Service members and Personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war even on the hardest days including August 26 2021 when we tragically lost 13 of our finest are forced performed admirably under incredibly challenging conditions end quote And in regards to the withdrawal he's also underscore that no other military in the world could have accomplished what we and our allies and partners did in such a short time span and that this is a testament not only to our forces capabilities and courage but also to our relationships and the capabilities of our allies and partners ask you to hunting down the perpetrators the enablers of the abig gate attack Chris Meyer your commando Chief talked to reporters on Friday he talked a little bit about the network was degraded but from from the podium can you give a feel for that President Biden said at the time we will hunt you down so what's the status of the hunt today yeah um well as uh assistant secretary defense Meyer highlighted we are laser focused on defending our citizens from terrorist threats that could emanate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe we know that we can't turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as Isis K uh and that we must keep a Relentless focus on counter counterterrorism and we're doing that um we have and continue to invest in uh and deploy modern capabilities to keep Americans safe we're working closely with the intelligence Community as well as to deepen our cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving threats I know that Mr mayor addressed this as well in terms of how we've been able to foil plots and disrupt terrorist networks to include Isis K by sharing information and intelligence and enabling Allied and partner Nations to be the ones conducting arrests or taking actions and you've seen that demonstrated here recently with some high-profile news coverage of a foiled terrorist plot in Europe for example um but we've also demonstrated our ability to reach anywhere in the world when there is a threat including in Central Asia or in the Middle East and we've shown that we will not hesitate to take action to keep America safe as evidenced by centcom's recent strike in Syria which killed the senior leader of an Al-Qaeda Associated group thank you very much Janie thank you general questions North Korean Kim Jun announced that it would fully deploy suicide drones for the world what concerns does the United States have about this and what is the US's respons to North Korea's ASC power to its I'm sorry Jan to its what what is the US's response to North Korea's asymmetric power um on your first question uh you I've seen the Press reporting certainly it's something that we're we're keeping an eye on I I do find it interesting uh that everywhere else it's known as one way attack drone but for some reason when North Korea says it it's suicide drone uh interesting um but uh you know we clearly want to take that threat seriously and it's something that we'll keep an eye on I know that our South Korean allies are also keeping an eye on it and monitoring that uh and I'll just you know conclude by saying that we will continue to consult closely with the r and Japan and other partners and allies in the region to ensure uh that our Collective defense remains strong in terms of uh North Korea and its capabilities you know look they have a long history here of uh of destabilizing uh rhetoric and and activities uh again our focus in the region is defensive in nature and I'm working with allies and partners to promote Regional security and stability uh and to be prepared for any threats that North Korea poses or presents obviously don't want conflict with North Korea and we continue to call for uh diplomatic uh communication uh but so far they've not been willing to to take that Olive Branch can you can you predict the possibility that suicide drone drones mess produced with the tact tactical support to put of Russia and Iran will be used on the battlefield of Ukraine and the Middle East yeah I don't have anything on that nor do I want to predict so thank you yes ma'am thank you sir na Academy Afghan journalist uh as he said something about Afghanistan Afghan people also concerned about dish activity based of European dis get increase in Afghanistan and Taliban concerned about their activity too and what is the difference between Taliban and dises um how much time do you have uh I mean you know look first of all uh as as you well know the Taliban currently uh is the the government uh in in Afghanistan and I'll use that that term loosely um and so as the uh so-called uh ruling entity in there clearly uh there is a difference between that uh Isis K but there are many other uh Terror groups that that are resident right now in Afghanistan uh so you know we're continuing to keep an eye on that that region at large ultimately at the end of the day our Focus continues to be broadly speaking on working with allies and partners throughout the world and to include Central Asia as a high ated on promoting Regional security and stability and safeguarding US National Security interests uh to include uh the counterterrorism efforts and and nonproliferation so um just leave it there thank you very much body thank you General um the US um provided intelligence and ISR support to Israel to u to in order to deal with the attack from hisbah what is your assessment of of that attack and do you think was was a would failed or succeed in achieving some of the goals that were declared byah leader Hass yeah thanks for the question I'm going to refrain uh from putting a label on it and just you know it it was it was a large scale attack um Lebanese Hezbollah had uh essentially previewed that they intended to retaliate and by all accounts they did uh and so um you know Israel uh was well prepared to respond and and defend themselves uh but I'll let the leaders from each of those uh you know from Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah speak to the nature of that from a US standpoint we were very focused again on uh supporting the defense of Israel uh as well as ensuring that this did not escalate into a wider regional conflict and that continues to be our focus and on the um threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel do you see uh Iran still uh poised to attack Israel or in light of the weekend events between hisbah and Israel there's been some changes in What You observe Vis A Iran you know I'm I'm not going to go into intelligence but again I you know as I've said previously uh Iran has made uh those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take take that very seriously and so we will continue to remain postured and we are well postured uh to be able to support the defenses of Israel as well as protect our own forces thank you Noah Admiral paparo said recently that the US could um escort Filipino vessels during resupply missions that this would be within the bounds of the mutual defense treaty I wanted to know if that's consistent with the secretary's thinking yeah thanks Noah um what I would say is the the Philippines Remains the lead lead for its own operations in the South China Sea and we continue to provide significant advisory support in addition to our efforts to help modernize uh the Philippine military and so as allies we continue to stand with the Philippines given especially the PRC has consistently prevented them from executing lawful maritime operations in the South China Sea and so our commitment to that Alliance is Ironclad uh as you know our governments have close continual consultation so any Military Support would be at the request of the government of the Philippines and in that light Admiral paparo simply called it an option within the context of consultations so you're saying that if they requested such Military Support that that could be on the table for consultation that that wouldn't be an immediate closed door well again without getting into hypotheticals I think as allies uh it would require any type it would re require consultation between our two Nations thank you Courtney you're setting way in the back there today yeah all right um the several Russian officials have spoken out recently about the us being involved in the K incursion the deputy foreign minister said consequences for the United States could be much harsher than those they are already experiencing they know where and in what areas we are reacting in Practical terms what is do you know what do that I guess what are the areas that they are reacting that the US knows about guess do you have any comment to there um lavro also spoke out saying that the US was complicit in this K incursion so truth and advertising I'm not a kremlinology so I'm not going to pretend to be able to translate for uh Russian bureaucratese said previously uh we did not have advanced notification of Ukraine's uh intent uh and operations to go into K uh certainly again you've heard president zalinski say that their effort there are to create a buffer zone and so we continue to have conversations with them about what that means um but more broadly speaking how the US can support Ukraine's efforts uh to preserve its sovereignty and deter future Russian aggression but but specifically on the on the this allegation that the US knows that the the consequences are going to be harsher than previously have you seen any indications of of consequences against the United States I I don't know what what that means again we're not at war with Russia we're not seeking conflict with Russia we are simply supporting a democratic Nation who was invaded 2 and a half years ago and enabling them to protect themselves thank you last question uh the Iran comment of rgc says Iran with Islamic resistance in Iraq and elsewhere will take uh retaliation but how does the Pentagon see the involvement of progress in Iraq in the existing war between Israel and Hamas well kind of taking a step back um you know there there have definitely been actions by uh Iranian back groups in Iraq and Syria as it relates to attempting to uh conduct rocket attacks against Israel uh largely unsuccessful but you know we we've seen that um we've also seen those groups attack US forces that are uh in Iraq and Syria support of the enduring defeat of Isis Mission so you know what they may do in the future I can't predict um but we take that threat seriously and we'll continue and the you know just like we're going to continue to support the defense of Israel uh we will stay very focused on ensuring that our forces are protected as well uh and we won't tolerate any tax against our forces uh and to purposely belabor the point uh if we are threatened or attack uh we will always respond in a time and manner of our choosing you thank you thank you very much everybody oh last one domestic question related to a justice department plea that came down last night against one of the Navy's top ship Builders a limited they pleaded guilty to product substitution and uh proc and fraud accounting fraud what steps is the dod General consult taking with the Navy to review whether they are a responsible contractor to keep getting Federal contracts or face dearment yeah thanks Tony um we've seen the Press reporting on it however I'm going to have to refer you to the Department of Justice for details and then to the Navy for any action that they're undertaking as a result I just don't have any more to Prov you don't have any more can you also check on the status of the Boeing review you were asked about like a month and a half ago in terms of their plea and you guys said at the time there's a review of what steps Boeing is taking to be a responsible contractor can you take that as a question in terms of the status of yeah I'll take the question I don't know that we'll have much more to provide but I'll take that question okay thanks oh Louie seriously you walk in like last minute all right only because it's ABC Louis Martinez thank you uh and congratulations to T um oh yeah okay um tap was on time but um going back to the jots it was announced last week I think that um that last cargo shipment had left Cypress is there an update has it been offload what's happened since um so what I'm tracking Louis is that uh essentially the ship is in the queue uh waiting for its turn to uh dock in ashdod and unload uh its contents uh but as of right now still at c um but that's the latest update I have okay afternoon everyone welcome back good to see you again uh just a few items at the top and then I'll be happy to take your questions uh first we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and remain postured to support the defense of Israel and Protect US troops and Assets in the region in two calls with his Israeli counterpart Minister Gant this past weekend secretary Austin underscored the United States's Ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its Regional partners and proxies as many of you are tracking in support of this the secretary ordered our two carrier strike groups the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to remain in the region as we have been from the start we remain intently focused on D escalating tensions in the Middle East while also remaining focused on securing a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza turning to the Red Sea last week on August 21st the MV Delta San a Greek flag greek-owned oil tanker carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil was attacked acted by Iranian backed houthi crude vessels as reported by the Greek shipping Ministry the MV Delta San was sailing from Iraq to Greece with a crew of two Russian and 23 Filipino Sailors the crew has since evacuated the ship with the assistance of a partner Nation vessel the MV Delta sonion now sits immobilized in the Red Sea where it is currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil presenting both a navigational Hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe although the houthis have claimed that they're conducting these attacks in support of the Palestinian people their actions Pro to the contrary in fact these are simply Reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize Global and Regional Commerce put the lives of innocent civilian Mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant Maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aiden the hou's own backyard us Central Command continues to actively monitor the situation and is coordinating with other Maritime Partners in the region to determine how best to assist the vessel and mitigate the potential environmental impact shifting gears and a display of an enduring and robust defense partnership the United States and the Indonesian National Armed Forces kicked off the 2024 super Garuda Shield exercise yesterday with an opening ceremony at an Indonesian military base at Janda Naval Airbase suraya super Garuda Shield is the largest annual us Indonesian Trading exercise and this year service members from the US Indonesia Australia Canada Japan Singapore and the United Kingdom will engage in various training opportunities including Airborne operations amphibious operations and interoperability information exchanges as well as academic exchanges professional development workshops command and control exercises and a joint field training exercise culminating in a live fire event sponsored by US Army Pacific the exercise will last through September 6 and involves around 3,000 combined Armed Forces including approximately 1,800 us Personnel it enhances interoperability through training and cultural exchanges solidifying the US Indonesia major defense partnership and supporting a free and open Indo Pacific for more information on super Guru Shield I'd refer you to US Army Pacific finally on behalf of all who have served here in the office of the secretary of defense for public affairs I wanted to take the opport Unity to congratulate our very own Mr Taft phebus on his 40-year uh Milestone of federal service in the defense press press operations office always the early bird in early and out late taed humbly and selflessly plays a foundational role here at ospa supporting the Pentagon press Corps and ensuring they have the support they need to do their jobs effectively anyone who has had the Good Fortune of working alongside Taft is familiar with the wisdom and professionalism he brings to the job every day so once more congratulations Taft and thank you for your service here's to 40 more uh and with that I will take your [Applause] questions I know ta also likes all the attention so all right all right with that uh we'll go to Associated Press first who I believe is on the phone today uh Lita thank you Pat and congratulations to Taff he's a huge help as always um I have a quick followup on the ship and then I have a Ukraine question um on the um the ship in the Red Sea that's on fire can I um assume that what you're saying is that at this point NE neither the us nor any of the other allies have been able to do anything to uh stop the fire or to do something actual to address the the ship's condition right now is that accurate yeah thanks Lita uh as I highlighted continues continues to Monitor and assess the situation uh we are aware of a third party uh that attempted to send two tugs uh to the The Vessel to help Salvage uh but they were worned away uh by the houthis uh and threatened with being attacked which again demonstrates uh their blatant disregard uh for for not only human life uh but Al for also uh for the potential environmental catastrophe that this present so again sencom continues to Monitor and and uh look at you know and assess the situation and we'll keep you updated on that front and then you said you had a question on Ukraine uh yes um does the uh does secretary Austin expect to meet with uh M umarov this week and can you provide any update on whether the US has seen much Movement by Russians out of other parts of UK Ukraine to go to curse thank you um in terms of uh the secretary meeting with Minister umarov I don't have anything to announce uh as you know he regularly speaks the secretary Austin regularly speaks with Minister umarov and so uh I would uh foresee them speaking again uh in the near future but again I I don't have anything to to provide from the podium today um in terms of KK uh again we continue to keep an eye on this uh as we've said previously we have seen the Russians divert some forces uh to the KK region um largely uh they have used forces that are already there uh and as they put together a defense a hasty defense um but but nothing large scale uh that I've seen at this point uh but again i' I'd refer you to the Russians uh to talk more about their operations and I'll just leave it there Jennifer um General Ryder the US doesn't have any Naval warships in the Red Sea right now do you think that if there had been USS Cole or other uh destroyers in or an aircraft carry on the Red Sea that they could have prevented this hooti attack on this vessel that's now on fire um well you know I at this point the fact is is that there is a vessel that's on fire and as you know we've been uh patrolling those waterways for a while and have been able to intercept and mitigate the vast majority of of houthi attack uh and so we'll we'll continue to stay focused on that uh but the reality is right now we have this situation and so again sencom will continue to assess uh we'll keep you updated on on any potential involvement there how long do you expect that there won't be an aircraft carrier strike group in the Indo Pacific isn't it risky right now not having an aircraft carrier strike group there well look you know as we as we look at Global Force management and as we look at requirements uh around the world in support of our security interest we're always taking great care to make sure that we can cover those commitments to include uh in our priority Theater which is the indopacific region and so we have a significant amount of capability there uh to include a large Naval presence uh and so in the case of the Middle East uh as I highlighted the secretary wanted uh those two carrier groups carrier strike groups to remain in the region for now to be able to provide us with additional capability and capacity to protect our forces support the defense of Israel and also be ready for a variety of contingencies but how long do you expect to have this carrier Gap uh you know look I'm not going to get into uh deployment timelines for operation security reasons but the bottom line is we can walk and chew gum at the same time car thank you Pat um Ukrainian president zalinski said yesterday that there should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine he said this before but he added that the terrorists referencing Russia have no such restrictions does the Pentagon agree with that statement well look I I won't speak for president zalinsky clearly uh he's made his his views in perspective uh well known both publicly and privately from a US perspective we're going to continue to consult closely with our Ukrainian Partners as well as our allies and partners around the world and how best to support Ukraine uh towards uh the the you know ultimate end state of ensuring a free and Sovereign uh Ukraine that can deter future aggression from Russia and so are there still restrictions on Ukrainian weapons provided by the United States so our policies haven't changed you've heard us say that the the ukrainians can use us uh security assistance to defend themselves from crossb attacks in other words counterfire uh but as it relates to long range strike deep strikes uh into Russia our policy has not changed let me go back out to the phone here uh JJ green WTOP thanks General um question regarding um Israel and Hamas the Pentagon has said for quite a while now that one of its stated goals was to prevent this conflict from spreading So based on what happened over the weekend between Israel in Hezbollah um how does the Pentagon view that does does this seem to be an expansion because they've done attacks against each other but this was these attacks these these were much more much bigger and um seemingly had much more impact how does that impact the pentagon's view of whether this is expanding or not yeah thanks JJ uh so again just to put this into context when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th um you heard us say that you know we deployed a significant amount of uh additional capability into the middle east region uh and the and the ukom region in order to uh send a very clear message of deterrence and to prevent this from becoming a wider regional conflict right now we still assess uh that the conflict between Israel and Hamas uh is contained to Gaza uh you have seen the uh you know crossb strikes between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah since October 8 what you saw over the weekend of course was a much larger scale than what we've seen previously but it is in our view not a wider regional conflict at this stage and so we're going to continue to stay very focused on deescalation of tensions in the region as I highlighted and preventing it from becoming a wider Regional War thank you Tony Afghanistan uh you were pillar this week about the the the third anniversary of not only the abig gate tragedy but also Friday is going to Mark the third anniversary of the fall of our withdrawal you've been criticized quite a bit by by the by conservatives Republicans I want and Trump yesterday I you saw that I wanted to get you what is the perspective of Pentagon leadership at this point three years later to the criticisms the word chaotic is the most widely used adjective to describe it three years later what's the perspective here in terms of how you guys view what happened yeah thanks Tony um well as I'm sure you can appreciate I'm I'm not going to be able to comment on any remarks from any political candidates okay um but separately secretary Austin has spoken many times about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and his pride in the tremendous work of the men and women of the US military so I would point you to some of his previous statements to include in April of 2023 uh which reads in part and if you just allow me here quote over the course of 20 years of war in Afghanistan our service members and their families served bravely selflessly and with and with compassion as the Secretary of Defense and as a veteran of the Afghanistan war I am proud of and deeply grateful for the men and women who stood up to serve after Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11 2001 we remember the 2,461 American Service members and Personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war even on the hardest days including August 26 2021 when we tragically lost 13 of our finest our Force performed admirably under incredibly challenging conditions end quote And in regards to the withdrawal he's also underscored that no other military in the world could have accomplished what we and our allies and partners did in such a short time span and that this is a testament not only to our forces capabilities and courage but also to our relationships and the capabilities of our allies and partners ask you to hunting down the perpetrators the enablers of the abig gate attack Chris Meyer your commando Chief talked to reporters on Friday he talked a little bit about the network was degraded but from from the podium can you give a feel for that President Biden said at the time we will hunt you down so what's the status of the hunt today yeah um well as uh assistant secretary defense Meyer highlighted we are laser focused on defending our citizens from terrorist threats that could emanate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe we know that we can't turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as Isis K uh and that we must keep a Relentless focus on counter counterterrorism and we're doing that um we have and continue to invest in uh and deploy modern capabilities to keep Americans safe we're working closely with the intelligence Community as well as to deepen our cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving threats I know that Mr Mayor addressed this as well in terms of how we've been able to foil plots and disrupt terrorist networks to include Isis K by sharing information and intelligence and enabling Allied and partner Nations to be the ones conducting arrests or taking actions and you've seen that demonstrated here here recently with some high-profile news coverage of a foiled terrorist plot in Europe for example um but we've also demonstrated our ability to reach anywhere in the world when there is a threat including in Central Asia or in the Middle East and we've shown that we will not hesitate to take action to keep America safe as evidenced by centcom's recent strike in Syria which killed the senior leader of an Al-Qaeda Associated group thank you very much Janie thank you General cations North Korean Kim J announced that it would fully deploy suicide drones for the world what concerns does the United States have about this and what is the US's response to North Korea's as metric power to its I'm sorry Jan to its what what is the US's response to North Korea's asymmetric power um on your first question uh you I've seen the Press reporting certainly it's something that we're we're keeping an eye on I I do find it interesting uh that everywhere else it's known as one way attack drone but for some reason when North Korea says it it's suicide drone uh interesting um but uh you know we clearly want to take that threat seriously and it's something that we'll keep an eye on I know that our South Korean allies are also keeping an eye on it and monitoring that uh and I'll just you know conclude by saying that we will continue to consult closely with the r and Japan and other partners and allies in the region to ensure uh that our Collective defense remains strong in terms of uh North Korea and its capabilities you know look they have a long history here of uh of destabilizing uh rhetoric and and activities uh again our focus in the region is defensive in nature and I'm working with allies and partners to promote Regional security and stability uh and to be prepared for threats that North Korea poses or presents obviously don't want conflict with North Korea and we continue to call for uh diplomatic uh communication uh but so far they've not been willing to to take that Olive Branch can you can you predict the possibility that suicide drone drones mass produced with the tact tactical support put Russia and Iran will be used on the battlefield of Ukraine and the Middle East yeah I don't have anything on that nor do I want to predict so thank you yes ma'am thank you sir Nazir Academy Afghan journalist uh as he said something about Afghanistan Afghan people also concerned about dish activity based of Europe and D get increase in Afghanistan and Taliban concerned about their activity too and what is the different between Taliban and Dash um how much time do you have U I mean you know look first of all uh as you well know the Taliban currently uh is the the government uh in in Afghanistan and I'll use that term loosely um and so as the uh so-called ruling entity in there clearly uh there is a difference between that uh Isis K but there are many other uh Terror groups that that are resident right now in Afghanistan uh so you know we're continuing to keep an eye on that that region at large ultimately at the end of the day our Focus continues to be broadly speaking on working with allies and partners throughout the world and to include Central Asia as I highlighted on promoting Regional security and stability and safeguarding US National Security interests uh to include uh the counterterrorism efforts and and non-proliferation so um just leave it there thank you very much body thank you General um the US um provided intelligence and ISR support to Israel to u to in order to deal with the attack from hisbah what is your assessment of of that attack and do you think it was was a would failed or succeed in achieving some of the goals that were declared byah leader Hassan n yeah thanks for the question I'm going to refrain uh from putting a label on it and just you know it it was it was a large scale attack um Lebanese Hezbollah had uh essentially previewed that they intended to retaliate and by all accounts they did uh and so um you know Israel uh was well prepared to respond and and defend themselves uh but I'll let the leaders from each of those uh you know from Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah speak to the nature of that from a US standpoint we were very focused again on uh supporting the defense of Israel uh as well as ensuring that this did not escalate into a wider regional conflict and that continues to be our focus and on the um threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel do you see uh Iran still uh poised to attack Israel or in light of the weekend events between hisbah and Israel there's been some changes in What You observe present the Iran you know I'm I'm not going to go into intelligence but again I you know as I've said previously uh Iran has made uh those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take that very seriously and so we will continue to remain postured and we are well postured uh to be able to support the defenses of Israel as well as protect our own forces thank you Noah Admiral paparo said recently that the us could um escort Filipino vessels during resupply missions that this would be within the bounds of the mutual defense treaty I wanted to know if that's consistent with the secretary's thinking yeah thanks Noah um what I would say is the the Philippines Remains the lead for its own operations in the South China Sea and we continue to provide significant advisory support in addition to our efforts to help modernize uh the Philippine military and so as allies we continue to stand with the Philippines given a espcially the PRC has consistently prevented them from executing lawful maritime operations in the South China Sea and so our commitment to that Alliance is Ironclad uh as you know our governments have close continual consultations so any Military Support would be at the request of the government of the Philippines and in that light Admiral paparo simply called it an option within the context of consultations so you're saying that if they requested such Military Support that that could be on the table for consultation that that wouldn't be an immediate closed door well again without getting into hypotheticals I think as allies uh it would require any type it would re require consultation between our two Nations thank you Courtney you're sitting way in the back there today yeah all right um the several Russian officials have spoken out recently about the us being involved in the K incursion the deputy foreign minister said consequences the United States could be much harsher than those they are already experiencing they know where and in what areas we are reacting in Practical terms what is do you know what does that I guess what are the areas that they are reacting that the US knows about guess do you have any comment to their um labov also spoke out saying that the US was complicit in this Cur incursion so truth and advertising I'm not a kremlinology so I'm not going to pretend to be able to translate for uh Russian bureaucratese um what I will say is that as we said previously uh we did not have advanced notification of Ukraine's uh intent uh and operations to go into KK uh certainly again you've heard president zalinski say that their efforts there are to create a buffer zone and so we are continue to have conversations with them about what that means um but more broadly speaking how the US can support Ukraine's efforts uh to preserve its sovereignty and deter future Russian aggression but but specifically on on the this allegation that the US knows that the the consequences are going to be harsher than previously have you seen any indications of of consequences against the United States I don't know what what that means again we're not at war with Russia we're not seeking conflict with Russia we are simply supporting a democratic Nation who was invaded two and a half years ago and enabling them to protect themselves thank you last question uh the Iran com of C says Iran with Islamic resistance in Iraq and elsewhere will take uh retaliation but how does the Pentagon see the involvement of progis in Iraq in the existing war between Israel and Hamas well kind of taking a step back um you know there there have definitely been actions by uh Iranian back groups in Iraq and Syria as it relates to attempting to uh conduct rocket attacks against Israel uh largely unsuccessful but you know we we've seen that um we've also seen those groups attack US forces that are uh in Iraq and Syria in support of the enduring defeat of Isis Mission so you know what they may do in the future I can't predict um but we take that threat seriously and we'll continue and the you know just like we're going to continue to support the defense of Israel uh we will stay very focused on ensuring that our forces are protected as well uh and we won't tolerate any tax against our forces uh and to purposely belabor the point uh if we are threatened or attacked uh we will always respond in a time and manner of our choosing thank you thank you thank you very much everybody last one domestic question related to a justice department plea that came down last night against one of the Navy's top ship Builders AUST to limit they pleaded guilty to product substitution and uh procure and fraud accounting fraud what steps is the dod General Council taking with the Navy to review whether they are a responsible contractor to keep getting Federal contracts or face dearment yeah thanks Tony um we've seen the Press reporting on it however I'm going to have to refer you to the Department of Justice for details and then to the Navy for any action that they're undertaking as a result I just don't have any more to provide you don't have any more can you also check on the status of the Boeing review you were asked about like a month and a half ago in terms of their plea I you guys said at the time there's a review of what steps Boeing is taking to be a responsible contractor can you take that as a question in terms of the status of yeah I'll take the question I don't know that we'll have much more to provide but I'll take that question okay thanks oh Louie seriously you walk in like last minute all right only because it's ABC Louis Martinez thank you uh congratulations to tff um oh yeah okay um tap was on time but um going back to the jots it was announced last week I think that um that last cargo shipment had left Cypress is there an update has it been offloaded what's happened since um so what I'm tracking Louie is that uh essentially the ship is in the queue uh waiting for its turn to uh dock in ashdod and unload uh its contents uh but as of right now still at C um but that's the latest update I have okay afternoon everyone welcome back good to see you again uh just a few items at the top and then I'll be happy to take your questions uh first we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and remain postured to support the defense of Israel and Protect US troops and Assets in the region and two calls with his Israeli counterpart Minister Galant this past weekend secretary Austin underscored the United States's Ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its Regional partners and proxies as many of you are tracking in support of this the secretary ordered our two carrier strike groups the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to remain in the region as we have been from the start we remain intently focused on deescalate tensions in the Middle East while also remaining focused on securing a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza turning to the Red Sea last week on August 21st the MV Delta San a Greek flag greek-owned oil tanker carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil was attacked by iranian-backed houthi crude vessels as reported by the Greek shipping Ministry the MV Delta San was sailing from Iraq to Greece with a crew of two Russian and 23 Filipino Sailors the crew has since evacuated the ship with the assistance of a partner Nation vessel the MV Delta San now sits immobilized in the Red Sea where it is currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil presenting both a navigational Hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe although the houthis have claimed that they're conducting these attacks in support of the Palestinian people their actions Pro to the contrary in fact these are simply Reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize Global and Regional Commerce put the lives of innocent Civ ion Mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant Maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aiden the hou's own backyard us Central Command continues to actively monitor the situation and is coordinating with other Maritime Partners in the region to determine how best to assist the vessel and mitigate the potential environmental impact shifting gears in a display of an enduring and robust defense partnership the United States and the Indonesian National Armed Forces kicked off the 2024 super Garuda Shield exercise yesterday with an opening ceremony at an Indonesian military base at Janda Naval Airbase suraya super Garuda Shield is the largest annual us Indonesian training exercise and this year service members from the US Indonesia Australia Canada Japan Singapore and the United Kingdom will engage in various training opportunities including Airborne operations amphibious operations and interoperability information Exchange changes as well as academic exchanges professional development workshops command and control exercises and a joint field training exercise culminating in a live fighter event sponsored by US Army Pacific the exercise will last through September 6 and involves around 3,000 combined Armed Forces including approximately 1,800 us Personnel it enhances interoperability through training and cultural exchanges solidifying the US Indonesia major defense partnership and supporting a free and open Indo Pacific for more information on super Guru Shield I'd refer you to US Army Pacific finally on behalf of all who have served here in the office of the secretary of defense for public affairs I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate our very own Mr Taft febus on his 40-year uh Milestone of federal service in the defense press press operations office always the early bird in early and out late taed humbly and selflessly plays a foundation role here at ospa supporting the Pentagon press Corps and ensuring they have the support they need to do their jobs effectively anyone who has had the Good Fortune of working alongside Taft is familiar with the wisdom and professionalism he brings to the job every day so once more congratulations Taft and thank you for your service here's to 40 more uh and with that I will take your [Applause] questions I know ta also likes all the attention so all right all right with that uh we'll go to Associated Press first who I believe is on the phone today uh Lita thank you Pat and congratulations to Taft he's a huge help as always um I have a quick followup on the ship and then I have a Ukraine question um on the um the ship in the Red Sea that's on fire can I um assume that what you're saying is that at this point NE neither the us nor any of the other allies have been able to do anything to uh stop the fire or to do something actual to address the the ship's condition right now is that accurate yeah thanks Lita uh as I highlighted sencom continu continues to Monitor and assess the situation uh we are aware of a third party uh that attempted to send two tugs uh to the The Vessel to help Salvage uh but they were warned away uh by the houthis uh and threatened with being attacked which again demonstrates uh their blatant disregard uh for for not only human life uh but Al for also uh for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents so uh again sencom continues to Monitor and and uh look at you know and assess the situation and we'll keep you updated on that front and then you said you had a question on Ukraine uh yes um does the uh does secretary Austin expect to meet with uh Min umarov this week and can you provide any update on whether the US has seen much Movement by Russians out of other parts of Ukraine to go to curse thank you um in terms of uh the secretary meeting with Minister umarov I don't have anything to announce uh as you know he regularly speaks secretary Austin regularly speaks with Minister umarov and so uh I would foresee them speaking again uh in the near future but again I I don't have anything to to provide from the podium today um in terms of KKK again we continue to keep an eye on this uh as we've said previously we have seen the Russians divert some forces uh to the KK region um largely uh they have used forces that are already there uh and as they put together a defense a hasty defense um but but nothing large scale uh that I've seen at this point uh but again i' I'd refer you to the Russians uh to talk more about their operations and I'll just leave it there Jennifer um General Ryder the US doesn't have any Naval warships in the Red Sea right now do you think that if there had been USS coal or other uh destroyers in or an aircraft carrier in the Red Sea that they could have prevented this hooti attack on this vessel that's now on fire um well you know I at this point the fact is is that there is a vessel that's on fire and as you know we've been patrolling those waterways for a while and have been able to intercept and mitigate the vast majority of of houthi attacks uh and so we'll we'll continue to stay focused on that uh but the reality is right now we have this situation and so again sencom will continue to assess um we'll keep you updated on on any potential involvement there how long do you expect that there won't be an aircraft carrier strike group in the Indo Pacific isn't it risky right now not having an aircraft carrier strike group there well look you know as we as we look at Global Force management and as we look at requirements uh around the world in support of our national security interest we're always taking great care to make sure that we can cover those commitments to include uh in our priority Theater which is the indopacific region and so we have a significant amount of capability there uh to include a large Naval presence uh and so so in the case of the Middle East uh as I highlighted the secretary wanted uh those two carrier groups carrier strike groups to remain in the region for now to be able to provide us with additional capability and capacity to protect our forces support the defense of Israel and also be ready for a variety of contingencies but how long do you expect to have this carrier Gap uh you know look I'm not going to get into uh deployment timelines for operation security reasons but the bottom line is we can walk and chew gum at the same time time Carla thank you Pat um Ukrainian president zalinski said yesterday that there should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine he said this before but he added that the terrorists referencing Russia have no such restrictions does the Pentagon agree with that statement well look I I won't speak for president zalinsky clearly uh he's made his his views and perspective uh well known both publicly and privately from a US perspective we're going to continue to consult closely with our Ukrainian Partners as well as our allies and partners around the world and how best to support Ukraine uh towards uh the the you know ultimate end state of ensuring a free and Sovereign uh Ukraine that can deter future aggression from Russia and so are there still restrictions on Ukrainian weapons provided by the United States so our policies haven't changed you've heard us say that they the ukrainians can use us uh security assistance to defend themselves from crossb attacks in other words counterfire uh but as it relates to long range strike deep strikes uh into Russia our policy has not changed let me go back out to the phone here uh JJ green WTOP thanks General um question regarding um Israel and Hamas the Pentagon has said for quite a while now that one of its stated goals was to prevent this conflict from spreading So based on what happened over the weekend between Israel in Hezbollah um how does the Pentagon view that does does this seem to be an expansion because they've done attacks against each other but this was these attacks these these were much more much bigger and um seemingly had much more impact how does that impact the pentagon's view of whether this is expanding or not yeah thanks JJ uh so again just to put this into context when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th um you heard us say that you know we deployed a significant amount of uh additional capability into the middle east region uh and the and the Yukon region in order to uh send a very clear message of deterrence and to prevent this from becoming uh a wider regional conflict right now we still assess uh that the conflict between Israel and Hamas uh is contained to Gaza uh you have seen the uh you know crossb strikes between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah since October 8 what you saw over the weekend of course was a much larger scale than what we've seen previously but it is in our view not a wider regional conflict at this stage and so we're going to continue to stay very focused on deescalation of tensions in the region as I highlighted and preventing it from becoming a wider Regional War thank you Tony Afghanistan uh you were pillar this week about the the the third anniversary of not only the abig gate tragedy but also Friday is going to Mark the 30 anniversary of the fall of our withdrawal you've been criticized quite a bit by the by conservatives Republicans I and Trump yesterday I you saw that I wanted to get you what is the perspective of Pentagon leadership at this point three years later to the criticisms the word chaotic is the most widely used adjective to describe it three years later what's the perspective here in terms of how you guys view what happened yeah thanks Tony um well as I'm sure you can appreciate I'm I'm not going to be able to comment on any remarks from any political candidates okay um but separately secretary Austin has spoken many times about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and his pride in the tremendous work of the men and women of the US military so I would point you to some of his previous statements to include in April of 2023 uh which reads in part and if you just allow me here quote over the course of 20 years of war in Afghanistan our service members and their families served bravely selflessly and with and with compassion as the Secretary of Defense and as a veteran of the Afghanistan War I am proud of and deeply grateful for the men and women who stood up to serve after Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11 2001 we remember the 2,461 American Service members and Personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war even on the hardest days including August 26 2021 when we tragically lost 13 of our finest our Force performed admirably under incredibly challenging conditions end quote And in regards to the withdrawal he's also underscored that no other military in the world could have accomplished what we and our allies and partners did in such a short time span and that this is a testament not only to our forces capabilities and courage but also to our relationships and the capabilities of our allies and partners ask you to hunting down the perpetrator the enablers of the abig gate attack Chris Meyer your commando Chief talked to reporters on Friday and he talked a little bit about the network was degraded but from from the podium can you give a feel for that President Biden said at the time we will hunt you down so what's the status of the hunt today yeah um well as uh assistant Secretary of Defense Meyer highlighted we are laser focused on defending our citizens from terrorist threats that could emanate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe we know that we can't turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as Isis K uh and that we must keep a Relentless focus on counter counterterrorism and we're doing that um we have and continue to invest in uh and deploy modern capabilities to keep Americans safe we're working closely with the intelligence Community as well as to deepen our cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving threats I know that Mr Mayor addressed this as well in terms of how we've been able to foil plots and disrupt terrorist networks to include Isis K by sharing information and intelligence and enabling Allied and partner Nations to be the ones conducting arrests or taking actions and you've seen that demonstrated here recently with some high-profile news coverage of a foiled terrorist plot in Europe for example um but we've also demonstrated our ability to reach anywhere in the world when there is a threat including in Central Asia or in the Middle East and we've shown that we will not hesitate to take action to keep America safe as evidenced by centcom's recent strike in Syria which killed the senior leader of an Al-Qaeda Associated group thank you very much Janie thank you general questions North Korean Kim Jun announced that it would fully deploy suicide drones for the world what concerns does the United States have about this and what is the US's response to North Korea's as syc power to its I'm sorry Jan to its what yeah what is the US's response to North Korea's asymmetric power um on your first question uh you I've seen the Press reporting certainly it's something that we're we're keeping an eye on I I do find it interesting uh that everywhere else it's known as one way attack drone but for some reason when North Korea says it it's suicide drone uh interesting um but uh you know we clearly want to take that threat seriously and it's something that we'll keep an eye on I know that our South Korean allies are also keeping an eye on it and monitoring that uh and I'll just you know conclude by saying that we will continue to consult closely with the r and Japan and other partners and allies in the region to ensure uh that our Collective defense remains strong in terms of uh North Korea and its capabilities you know look they have a long history here of uh of destabilizing uh rhetoric and and activities uh again our focus in the region is defensive in nature and I'm working with allies and partners to promote Regional security and stability uh and to be prepared for any threats that North Korea poses or presents obviously don't want conflict with North Korea and we continue to call for uh diplomatic uh communication uh but so far they've not been willing to to take that Olive Branch can you can you predicted the POS possibility that suicide drone drones mass produced with tact tactical support Pro Russia and Iran will be used on the battlefield of Ukraine and Middle East yeah I I don't have anything on that nor do I want to predict so thank you yes ma'am thank you sir Naz Academy Afghan journalist uh as he said something about Afghanistan Afghan people also concerned about dish activity based of European D get increase in Afghanistan and Taliban concerned about their activity too and what is the difference between Taliban and dises um how much time do you have uh I mean you know look first of all uh as as you well know the Taliban currently uh is the the government uh in in Afghanistan and I'll use that term loosely um and so as the uh so-called ruling entity in there clearly uh there is a difference between that uh Isis K but there are many other uh Terror groups that that are resident right now in Afghanistan uh so you know we're continuing to keep an eye on that that region at large ultimately at the end of the day our Focus continues to be broadly speaking on working with allies and partners throughout the world and to include Central Asia as I highlighted on promoting Regional security and stability and safeguarding US National Security interests uh to include uh the counterterrorism efforts and and non-proliferation so um just leave it there thank you very much body thank you General um the US um provided intelligence and ISR support to Israel to u to in order to deal with the attack from hisbah what is your assessment of of that attack and do you think it was was a would failed or succeed in achieving some of the goals that were declared byah leader Hassan yeah thanks for the question I'm going to refrain uh from putting a label on it and just you know it it was it was a large scale attack um Lebanese Hezbollah had uh essentially previewed that they intended to retaliate and B all accounts they did uh and so um you know Israel uh was well prepared to respond and and defend themselves uh but I'll let the leaders from each of those uh you know from Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah speak to the nature of that from a US standpoint we were very focused again on uh supporting the defense of Israel uh as well as ensuring that this did not escalate into a wider regional conflict and that continues to be our focus and on the um threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel do you see uh Iran still uh poised to attack Israel or in light of the weekend events between hisbah and Israel there's been some changes in What You observe Vis A Iran you know I'm not going to go into intelligence but again I you know as I've said previously uh Iran has made uh those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take that very seriously and so we will continue to remain postured and we are well postured uh to be able to support the defenses of Israel as well as protect our own forces thank you Noah Admiral paparo said recently that the US could um escort Filipino vessels during resupply missions that this would be within the bounds of the mutual defense treaty I wanted to know if that's consistent with the secretary's thinking yeah thanks Noah um what I would say is the the Philippines Remains the lead for its own operations in the South China Sea and we continue to provide significant advisory support in addition to our efforts to help modernize uh the Philippine military and so as allies we continue to stand with the Philippines given especially the PRC has consistantly prevented them from executing lawful maritime operations in the South China Sea and so our commitment to that Alliance is Ironclad uh as you know our governments have close continual consultations so any milit Ary support would be at the request of the government of the Philippines and in that light Admiral paparo simply called it an option within the context of consultations so you're saying that if they requested such Military Support that that could be on the table for consultation that that wouldn't be an immediate closed door well again without getting into hypotheticals I think as allies uh it would require any type it would re require consultation between our two Nations thank you Courtney you're setting way in the back there today yeah all right um the several Russian officials have spoken out recently about the us being involved in the kers incursion the deputy foreign minister said consequences for the United States could be much harsher than those they are already experiencing they know where and in what areas we are reacting in Practical terms what is do you know what do that I guess what are the areas that they are reacting that the US knows about guess do you have any comment to their um labov also spoke out saying that the US is complicit in this Cur incursion so truth and advertising I'm not a kremlinology so I'm not going to pretend to be able to translate for uh Russian bureaucratese um what I will say is that as we've said previously uh we did not have advanced notification of Ukraine's uh intent uh and operations to go into KK uh certainly again you've heard president zalinski say that their efforts there are to create a buffer zone and so we continue to have conversations with them about what that means um but more broadly speaking how the US can support Ukraine's efforts uh to preserve its sovereignty and deter future Russian aggression but but specifically on the on the this allegation that the US knows that the the consequences are going to be harsher than previously have you seen any indications of of consequences against the United States I don't know what what that means again we're not at war with Russia we're not seeking conflict with Russia we are simply supporting a democratic Nation who was invaded 2 and a half years ago and enabling them to protect themselves thank you last question uh the Iranian command of rgc says Iran with Islamic resistance in Iraq and elsewhere will take uh retaliation but how does the Pentagon see the involvement of progress in Iraq in the existing war between Israel and Hamas well kind of taking a step back um you know there there have definitely been actions by uh Iranian back groups in Iraq and Syria as it relates to attempting to uh conduct rocket attacks against Israel uh largely unsuccessful but you know we we've seen that um we've also seen those groups attack US forces that are uh in Iraq and Syria in support of the enduring defeat of Isis Mission so you know what they may do in the future I can't predict um but we take that threat seriously and we'll continue and the you know just like we're going to continue to support the defense of Israel uh we will stay very focused on uring that our forces are protected as well uh and we won't tolerate any taxs against our forces uh and to purposely belabor the point uh if we are threatened or attacked uh we will always respond in a time and manner of our choosing you thank you thank you very much everybody oh last one one domestic question related to a justice department plea that came down last night against one of the Navy's top ship Builders austa limited they pleaded guilty to product substitution and uh proc and fraud accounting fraud what steps is the dod General councel taking with the Navy to review whether they are a responsible contractor to keep getting Federal contracts or face dearment yeah thanks Tony um we've seen the Press reporting on it however I'm going to have to refer you to the Department of Justice for details and then to the Navy for any action that they're undertaking as a result I just don't have any more to Pro you don't have any more can you also check on the status of the Boeing review you were asked about like a month and a half ago terms of their ple and you guys said at the time there's a review of B what steps Boeing is taking to be a responsible contractor can you take that as a question in terms of the status of I'll take the question I don't know that we'll have much more to provide but I'll take that question okay thanks oh Louis seriously you walk in like last minute all right only because it's ABC Louis Martinez thank you uh congratulations to tap um oh yeah okay um tap was on time but um going back to the jots it was announced last week I think that um that last cargo shipment have left Cyprus is there an update has it been offloaded what's happened since um so what I'm tracking Louie is that uh essentially the ship is in the queue uh waiting for its turn to uh dock in ashdod and unload uh its contents uh but as of right now still at c um but that's the latest update I have okay afternoon everyone welcome back good to see you again uh just a few items at the top and then I'll be happy to take your questions uh first we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and remain postured to support the defense of Israel and Protect US troops and Assets in the region in two calls with his Israeli counterpart Minister Gant this past weekend secretary Austin underscored the United States's Ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its Regional partners and proxies as many of you are tracking in support of this the secretary ordered our two carrier strike groups the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to remain in the region as we have been from the start we remain intently focused on deescalate tensions in the Middle East while also remaining focused on securing a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza turning to the Red Sea last week on August 21st the MV Delta San a Greek flag Greek owned oil tanker carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil was attacked by iranian-backed houthi crude vessel vels as reported by the Greek shipping Ministry the MV Delta San was sailing from Iraq to Greece with a crew of two Russian and 23 Filipino Sailors the crew has since evacuated the ship with the assistance of a partner Nation vessel the MV Delta San now sits immobilized in the Red Sea where it is currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil presenting both a navigational Hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe although the houthis have claimed that are conducting these attacks in support of the Palestinian people their actions proed to the contrary in fact these are simply Reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize Global and Regional Commerce put the lives of innocent civilian Mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant Maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aiden the hou's own backyard us Central Command continues to actively monitor the situation and is coordinating with other Maritime Partners in the region to determine how best to assist the vessel and mitigate the potential environmental impact shifting gears in a display of an enduring and robust defense partnership the United States and the Indonesian National Armed Forces kicked off the 2024 super Garuda Shield exercise yesterday with an opening ceremony at an Indonesian military base at Janda Naval Airbase cabaya super Garuda Shield is the largest annual us Indonesian trading exercise and this year's service m members from the US Indonesia Australia Canada Japan Singapore and the United Kingdom will engage in various training opportunities including Airborne operations amphibious operations and interoperability information exchanges as well as academic exchanges professional development workshops command and control exercises and a joint field training exercise culminating in a live fighter event sponsored by US Army Pacific the exercise will last through September 6 and involv around 3,000 combined Armed Forces including approximately 1,800 us Personnel it enhances interoperability through training and cultural exchanges solidifying the US Indonesia major defense partnership and supporting a free and open indopacific for more information on super Guru Shield I'd refer you to US Army Pacific finally on behalf of all who have served here in the office of the secretary of defense for public affairs I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate our very own Mr Taft febus on his 40-year uh Milestone of federal service in the defense press press operations office always the early bird in early and out late taed humbly and selflessly plays a foundational role here at ospa supporting the Pentagon press Corps and ensuring they have the support they need to do their jobs effectively anyone who has had the Good Fortune of working alongside Taft is familiar with the wisdom and professionalism he brings to the job every day so once more congratulations Taft and thank you for your service here's to 40 more uh and with that I will take your [Applause] questions I know ta also likes all the attention so all right all right with that uh we'll go to Associated Press first who I believe is on the phone today uh Lita thank you Pat and congratulations to Taft he's a huge help as always um I have a quick followup on the ship and then I have a Ukraine question um on the um the ship in the Red Sea that's on fire can I um assume that what you're saying is that at this point NE neither the us nor any of the other allies have been able to do anything to uh stop the fire or to do something actual to address the the ship's condition right now is that accurate yeah thanks Lita uh as I highlighted sencom continues continues to monitor and assess the situation uh we are aware of a third party uh that attempted to send two tugs uh to the The Vessel to help Salvage uh but they were warned away uh by the houthis uh and threatened with being attacked which again demonstrates uh their blatant disregard uh for for not only human life uh but Al for also uh for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents so again sencom continues to Monitor and and uh look at you know and assess the situation and we'll keep you updated on that front and then you said you had a question on Ukraine uh yes um does the uh does secretary Austin expect to meet with uh Ministry of umarov this week and can you provide any update on whether the US has seen much Movement by Russians out of other parts of Ukraine to go to curse thank you um in terms of uh the secretary meeting with Minister umarov I don't have anything to announce uh as you know he regularly speaks the secretary Austin regularly speaks with Minister umarov and so uh I would uh foresee them speaking again uh in the near future but again I I don't have anything to to provide from the podium today um in terms of KK again we continue to keep an eye on this uh as we've said previously we have seen the Russians divert some for uh to the K region um largely uh they have used forces that are already there uh and as they put together a defense a hasty defense um but but nothing large scale uh that I've seen at this point uh but again i' I'd refer you to the Russians uh to talk more about their operations and I'll just leave it there Jennifer um General Ryder the US doesn't have any Naval warships in the Red Sea right now do you think that that if there had been USS coal or other uh destroyers in or an aircraft carryer in the Red Sea that they could have prevented this hooti attack on this vessel that's now on fire um well you know I at this point the fact is is that there is a vessel that's on fire and as you know we've been uh patrolling those waterways for a while and have been able to intercept and mitigate the vast majority of of houthi attacks uh and so we'll we'll continue to stay focused on that uh but the reality is right now we have this situation and so again sencom will continue to assess um we'll keep you updated on on any potential involvement there how long do you expect that there won't be an aircraft carrier strike group in the Indo Pacific isn't it risky right now not having an aircraft carrier strike group there well look you know as we as we look at Global Force management and as we look at requirements uh around the world in support of our national security interest we're always taking great care to make sure that we can cover those commitments to include uh in our priority Theater which is the indopacific region and so we have a significant amount of capability there uh to include a large Naval presence uh and so in the case of the Middle East uh as I highlighted the secretary wanted uh those two carrier groups carrier strike groups to remain in the region for now to be able to provide us with additional capability and capacity to protect our forces support the defense of Israel and also be ready for a variety of contingencies but how long do you expect to have this carrier Gap uh you know look I'm not going to get into uh deployment timelines for operation security reasons but the bottom line is we can walk and chew gum at the same time Carla thank you Pat um Ukrainian president zalinski said yesterday that there should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine he said this before but he added that the terrorists referencing Russia have no such restrictions does the Pentagon agree with that well look I I won't speak for president zalinsky clearly uh he's made his his views and perspective uh well known both publicly and privately from a US perspective we're going to continue to consult closely with our Ukrainian Partners as well as our allies and partners around the world and how best to support Ukraine uh towards uh the the you know ultimate end state of ensuring a free and Sovereign uh Ukraine that can deter future aggression from Russia and so are there still restrictions on Ukrainian weapons provided by the United States so our policies haven't changed you've heard us say that the the ukrainians can use us uh security assistance to defend themselves from crossb attacks in other words counterfire um but as it relates to long range strike deep strikes uh into Russia our policy has not changed let me go back out to the phone here uh JJ green WTOP thanks General um question regarding um Israel and Hamas the Pentagon has said for quite a while now that one of its stated goals was to prevent this conflict from spreading So based on what happened over the weekend between Israel and Hezbollah um how does the Pentagon view that does does this seem to be an expansion because they've done attacks against each other but this was these attacks these these were much more much bigger and um seemingly had much more impact how does that impact the pentagon's view of whether this is expanding or not yeah thanks JJ uh so again just to put this into context when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th um you heard us say that you know we deployed a significant amount of uh additional capability into the middle east region uh and the and the ukom region in order to uh send a very clear message of deterrence and to prevent this from becoming a wider regional conflict right now we still assess uh that the conflict between Israel and Hamas uh is contained to Gaza uh you have seen the uh you know crossb strikes between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah since October 8 what you saw over the weekend of course was a much larger scale than what we've seen previously but it is in our view not a wider regional conflict at this stage and so we're going to continue to stay very focused on deescalation of tensions in the region as I highlighted and preventing it from becoming a wider Regional War thank you Tony Afghanistan uh you were pillaring this week about the the third anniversary of not only the abig gate tragedy but also Friday is going to Mark the third anniversary of the fall of our withdrawal you've been criticized quite a bit by the by conservatives Republicans I want and Trump yesterday I you saw that I wanted to get you what is the perspective of Pentagon leadership at this point three years later to the criticisms the word chaotic is the most widely used adjective to describe it three years later what's the perspective here in terms of how you guys view what happened yeah thanks Tony um well I'm sure you can appreciate I'm I'm not going to be able to comment on any remarks from any political candidates okay um but separately secretary Austin has spoken many times about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and his pride in the tremendous work of the men and women of the US military so I would point you to some of his previous statements to include in April of 2023 uh which reads in part and if you just allow me here quote over the course of 20 years of war in Afghanistan our service members and their families serve bravely selflessly and with and with compassion as the Secretary of Defense and as a veteran of the Afghanistan War I am proud of and deeply grateful for the men and women who stood up to serve after Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11 2001 we remember the 2,461 American Service members and Personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war even on the hardest days including August 26 2021 when we tragically lost 13 of our finest our Force performed admirably under incredibly challenging conditions end quote And in regards to the withdrawal he's also underscored that no other military in the world could have accomplished what we and our allies and partners did in such a short time span and that this is a testament not only to our forces's capabilities and courage but also to our relationships and the capabilities of our allies and partners ask you to hunting down the perpetrators the enablers of the abig gate attack Chris Meyer your commando Chief talked to reporters on Friday he talked a little bit about the network was degraded but from from the podium can you give a feel for that President Biden said at the time we will hunt you down so what's the status of the hunt today yeah um well as uh assistant secretary defense Meyer highlighted we are laser focused on defending our citizens from terrorist threats that could emanate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe we know that we can't turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as Isis K uh and that we must keep a Relentless focus on counter counterterrorism and we're doing that um we have and continue to invest in uh and deploy modern capabilities to keep Americans safe we're working closely with the intelligence Community as well as to deepen our cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving threats I know that Mr Mayor addressed this as well in terms of how we've been able to foil plots and disrupt terrorist networks to include Isis K by sharing information and intelligence and enabling Allied and partner Nations to be the ones conducting arrests or taking actions and you've seen that demonstrated here recently with some high-profile news coverage of a foiled terrorist plot in Europe for example um but we've also demonstrated our ability to reach anywhere in the world when there is a threat including in Central Asia or in the Middle East and we've shown that we will not hesitate to take action to keep America safe as evidenced by centcom's recent strike in Syria which killed the senior leader of an Al-Qaeda Associated group thank you very much Janie thank you General North Korean Kim Jun announced that it would fully deployed suicide drones for the world what concerns does the United States have about this and what is the US's response to North Korea's aetc power to its I'm sorry Jan to its what what is the US's response to North Korea's aset power um on your first question uh you I've seen the Press reporting certainly it's something that we're we're keeping an eye on I I do find it interesting uh that everywhere else it's known as oneway attack drone but for some reason when North Korea says it it's suicide drone uh interesting um but uh you know we clearly want to take that threat seriously and it's something that we'll keep an eye on I know that our South Korean allies are also keeping an eye on it and monitoring that uh and I'll just you know conclude by saying that we will continue to consult closely with the r and Japan and other partners and allies in the region to ensure uh that our Collective defense remains strong in terms of uh North Korea and its capabilities you know look they have a long history here of uh of destabilizing uh rhetoric and and activities uh again our focus in the region is defensive in nature and I'm working with allies and partners to promote Regional security and stability uh and to be prepared for any threats that North Korea poses or presents obviously don't want conflict with North Korea and we continue to call for uh diplomatic uh communication uh but so far they've not been willing to to take that Olive Branch can you can you predict the possibility that suicide drone drones mass produced with the tact tactical support Pro Russia and Iran will be used on the battlefield of Ukraine and the Middle East yeah I don't have anything on that nor do I want to predict so thank you yes ma'am thank you sir Naz Academy Afghan journalist uh as he said something about Afghanistan Afghan people also concerned about dish activity Bas of Europe opinion Das get increase in Afghanistan and Taliban concerned about their activity too and what is the difference between Taliban and dises um how much time do you have uh I mean you know look first of all as as you well know the Taliban currently uh is the the government uh in in Afghanistan and I'll use that term loosely um and so as the uh soall uh ruling entity in there clearly uh there is a difference between that uh Isis K but there are many other uh Terror groups that that are resident right now in Afghanistan uh so you know we're Contin to keep an eye on that that region at large ultimately at the end of the day our Focus continues to be broadly speaking on working with allies and partners throughout the world and to include Central Asia as I highlighted on promoting Regional security and stability and safeguarding US National Security interests uh to include uh the counterterrorism efforts and and nonproliferation so um just leave it there thank you very much body thank you General um the US uh um provided intelligence and ISR support to Israel to to in order to deal with the attack from hisbah what is your assessment of of that attack and do you think it was was a would failed or succeed in achieving some of the goals that were declared byah leader Hass yeah thanks for the question I'm going to refrain uh from putting a label on it and just you know it it was it was a large scale attack um Lebanese Hezbollah had uh essentially previewed that they intended to retaliate and by all accounts they did uh and so um you know Israel uh was well prepared to respond and and defend themselves uh but I'll let the leaders from each of those uh you know from Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah speak to the nature of that from a US standpoint we were very focused again on uh supporting the defense of Israel uh as well as ensuring that this did not escalate into a wider regional conflict and that continues to be our focus and on the um threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel do you see uh Iran still uh poised to attack Israel or in light of the weekend events between hisbah and Israel there's been some changes in What You observe Vis A Iran you know I'm I'm not not going to go into intelligence but again I you know as I've said previously uh Iran has made uh those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take that very seriously and so we will continue to remain postured and we are well postured uh to be able to support the defenses of Israel as well as protect our own forces thank you no Admiral paparo said recently that the US could um esort Phil Ino vessels during resupply missions that this would be within the bounds of the mutual defense treaty I wanted to know if that's consistent with the secretary's thinking yeah thanks Noah um what I would say is the the Philippines Remains the lead for its own operations in the South China Sea and we continue to provide significant advisory support in addition to our efforts to help modernize uh the Philippine military and so as allies we continue to stand with the Philippines given especially the PRC has consistently ly prevented them from executing lawful maritime operations in the South China Sea and so our commitment to that Alliance is Ironclad uh as you know our governments have close continual consultations so any Military Support would be at the request of the government of the Philippines and in that light Admiral paparo simply called it an option within the context of consultations so you're saying that if they requested such Military Support that that could be on the table for consult that that wouldn't be an immediate closed door well again without getting into hypotheticals I think as allies uh it would require any type it would re require consultation between our two Nations thank you Courtney you're setting way in the back there today yeah all right um the several Russian officials have spoken out recently about the us being involved in the curs incursion the deputy foreign minister said consequences for the United States could be much harsher than those they are already experiencing they know where and in what areas we are reacting in Practical terms what is do you know what do that I guess what are the areas that they are reacting that the US knows about guess do you have any comment to their um labov also spoke out saying that the US was complicit in this Cur incursion so truth and advertising I'm not a kremlinology so I'm not going to pretend to be able to translate for uh Russian bureaucrats um what I will say is that as we've said previously uh we did not have ADV notification of Ukraine's uh intent uh and operations to go into K uh certainly again you've heard president zalinski say that their efforts there are to create a buffer zone and so we continue to have conversations with them about what that means um but more broadly speaking how the US can support Ukraine's efforts uh to preserve its sovereignty and deter future Russian aggression but but specifically on the on the this allegation that the US knows that the the consequences are going to be harsher than previously have you seen any indications of of consequences against the United States I I don't know what what that means again we're not at war with Russia we're not seeking conflict with Russia we are simply supporting a democratic Nation who was invaded two and a half years ago and enabling them to protect themselves thank you last question General uh the Iranian command of rgc says Iran with Islamic resistance in Iraq and elsewhere will take uh retaliation but how does the Pentagon see the involvement of progress in Iraq in the existing war between Israel and Hamas well kind of taking a step back um you know there there have definitely been actions by uh Iranian back groups in Iraq and Syria as it relates to attempting to uh conduct rocket attacks against Israel uh largely unsuccessful but you know we we've seen that um we've also seen those groups attack US forces that are uh in Iraq and Syria in support of the enduring defeat of Isis Mission so you know what they may do in the future I can't predict um but we take that threat seriously and we'll continue in the you know just like we're going to continue to support the defense of Israel uh we will stay very focused on insurance that our forces are protected as well uh and we won't tolerate any tax against our forces uh and to purposely belabor the point uh if we are threatened or attacked uh we will always respond in a time and manner of our choosing thank you thank you thank you very much everybody up last one domestic question related to a justice department plea that came down last night against one of the Navy's top ship Builders AA limited they pleaded guilty to product Subs stitution and uh proc and fraud accounting fraud what steps is the dod General Council taking with the Navy to review whether they are a responsible contractor to keep getting Federal contracts or face debarment yeah thanks Tony um we've seen the Press reporting on it however I'm going to have to refer you to the Department of Justice for details and then to the Navy for any action that they're undertaking as a result I just don't have any more to Prov you don't have any more can you also check in the status of the Boeing review you were asked about like a month and a half ago in terms of their ple and you guys said at the time there's a review of B what steps boing is taken to be a responsible contractor can you take that as a question in terms of the status of yeah I'll take the question I don't know that we'll have much more to provide but I'll take that question okay thanks oh Louie seriously you walk in like last minute all right only because it's ABC Louis Martinas thank you uh and congratulations to tap um oh yeah okay um tap was on time but um going back to the jots it was announced last week I think that um that last cargo shipment have left Cyprus is there an update has it been offloaded what's happened since um so what I'm tracking Louie is that uh essentially the ship is in the queue uh waiting for its turn to uh dock in ashdod and unload uh its contents uh but as of right now still at c um but that's the latest update I have okay afternoon everyone welcome back good to see you again I just a few items at the top and then I'll be happy to take your questions uh first we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and remain postured to support the defense of Israel and Protect US troops and Assets in the region in two calls with his Israeli counterpart Minister Gant this past weekend secretary Austin underscored the United States's Ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its Regional partners and proxies as many of you are tracking in support of this the secretary ordered our two carrier strike groups the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to remain in the region as we have been from the start we remain intently focused on deescalate tensions in the Middle East while also remaining focused on securing a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza turning to the Red Sea last week on August 21st the MV Delta San a Greek flag Greek owned oil tanker carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil was attacked by iranian-backed houthi crude vessels as reported by the Greek shipping Ministry the MV Delta San was sailing from Iraq to Greece with a crew of two Russian and 23 Filipino Sailors the crew has since evacuated the ship with the assistance of a partner Nation vessel the MV Delta San now sits immobilized in the Red Sea where it is currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil presenting both a navigational Hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe although the houthis have claimed that they're conducting these attacks in support of the Palestinian people their actions Pro to the contrary in fact these are simply Reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize Global and Regional Commerce put the lives of innocent civilian Mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant Maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aiden the hou's own backyard us Central Command continues to actively monitor the situation and is coordinating with other Maritime Partners in the region to determine how best to assist the vessel and mitigate the potential environmental impact shifting gears and a display of an enduring and robust defense partnership the United States and the Indonesian National Armed Forces kicked off the 2024 super Garuda Shield exercise yesterday with an opening ceremony at an Indonesian military base at Janda Naval Airbase suraya super Garuda Shield is the largest annual us Indonesian training exercise and this year service members from the US Indonesia Australia Canada Japan Singapore and the United Kingdom will engage in various training opportunities including Airborne operations amphibious operations and interoperability information exchanges as well as academic exchanges professional development workshops command and control exercises and a joint field training exercise culminating in a live fire event sponsored by US Army Pacific the exercise will last through September 6 and involves around 3,000 combined Armed Forces including approximately 1,800 us Personnel it enhances interoperability through training and cultural exchanges solidifying the US Indonesia major defense partnership and supporting a free and open indopacific for more information on super Guru Shield I'd refer you to US Army Pacific finally on behalf of all who have served here in the office of the secretary of defense for public affairs I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate our very own Mr Taft febus on his 40-year uh Milestone of federal service in the defense press press operations office always the early bird in early and out late taed humbly and selflessly plays a foundational role here at ospa supporting the Pentagon press Corp and ensuring they have the support they need to do their jobs effectively anyone who has had the Good Fortune of working alongside Taft is familiar with the wisdom and professionalism he brings to the job every day so once more congratulations Taft and thank you for your service here's to 40 more uh and with that I will take your [Applause] questions I know ta also likes all the attention so all right all right with that uh we'll go to Associated Press first who I believe is on the phone today uh Lita thank you Pat and congratulations to Taft he's a huge help as always um I have a quick followup on the ship and then I have a Ukraine question um on the um the ship and the Red Sea that's on fire can I um assume that what you're saying is that at this point NE neither the us nor any of the other allies have been able to do anything to uh stop the fire or to do something actual to address the the ship's condition right now is that accurate yeah thanks Lita uh as I highlighted sencom continu continues to Monitor and assess the situation uh we are aware of a third party uh that attempted to send two tugs uh to the The Vessel to help Salvage uh but they were warned away uh by the houthis uh and threatened with being attacked act which again demonstrates uh their blatant disregard uh for for not only human life uh but Al for also uh for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents so uh again sencom continues to Monitor and and uh look at you know and assess the situation and we'll keep you updated on that front and then you said you had a question on Ukraine uh yes um does the uh does secretary Austin expect to meet with uh Ministry of um off this week and can you provide any update on whether the US has seen much Movement by Russians out of other parts of Ukraine to go to curse thank you um in terms of uh the secretary meeting with Minister umarov I don't have anything to announce uh as you know he regularly speaks the secretary Austin regularly speaks with Minister umarov and so uh I would uh foresee them speaking again uh in the near future but again I I don't have anything to to provide from the podium today um in terms of KK uh again we continue to keep an eye on this uh as we've said previously we have seen the Russians divert some forces uh to the KK region um largely uh they have used forces that are already there uh and as they put together a defense a hasty defense um but but nothing large scale uh that I've seen at this point Point uh but again i' I'd refer you to the Russians uh to talk more about their operations uh I'll just leave it there Jennifer um General Ryder the US doesn't have any Naval warships in the Red Sea right now do you think that if there had been USS Cole or other uh destroyers in or an aircraft carrier in the Red Sea that they could have prevented this hooti attack on this vessel that's now on fire um well you know I at this point the the fact is is that there is a vessel that's on fire and as you know we've been uh patrolling those waterways for a while and have been able to intercept and mitigate the vast majority of of houthi attacks uh and so we'll we'll continue to stay focused on that uh but the reality is right now we have this situation and so again sencom will continue to assess um we'll keep you updated on on any potential involvement there how long do you expect that there won't be an aircraft carrier strike group in the Indo Pacific isn't it risky right now not having an aircraft carrier strike group there well look you know as we as we look at Global Force management and as we look at requirements uh around the world in support of our national security interest we're always taking great care to make sure that we can cover those commitments to include uh in our priority Theater which is the indopacific region and so we have a significant amount of capability there uh to include a large Naval presence uh and so in the case of the Middle East uh as I highlighted the secretary wanted uh those two carrier groups carrier strike groups to remain in the region for now to be able to provide us with additional capability and capacity to protect our forces support the defense of Israel and also be ready for a variety of contingencies but how long do you expect to have this carrier Gap uh you know look I'm not going to get into uh deployment timelines for operation security reasons but the bottom line is we can walk and chew gum at the same time Carla thank you Pat um Ukrainian president zalinski said yesterday that there should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine he said this before but he added that the terrorists referencing Russia have no such restrictions does the Pentagon agree with that statement well look I I won't speak for president zalinsky clearly uh he's made his his views and perspective uh well known both publicly and privately from a US perspective we're going to continue to consult closely with our Ukrainian Partners as well as our allies and partners around the world and how best to support Ukraine uh towards uh the the you know ultimate end state of ensuring a free and Sovereign uh Ukraine that can deter future aggression from Russia and so are there still restrictions on Ukrainian weapons provided by the United States so our policies haven't changed you've heard us say that the the ukrainians can use us uh security assistance to defend themselves from crossb attacks in other words counterfire uh but as it relates to long range strike deep strikes uh into Russia our policy has not changed let me go back out to the phone here uh JJ green WTOP thanks General um question regarding um Israel and Hamas the Pentagon has said for quite a while now that one of its stated goals was to prevent this conflict from spreading So based on what happened over the weekend between Israel and Hezbollah um how does the Pentagon view that does does this seem to be an expansion because they've done attacks against each other but this was these attacks these these were much more much bigger and um seemingly had much more impact how does that impact the pentagon's view of whether this is expanding or not yeah thanks JJ uh so again just to put this into context when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th um you heard us say that you know we deployed a significant amount of uh additional capability into the middle east region uh and the and the ukom region in order to uh send a very clear message of deterrence and to prevent this from becoming uh a wider regional conflict right now we still assess uh that the conflict between Israel and Hamas uh is contained to Gaza uh you have seen the uh you know crossb strikes between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah since October 8 what you saw over the weekend of course was a much larger scale than what we've seen previously but it is in our view not a wider regional conflict at this stage and so we're going to continue to stay very focused on deescalation of tensions in the region as I highlighted and preventing it from becoming a wider Regional War thank you Tony Afghanistan uh you were pillar this week about the the third anniversary of not only the abig gate tragedy but also Friday is going to Mark the third anniversary of the fall of our withdrawal you've been criticized quite a bit by the by conservatives Republicans I want and Trump yesterday I you saw that I wanted to get you what is the perspective of Pentagon leadership at this point three years later to the criticisms the word chaotic is the most widely used adjective to describe it 3 years later what's the perspective here in terms of how you guys view what happened yeah thanks Tony um well I'm sure you can appreciate I'm I'm not going to be able to comment on any remarks from any political candidates okay um but separately secretary Austin has spoken many times about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and his pride in the tremendous work of the men and women of the US military so I would point you to some of his previous statements to include in April of 2023 uh which reads in part and if you just allow me here quote over the course course of 20 years of war in Afghanistan our service members and their families serve bravely selflessly and with and with compassion as the Secretary of Defense and as a veteran of the Afghanistan War I am proud of and deeply grateful for the men and women who stood up to serve after Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11 2001 we remember the 2,461 American Service members and Personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war even on the hardest days including August 20 6 2021 when we tragically lost 13 of our finest our Force performed admirably under incredibly challenging conditions end quote And in regards to the withdrawal he's also underscored that no other military in the world could have accomplished what we and our allies and partners did in such a short time span and that this is a testament not only to our forces capabilities and courage but also to our relationships and the capabilities of our allies and partners you to hunting down the perpetrators the enablers of the abig gate attack Chris Meyer your commando Chief talked to reporters on Friday he talked a little bit about the network was degraded but from from the podium can you give a feel for that President Biden said at the time we will hunt you down so what's the status of the hunt today yeah um well as uh assistant Secretary of Defense Meyer highlighted we are laser focused on defending our citizens from terrorist threats that could emanate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe we know that we can't turn a blind eye to to the threats from organizations such as Isis K uh and that we must keep a Relentless focus on counter counterterrorism and we're doing that um we have and continue to invest in uh and deploy modern capabilities to keep americ safe we're working closely with the intelligence Community as well as to deepen our cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving threats I know that Mr Mayor addressed this as well in terms of how we've been able to foil plots and disrupt terrorist networks to include Isis K by sharing information and intelligence and enabling Allied and partner Nations to be the ones conducting arrests or taking actions and you've seen that demonstrated here recently with some high-profile news coverage of a foiled terrorist plot in Europe for example um but we've also demonstrated our ability to reach anywhere in the world when there is a threat including in Central Asia or in the Middle East and we've shown that we will not hesitate to take action to keep America safe as by centcom's recent strike in Syria which killed the senior leader of an Al-Qaeda Associated group thank you very much jie thank you General C North Korean Kim Jun announced that it would fully deploy suicide drone supp the world what concerns does the United States have about this and what is the US's response to North Korea's aetric power to its I'm sorry Jan to its what yeah what is the US's response to North Korea's asmet power um on your first question uh you I've seen the Press reporting certainly it's something that we're we're keeping an eye on I I do find it interesting uh that everywhere else it's known as one way attack drone but for some reason when North Korea says it it's suicide drone uh interesting um but uh you know we clearly want to take that threat seriously and it's something that we'll keep an eye on I know that our South Korean allies are also keeping an eye on it and monitoring that uh and I'll just you know conclude by saying that we will continue to consult closely with the r and Japan and other partners and allies in the region to ensure uh that our Collective defense remains strong in terms of uh North Korea and its capabilities you know look they have a long history here of uh of destabilizing uh rhetoric and and activities uh again our focus in the region is defensive in nature and I'm working with allies and partners to promote Regional security and stability uh and to be prepared for any threats that North Korea poses or presents obviously don't want conflict with North Korea and we continue to call for uh diplomatic uh communication uh but so far they've not been willing to to take that Olive Branch can you can you predict the possibility that suicide drone drones mass produced with the TCT tactical support Pro Russia and Iran will be used on the battlefield of Ukraine and the Middle East yeah I I don't have anything on that nor do I want to predict so thank you yes ma'am thank you sir Nazir Academy Afghan journalist uh as he said something about Afghanistan Afghan people also concerned about dish activity based of European Das get increase in Afghanistan and Taliban concerned about their activity too and what is the difference between Taliban and dises um how much time do you have uh I mean you know look first of all uh as you well know the Taliban currently uh is the the government uh in in Afghanistan and I'll use that term loosely um and so as the uh so called uh ruling entity in there clearly uh there is a difference between that uh Isis K but there are many other uh Terror groups that that are resident right now in Afghanistan uh so you know we're continuing to keep an eye on that that region at large ultimately at the end of the day our Focus continues to be broadly speaking on working with allies and partners throughout the world and to include Central Asia as I highlighted on promoting Regional security and stability and safeguarding US national naal security interest uh to include uh the counterterrorism efforts and and non-proliferation so um just leave it there thank you very much body thank you General um the US um provided intelligence and ISR support to Israel to u to in order to deal with the attack from hisbah what is your assessment of of that attack and do you think it was was a would failed or succeed in achieving some of the goals that were declared by hisbah leader Hass yeah thanks for the question I'm going to refrain uh from putting a label on it and just you know it it was it was a large scale attack um Lebanese hasbalah had uh essentially previewed that they intended to retaliate and by all accounts they did uh and so um you know Israel uh was well prepared to respond respond and and defend themselves uh but I'll let the leaders from each of those uh you know from Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah speak to the nature of that from a US standpoint we were very focused again on uh supporting the defense of Israel uh as well as ensuring that this did not escalate into a wider regional conflict and that continues to be our focus and on the um threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel do you see uh Iran still uh poised to attack Israel or in light of the weekend events between hisbah and Israel there's been some changes in What You observe Vis A Iran you know I'm I'm not going to go into intelligence but again I you know as I've said previously uh Iran has made uh those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take that very seriously and so we will continue to remain postured and we are well postured uh to be able to support the defenses of Israel as well as protect our own forces thank you Noah Admiral paparo said recently that the US could um escort Filipino vessels during resupply missions that this would be within the bounds of the mutual defense treaty I wanted to know if that's consistent with the secretary's thinking yeah thanks Noah um what I would say is the the Philippines Remains the lead for its own operations in the South China Sea and we continue to provide significant advisory support in addition to our efforts to help modernize uh the Philippine military and so as allies we continue to stand with the Philippines given especially the PRC has consistently prevented them from executing lawful maritime operations in the South China Sea and so our commitment to that Alliance is Ironclad uh as you know our governments have close continual consultations so any Military Support would be at the request of the government of the Philippines and in that light Admiral paparo simply called it an option within the context of consultations so you're saying that if they requested such Military Support that that could be on the table for consultation that that wouldn't be an immediate closed door well again without getting into hypotheticals I think as allies uh it would require any type it would re require consultation between our two Nations thank you Courtney you're sitting way in the back there today yeah all right um the several Russian officials have spoken out recently about the us being involved in the K incursion the deputy foreign minister said consequences for the United States could be much harsher than those they are already experiencing they know where and in what areas we are reacting in Practical terms what is do you know what is that I guess what are the areas that they are reacting that the US knows about guess do you have any comment to there um lavro also spoke out saying that the US is complicit in this Cur incursion so truth and advertising I'm not a kremlinology so I'm not going to pretend to be able to translate for Russian bureaucrats um what I will say is that as we've said previously uh we did not have advanced notification of Ukraine's uh intent uh and operations to go into KK uh certainly again you've heard president zalinsky say that their efforts there are to create a buffer zone and so we are continue to have conversations with them about what that means um but more broadly speaking how the US can support Ukraine's efforts uh to preserve its sovereignty and deter future Russian aggression but but specifically on the on the this allegation that the US knows that the the consequences are going to be harsher than previously have you seen any indications of of consequences against the United States I don't know what what that means again we're not at war with Russia we're not seeking conflict with Russia we are simply supporting a democratic Nation who was invaded 2 and a half years ago and enabling them to protect themselves thank you last question thank you uh the Iranian command of rgc says Iran with Islamic resistance in Iraq and elsewhere will take uh retaliation but how does the Pentagon see the involvement of progress in Iraq in the existing war between Israel and Hamas well kind of taking a step back back um you know there there have definitely been actions by uh Iranian back groups in Iraq and Syria as it relates to attempting to uh conduct rocket attacks against Israel uh largely unsuccessful but you know we we've seen that um we've also seen those groups attack US forces that are uh in Iraq and Syria in support of the enduring defeat of Isis Mission so you know what they may do in the future I can't predict um but we take that threat seriously and we'll continue in the you know just like we're going to continue to support the defense of Israel uh we will stay very focused on ensuring that our forces are protected as well uh and we won't tolerate any taxs against our forces uh and to purposely belabor the point uh if we are threatened or attacked uh we will always respond in a time and manner of our choosing thank you thank you thank you very much everybody up last one domestic question related to a justice department plea that came down last night against one of the Navy's top uh ship Builders austa limited they pleaded guilty to product substitution and uh procure and fraud accounting fraud what steps is the dod General counil taking with the Navy to review whether they are a responsible contractor to keep getting Federal contracts or face debarment yeah thanks Tony um we've seen the Press reporting on it however I'm going to have to refer you to the Department of Justice for details and then to the Navy for any action that they're undertaking as a result I just don't have any more to Pro you don't have any more can you also check in the status of the Boeing review you were asked about like a month and a half ago in terms of their plea and you guys said at the time there's a review of Bo what steps Boeing is taking to be a responsible contractor can you take that as a question in terms of the status of yeah I'll take the question I don't know that we'll have much more to provide but I'll take that question okay thanks oh Lou seriously you walk in like last minute all right only because it's ABC Louis martinz thank you uh and congratulations to tap um oh yeah okay um tap was on time but um going back to the jots it was announced last week I think that um that last cargo shipment had left Cypress is there an update has it been uploaded what's happened since um so what I'm tracking Louie is that uh essentially the ship is in the queue uh waiting for its turn to uh dock in ashdod and unload uh its contents uh but as of right now still at c u but that's the latest update I have okay afternoon everyone welcome back good to see you again uh just a few items at the top and then I'll be happy to take your questions uh first we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and remain postured to support the defense of Israel and Protect US troops and Assets in the region in two calls with his Israeli counterpart Minister Galant this past weekend secretary Austin underscored the United States's Ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its Regional partners and proxies as many of you are tracking in support of this the secretary ordered our two carrier strike groups the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to remain in the region as as we have been from the start we remain intently focused on deescalate tensions in the Middle East while also remaining focused on securing a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza turning to the Red Sea last week on August 21st the MV Delta San a Greek flag greek-owned oil tanker carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil was attacked by Iranian backed houthi crude vessels as reported by the GRE shipping Ministry the MV Delta San was sailing from Iraq to Greece with a crew of two Russian and 23 Filipino Sailors the crew has since evacuated the ship with the assistance of a partner Nation vessel the MV Delta San now sits immobilized in the Red Sea where it is currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil presenting both a navigational Hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe although the houthis have claimed that they're conducting these attacks in support of the pales inian people their actions Pro to the contrary in fact these are simply Reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize Global and Regional Commerce put the lives of innocent civilian Mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant Maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aiden the houth own backyard us Central Command continues to actively monitor the situation and is coordinating with other Maritime Partners in the region to determine how best to assist the vessel and mitigate the potential environmental impact shifting gears in a display of an enduring and robust defense partnership the United States and the Indonesian National Armed Forces kicked off the 2024 super Garuda Shield exercise yesterday with an opening ceremony at an Indonesian military base at Janda Naval Airbase suraya super Garuda Shield is the largest annual us Indonesian trading exercise and this year service members from the US Indonesia Australia Canada Japan Singapore and the United Kingdom will engage in various training opportunities including Airborne operations amphibious operations and interoperability information exchanges as well as academic exchanges professional development workshops command and control exercises and a joint field training exercise culminating in a live fire event sponsored by US Army Pacific the exercise will last through September 6 and involves around 3,000 combined Armed Forces including approximately 1,800 us Personnel it enhances interoperability through training and cultural exchanges solidifying the US Indonesia major defense partnership and supporting a free and open Indo Pacific for more information on super Guru Shield I'd refer you to US Army Pacific finally on behalf of all who have served here in the office of the secretary of defense for public affairs I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate our very own Mr Taft phebus on his 40-year uh Milestone of federal service in the defense press press operations office always the early bird in early and out late taed humbly and selflessly plays a foundational role here at ospa supporting the Pentagon press Corps and ensuring they have the support they need to do their jobs effectively anyone who has had the Good Fortune of working alongside Taft is familiar with the wisdom and professionalism he brings to the job every day so once more congratulations Taft and thank you for your service here's to 40 more uh and with that I will take your [Applause] questions I know ta also likes all the attention so all right all right with that uh we'll go to Associated Press first who I believe is on the phone today uh Lita thank you Pat and congratulations to Taft he's a huge help as always um I have a quick followup on the ship and then I have a Ukraine question um on the um the ship and the Red Sea that's on fire can I um assume that what you're saying is that at this point NE neither the us nor any of the other allies have been able to do anything to uh stop the fire or to do something actual to address the the ship's condition right now is that accurate yeah thanks Lita uh as I highlighted sencom continues continues to Monitor and assess the situation uh we are aware of a third party uh that attempted to send two tugs uh to the The Vessel to help Salvage uh but they were worned away uh by the houthis uh and threatened with being attacked which again demonstrates uh their blatant disregard uh for for not only human life uh but Al for also uh for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents so again sencom continues to Monitor and and uh look at you know and assess the situation and we'll keep you updated on that front and then you said you had a question on Ukraine uh yes um does the uh does secretary Austin expect to meet with uh Min umarov this week and can you provide any update on whether the US has seen much Movement by Russians out of other parts of Ukraine to go to curse thank you um in terms of of uh the secretary meeting with Minister umarov I don't have anything to announce uh as you know he regularly speaks the secretary Austin regularly speaks with Minister umarov and so uh I would uh foresee them speaking again uh in the near future but again I I don't have anything to to provide from the podium today um in terms of K again we continue to keep an eye on this uh as we've said previously we have seen the Russians divert some forces uh to the KK region um largely uh they have used forces that are already there uh and as they put together a defense a hasty defense um but but nothing large scale uh that I've seen at this point uh but again i' I'd refer you to the Russians uh to talk more about their operations and I'll just leave it there Jennifer um General Ryder the US doesn't have any Naval warships in the Red Sea right now do you think that if there had been USS C or other uh destroyers in or an aircraft carrier in the Red Sea that they could have prevented this hooti attack on this vessel that's now on fire um well you know I at this point the fact is is that there is a vessel that's on fire and as you know we've been uh patrolling those waterways for a while and have been able to intercept and mitigate the vast majority of of houthi attacks uh and so we'll we'll continue to stay focused on that uh but the reality is right now we have this situation and so again sencom will continue to assess U we'll keep you updated on on any potential involvement there how long do you expect that there won't be an aircraft carrier strike group in the Indo Pacific isn't it risky right now not having an aircraft carrier strike group there well look you know as we as we look at Global Force management and as we look at requirements uh around the world in support of our national security interest we're always taking great care to make sure that we can cover those commitments to include uh in our priority Theater which is the indopacific region and so we have a significant amount of capability there uh to include a large Naval presence uh and so in the case of the Middle East uh as I highlighted the secretary wanted uh those two carrier groups carrier strike groups to remain in the region for now to be able to provide us with additional capability and capacity to protect our forces support the defense of Israel and also be ready for a variety of contingencies but how long do you expect to have this carrier Gap uh you know look I'm not going to get into uh deployment timelines for operation security reasons but the bottom line is we can walk and chew gum at the same time Carla thank you Pat um Ukrainian president zalinski said yesterday that there should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine he said this before but he added that the terrorists referencing Russia have no such restrictions does the Pentagon agree with that statement well look I I won't speak president zalinski clearly uh he's made his his views and perspective uh well known both publicly and privately from a US perspective we're going to continue to consult closely with our Ukrainian Partners as well as our allies and partners around the world and how best to support Ukraine uh towards uh the the you know ultimate end state of ensuring a free and Sovereign uh Ukraine that can deter future aggression from Russia and so are there still restrictions on Ukrainian weapons provided by the United States so our policies haven't changed you've heard us say that the the ukrainians can use us uh security assistance to defend themselves from crossb attacks in other words counterfire uh but as it relates to long range strike deep strikes uh into Russia our policy has not changed let me go back out to the phone here uh JJ green WTOP thanks General um question regarding um Israel and Hamas the Pentagon has said for quite a while now that one of its stated goals was to prevent this conflict from spreading So based on what happened over the weekend between Israel and Hezbollah um how does the Pentagon view that does does this seem to be an expansion because they've done attacks against each other but this was these attacks these these were much more much bigger and um seemingly had much more impact how does that impact the pentagon's view of whether this is expanding or not yeah thanks JJ uh so again just to put this into context when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th um you heard us say that you know we deployed a significant amount of uh additional capability into the middle east region uh and the and the ukom region in order to uh send a very clear message of deterrence and to prevent this from becoming uh a wider regional conflict right now we still assess uh that the conflict between Israel and Hamas uh is contained to Gaza uh you have seen the uh you know crossb strikes between Israel and uh Lebanese Hezbollah since October 8 what you saw over the weekend of course was a much larger scale than what we've seen previously but it is in our view not a wider regional conflict at this stage and so we're going to continue to stay very focused on deescalation of tensions in the region as I highlighted and preventing it from becoming a wider Regional War thank you Tony Afghanistan uh you were pillar this week about the the the third anniversary of not only the abig gate tragedy but also Friday is going to Mark the 30d anniversary of the fall of our withdrawal you've been criticized quite a bit by the by conservatives Republicans and Trump yesterday I you saw that I wanted to get you what is the perspective of Pentagon leadership at this point 3 years later to the criticisms the word chaotic is the most widely used adjective to describe it three years later what's the perspective here in terms of how you guys view what happened yeah thanks Tony um well as I'm sure you can appreciate I'm I'm not going to be able to comment on any remarks from any political candidates um but separately secretary Austin has spoken many times about the withdrawal from Afghanistan an and his pride in the tremendous work of the men and women of the US military so I would point you to some of his previous statements to include in April of 2023 uh which reads in part and if you just allow me here quote over the course of 20 years of war in Afghanistan our service members and their families serve bravely selflessly and with and with compassion as the Secretary of Defense and as a veteran of the Afghanistan War I am proud of and deeply grateful for the men and women who stood up to serve after Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11 2001 we remember the 2,461 American Service members and personel who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war even on the hardest days including August 26 2021 when we tragically lost 13 of our finest are forced performed admirably under incredibly challenging conditions end quote And in regards to the withdraw he's also underscored that no other military in the world could have accomplished what we and our allies and partners did in such a short time span and that this is a testament not only to our forces's capabilities and courage but also to our relationships and the capabilities of our allies and partners ask you to hunting down the perpetrators the enablers of the abig gate attack Chris Meyer your commando Chief talked to reporters on Friday and he talked a little bit about the network was degraded but from from the podium can you give a feel for that President Biden said at the time we will hunt you down so what's the status of the hunt today yeah um well as uh assistant secretary defense Meyer highlighted we are laser focused on defending our citizens from terrorist threats that could emanate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe we know that we can't turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as Isis K uh and that we must keep a Relentless focus on counter counterterrorism and we're doing that um we have and continue to invest in uh and deploy modern capabilities to keep American safe we're working closely with the intelligence Community as well as to deepen our cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving threats I know that Mr Mayor addressed this as well in terms of how we've been able to foil plots and disrupt terrorist networks to include Isis K by sharing information and intelligence and enabling Allied and partner Nations to be the ones conducting arrests or taking actions and you've seen that demonstrated here recently with some high-profile news coverage of a foiled terrorist plot in Europe for examp example um but we've also demonstrated our ability to reach anywhere in the world when there is a threat including in Central Asia or in the Middle East and we've shown that we will not hesitate to take action to keep America safe as evidenced by centcom's recent strike in Syria which killed the senior leader of an Al-Qaeda Associated group thank you very much Janie thank you Jans North Korean Kim Jong-un announced that it would fully deploy suicide the drones for the world what concerns does the United States have about this and what is the US's response to North Korea's aetric power to it I'm sorry Jan to it's what what is the US's response to North Korea's asymmetric power um on your first question uh you I've seen the Press reporting certainly it's something that we're we're keeping an eye on I do find it interesting uh that everywhere else it's known as one way attack drone but for some reason when North Korea says it it's suicide drone uh interesting um but uh you know we clearly want to take that threat seriously and it's something that we'll keep an eye on I know that our South Korean allies are also keeping an eye on it and monitoring that uh and I'll just you know conclude by saying that we will continue to consult closely with the r and Japan and other partners and allies in the region to ensure uh that our Collective defense remains strong in terms of uh North Korea and its capabilities you know look they have a long history here of uh of destabilizing uh rhetoric and and activities uh again our focus in the region is defensive in nature and I'm working with allies and partners to promote Regional security and stability uh and to be prepared for any threats that North Korea poses or presents obviously don't want conflict with North Korea and we continue to call for uh diplomatic uh communication uh but so far they've not been willing to to take that Olive Branch can you can you predict the possibility that suicide drone drones mass produced with the tact tactical support put of Russia and Iran will be used on the B field of Ukraine and the Middle East yeah I don't have anything on that nor do I want to predict so thank you yes ma'am thank you sir na Academy Afghan journalist uh as he said something about Afghanistan Afghan people also concerned about dis activity based of European dis get increase in Afghanistan and Taliban concerned about their activity too and what is the difference between Taliban and Dish um how much time do you have uh I mean you know look first of all uh as as you well know the Taliban currently uh is the the government uh in in Afghanistan and I'll use that term loosely um and so as the uh so-called ruling entity in there clearly uh there is a difference between that uh Isis K but there are many other uh Terror groups that that are resident right now in Afghanistan uh so you know we're continuing to keep an eye on that that region at Large ultimately at the end of the day our Focus continues to be broadly speaking on working with allies and partners throughout the world and to include Central Asia as I highlighted on promoting Regional security and stability and safeguarding US National Security interests uh to include uh the counterterrorism efforts and and non-proliferation so um just leave it there thank you very much bu thank you General um the US um provided intelligence and ISR support to Israel to uh to in order to deal with the attack from hisbah what is your assessment of of that attack and do you think was was a would failed or succeed in achieving some of the goals that were declared byah leader Hass yeah thanks for the question I'm going to refrain uh from putting a label on it and just you know it it was it was a large scale attack um Lebanese Hezbollah had uh essentially previewed that they intended to retaliate and by all accounts they did uh and so um you know Israel uh was well prepared to respond and and defend themselves uh but I'll let the leaders from each of those uh you know from Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah speak to the nature of that from a US standpoint we were very focused again on uh supporting the defense of Israel uh as well as ensuring that this did not escalate into a wider regional conflict and that continues to be our focus and on the um threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel do you see uh Iran still poised to attack Israel or in light of the weekend events between hisbah and Israel there's been some changes in What You observe Vis A Iran you know I'm I'm not going to go into intelligence but again I you know as I've said previously uh Iran has made uh those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take that very seriously and so we will continue to remain postured and we are well postured uh to be able to support the defenses of Israel as well as protect our own forces thank you Noah Admiral paparo said recently that the US could um escort Filipino vessels during resupply missions that this would be within the bounds of the mutual defense treaty I wanted to know if that's consistent with the secretary's thinking yeah thanks Noah um what I would say is the the Philippines Remains the lead for its own operations in the South China Sea and we continue to provide significant advisory support in addition to our efforts to help modernize uh the Philippine military and so as allies we continue to stand with the Philippines given especially the PRC has consistently prevented them from executing lawful maritime operations in the South China Sea and so our commitment to that Alliance is Ironclad uh as you know our governments have close continual consultations so any Military Support would be at the request of the government of the Philippines and in that light Admiral paparo simply called it an option within the context of consultations so you're saying that if they requested such Military Support that that could be on the table for consultation that that wouldn't be an immediate closed door well again without getting into hypotheticals I think as allies uh it would require any type it would re require consultation between our two Nations thank you Courtney you're sitting way in the back there today yeah all right um the several Russian officials have spoken out recently about the us being involved in the K incursion the deputy foreign minister said consequences for the United States could be much harsher than those they are already experiencing they know where and in what are we are reacting in Practical terms what is do you know what do that I guess what are the areas that they are reacting that the US knows about guess do you have any comment to there um labov also spoke out saying that the US was complicit in this Cur incursion so truth and advertising I'm not a kremlinology so I'm not going to pretend to be able to translate for uh Russian bureaucratese uh we did not have advanced notification of Ukraine cr's uh intent uh and operations to go into K uh certainly again you've heard president zalinski say that their efforts there are to create a buffer zone and so we continue to have conversations with them about what that means um but more broadly speaking how the US can support Ukraine's efforts uh to preserve its sovereignty and deter future Russian aggression but but specifically on the on the this allegation that the US knows that that the consequences are going to be harsher than previously have you seen any indications of of consequences against the United States I I don't know what what that means again we're not at war with Russia we're not seeking conflict with Russia we are simply supporting a democratic Nation who is invaded two and a half years ago and enabling them to protect themselves thank you last question uh the Iranian command of rgc says Iran with Islamic resistance in Iraq and elsewhere will take uh retaliation but how does the Pentagon see the involvement of progis in Iraq in the existing war between Israel and Hamas well kind of taking a step back um you know there there definitely been actions by uh Iranian back groups in Iraq and Syria as it relates to attempting to uh conduct rocket attacks against Israel uh largely unsuccess uccessful but you know we we've seen that um we've also seen those groups attack US forces that are uh in Iraq and Syria in support of the enduring defeat of Isis Mission so you know what they may do in the future I can't predict um but we take that threat seriously and we'll continue and the you know just like we're going to continue to support the defense of Israel uh we will stay very focused on ensuring that our forces are protected as well uh and we won't tolerate any tax against our forces uh and to purposely belabor the point uh if we are threatened or attacked uh we will always respond in a time and manner of our choosing thank you thank you very much everybody up one uh domestic question related to a justice department plea that came down last night against one of the Navy's top ship Builders a to limited they pleaded guilty to product substitution and uh proc and fraud accounting fraud what steps is the dod General councel taking with the Navy to review whether they are a responsible contractor to keep getting Federal contracts or face dearment yeah thanks Tony um we've seen the Press reporting on it however I'm going to have to refer you to the Department of Justice for details and then to the Navy for any action that they're undertaking as a result I just don't have any more to provide you don't have any more can you also check on the status of the Boeing review you were asked about like a month and a half ago terms of their ple and you guys said at the time there's a review of what steps Boeing is taking to be a responsible contractor can you take that as a question in terms of the status of yeah I'll take the question I don't know that we'll have much more to provide but I'll take that question okay thanks oh Louie seriously you walk in like last minute all right only because it's ABC Louis Martinez thank you uh and congratulations to tap um oh yeah okay um tap was on time but um going back to the jots it was announced last week I think that um that last cargo shipment had left Cyprus is there an update has it been offloaded what's happened since um so what I'm tracking Louie is that uh essentially the ship is in the queue uh waiting for its turn to uh dock in ashdod and unload uh its contents uh but as of right now still at c um but that's the latest update I have okay afternoon [Music] everyone welcome back good to see you again uh just a few items at the top and then I'll be happy to take your questions uh first we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and remain postured to support the defense of Israel and Protect US troops and Assets in the region in two calls with his Israeli counterpart Minister Gant this past weekend secretary Austin underscored the United States's Ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its Regional partners and proxies as many of you are tracking in support of this the secretary ordered our two carrier strike groups the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to remain in the region as we have been from the start we remain intently focused on de-escalating tensions in the Middle East while also remaining focused on securing a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza turning to the Red Sea last week on August 21st the MV Delta San a Greek flag greek-owned oil tanker carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil was attacked by iranian-backed houthi crude vessels as reported by the Greek shipping Ministry the MV Delta San was sailing from Iraq to Greece with a crew of two Russian and 23 Filipino Sailors the crew has since evacuated the as ship with the assistance of a partner Nation vessel the MV Delta San now sits in mobilized in the Red Sea where it is currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil presenting both a navigational Hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe although the houthis have claimed that they're conducting these attacks in support of the Palestinian people their actions proved to the contrary in fact these are simply Reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize Global and Regional Commerce put the lives of innocent civilian Mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant Maritime e ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aiden the hou's own backyard us Central Command continues to actively monitor the situation and is coordinating with other Maritime Partners in the region to determine how best to assist the vessel and mitigate the potential environmental impact shifting gears and a display of an enduring and robust defense partnership the United States and the Indonesian National Armed Forces kicked off the 2024 super Garuda Shield exercise yesterday with an opening ceremony at an Indonesian military base at Janda Naval Airbase suraya super Garuda Shield is the largest annual us Indonesian training exercise and this year service members from the US Indonesia Australia Canada Japan Singapore and the United Kingdom will engage in various training opportunities including Airborne operations amphibious operations and interoperability information exchanges as well as academic exchanges professional development workshops command and control exercises and a joint field training exercise culminating in a live fighter event sponsored by US Army Pacific the exercise will last through September 6 and involves around 3,000 combined Armed Forces including approximately 1,800 us Personnel it enhances interoperability through training and cultural exchanges solidifying the US Indonesia major defense partnership and supporting a free and open indopacific for more information on super Guru Shield I'd refer you to US Army Pacific finally on behalf of all who have served here in the office of the secretary of defense for public affairs I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate our very own Mr Taft phebus on his 40-year uh Milestone of federal service in the defense press press operations office always the early bird in early and out late taed humbly and selflessly plays a foundational role here at ospa supporting the Pentagon press Corp and ensuring they have the support they need to do their jobs effectively anyone who has had the Good Fortune of working alongside Taft is familiar with the wisdom and professionalism he brings to the job every day so once more congratulations Taft and thank you for your service here's to 40 more uh and with that I will take your [Applause] questions I know ta also likes all the attention so all right all right with that uh we'll go to Associated Press first who I believe is on the phone today uh Lita thank you Pat and congratulations to Taff he's a huge help as always um I have a quick followup on the ship and then I have a Ukraine question um on the um the ship and the Red Sea that's on fire can I um assume that what you're saying is that at this point NE neither the us nor any of the other allies have been able to do anything to uh stop the fire or to do something actual to address the the ship's condition right now is that accurate yeah thanks Lita uh as I highlighted sencom continues continues to Monitor and assess the situation uh we are aware of a third party uh that attempted to send two tugs uh to the The Vessel to help Salvage uh but they were warned away uh by the houthis uh and threatened with being attacked which again demonstrates uh their blatant disregard uh for for not only human life uh but Al for also uh for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents so uh again sencom continues to Monitor and and uh look at you know and assess the situation and we'll keep you updated on that front and then you said you had a question on Ukraine uh yes um does the uh does secretary Austin expect to meet with uh Min umarov this week and can you you provide any update on whether the US has seen much Movement by Russians out of other parts of Ukraine to go to curse thank you um in terms of uh the secretary meeting with Minister umarov I don't have anything to announce uh as you know he regularly speaks the secretary Austin regularly speaks with Minister umarov and so uh I would uh foresee them speaking again uh in the near future but again I I don't have anything to to provide from the podium today um in terms of KK again we continue to keep an eye on this uh as we've said previously we have seen the Russians divert some forces uh to the KK region um largely uh they have used forces that are already there uh and as they put together a defense a hasty defense um but but nothing large scale uh that I've seen at this point uh but again i' I'd refer to the Russians uh to talk more about their operations and I'll just leave it there Jennifer um General Ryder the US doesn't have any Naval warships in the Red Sea right now do you think that if there had been USS coal or other uh destroyers in or an aircraft carrier in the Red Sea that they could have prevented this hooti attack on this vessel that's now on fire um well you know I at this point the fact is is that there is a vessel that's on fire and as you know we've been uh patrolling those waterways for a while and have been able to intercept and mitigate the vast majority of of houthi attacks uh and so we'll we'll continue to stay focused on that uh but the reality is right now we have this situation and so again sencom will continue to assess uh we'll keep you updated on on any potential involvement there how long do you expect that there won't be an aircraft carrier strike group in the Indo Pacific isn't it risky right now not having an aircraft carrier strike group there well look you know as we as we look at Global Force management and as we look at requirements uh around the world in support of our national security interest we're always taking great care to make sure that we can cover those commitments to include uh in our priority Theater which is the indopacific region and so we have a significant amount of capability there uh to include a large Naval presence uh and so in the case of the Middle East uh as I highlighted the secretary wanted uh those two carrier groups carrier strike groups to remain in the region for now to be able to provide us with additional capability and capacity to protect our forces support the defense of Israel and also be ready for a variety of contingencies but how long do you expect to have this carrier Gap uh you know look I'm not going to get into uh deployment timelines for operation security reasons but the bottom line is we can walk and chew gum at the same time Carla thank you Pat um Ukrainian president zalinski said yesterday that there should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine he said this before but he added that the terrorists referencing Russia have no such restrictions does the Pentagon agree with that statement well look I I won't speak for president zalinsky clearly uh he's made his his views and perspective uh well known both publicly and privately from a US perspective we're going to continue to consult closely with our Ukrainian Partners as well as our allies and partners around the world and how best to support Ukraine uh towards uh the the you know ultimate end state of ensuring a free and Sovereign uh Ukraine that can deter future aggression from Russia and so are there still restrictions on Ukrainian weapons provided by the United States so our policies haven't changed you've heard us say that the the ukrainians can use us uh security assistance to defend themselves from crossb attacks in other words counterfire uh but as it relates to long range strike strikes uh into Russia our policy has not changed let me go back out to the phone here uh JJ green WTOP thanks General um question regarding um Israel and Hamas the Pentagon has said for quite a while now that one of its stated goals was to prevent this conflict from spreading So based on what happened over the weekend between Israel and Hezbollah um how does the Pentagon view that does does this seem to be an expansion because they've done attacks against each other but this was these attacks these these were much more much bigger and um seemingly had much more impact how does that impact the pentagon's view of whether this is expanding or not yeah thanks JJ uh so again just to put this into context when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th um you heard us say that you know we deployed a significant amount of uh additional capability into the middle east region uh and the and the ukom region in order to uh send a very clear message of deterrence and to prevent this from becoming uh a wider regional conflict right now we still assess uh that the conflict between Israel and Hamas uh is contained to Gaza uh you have seen the uh you know crossb strikes between Israel and uh Hezbollah since October 8 what you saw over the weekend of course was a much larger scale than what we've seen previously but it is in our view not a wider regional conflict at this stage and so we're going to continue to stay very focused on deescalation of tensions in the region as I highlighted and preventing it from becoming a wider Regional War thank you Tony Afghanistan uh you were pillar this week about the the the third Ann iary of not only the abig gate tragedy but also Friday is going to Mark the 30 anniversary of the fall of our withdrawal you've been criticized quite a bit by the by conservatives Republicans I want and Trump yesterday I you saw that I wanted to get you what is the perspective of Pentagon leadership at this point three years later to the criticisms the word chaotic is the most widely used adjective to describe it 3 years later what's the perspective here in terms of how you guys view what happened yeah thanks Tony um well I'm sure you can appreciate I'm I'm not going to be able to comment on any remarks from any political candidates okay um but separately secretary Austin has spoken many times about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and his pride in the tremendous work of the men and women of the US military so I would point you to some of his previous statements to include in April of 2023 uh which reads in part and if you just allow me here quote over the course of 20 years of war in Afghanistan our service members and their families serve bravely selflessly and with and with compassion as the Secretary of Defense and as a veteran of the Afghanistan War I am proud of and deeply grateful for the men and women who stood up to serve after Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11 2001 we remember the 2,461 American Service members and Personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war even on the hardest days including August 26 2021 when we tragically lost L 13 of our finest are forced performed admirably under incredibly challenging conditions end quote And in regards to the withdraw he's also underscored that no other military in the world could have accomplished what we and our allies and partners did in such a short time span and that this is a testament not only to our forces capabilities and courage but also to our relationships and the capabilities of our allies and partners you to hunting down the perpetrators the enablers of the abig gate attack Chris Meyer your commando Chief talked to reporters on Friday and he talked a little bit about the network was degraded but from from the podium can you give a feel for that President Biden said at the time we will hunt you down so what's the status of the hunt today yeah um well as uh assistant Secretary of Defense Meer highlighted we are laser focused on defending our citizens from terrorist threats that could emanate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe we know that we can't turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as Isis K uh and that we must keep a Relentless focus on counter counterterrorism and we're doing that um we have and continue to invest in uh and deploy modern capabilities to keep Americans safe we're working closely with the intelligence Community as well as to deepen our cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving threats I know that Mr Mayor addressed this as well in terms of how we've been able to foil plots and disrupt terrorist networks to include Isis K by sharing information and intelligence and enabling Allied and partner Nations to be the ones conducting arrests or taking actions and you've SE that demonstrated here recently with some high-profile news coverage of a foiled terrorist plot in Europe for example um but we've also demonstrated our ability to reach anywhere in the world when there is a threat including in Central Asia or in the Middle East and we've shown that we will not hesitate to take action to keep America safe as evidenced by senc comm's recent strike in Syria which killed the senior leader of an Al-Qaeda Associated group thank you very much jie thank you General North Korean Kim Jun announced that it would fully deploy suicide drones for the world what concerns does the United States have about this and what is the US's response to North koreas as MATC power to it I'm sorry Jan to it's what what is the US's response to North Korea's asymmetric power um on your first question uh you I've seen the Press reporting certainly it's something that we're we're keeping an eye on I I do find it interesting uh that everywhere else it's known as one way attack drone but for some reason when North Korea says it it's suicide drone uh interesting um but uh you know we clearly want to take that threat seriously and it's something that we'll keep an eye on I know that our South Korean allies are also keeping an eye on it and monitoring that uh and I'll just you know conclude by saying that we will continue to consult closely with the r and Japan and other partners and allies in the region to ensure uh that our Collective defense remains strong in terms of uh North Korea and its capabilities you know look they have a long history here of uh of destabilizing uh rhetoric and and activities uh uh again our focus in the region is defensive in nature and I'm working with allies and partners to promote Regional security and stability uh and to be prepared for any threats that North Korea poses or presents obviously don't want conflict with North Korea and we continue to call for uh diplomatic uh communication uh but so far they've not been willing to to take that allive Branch can you can you predicted the possibility that suicide drone drones Mass produce with the tact tactical support put Russia and Iran will be used on the battlefield of Ukraine and Middle East yeah I don't have anything on that nor do I want to predict so thank you yes ma'am thank you sir Nazir Academy Afghan journalist uh as he said something about Afghanistan Afghan people also concern about dish activity B of European dis get increase in Afghanistan and Taliban concerned about their activity too and what is the difference between Taliban and dases um how much time do you have uh I mean you know look first of all uh as you well know the Taliban currently uh is the the government uh in in Afghanistan and I'll use that term loosely um and so as the uh so-called ruling entity in there clear clearly uh there is a difference between that uh Isis K but there are many other uh Terror groups that that are resident right now in Afghanistan uh so you know we're continuing to keep an eye on that that region at large ultimately at the end of the day our Focus continues to be broadly speaking on working with allies and partners throughout the world and to include Central Asia as I highlighted on promoting Regional security and stability and safeguarding US National Security interests uh to include uh the counterterrorism efforts and and non-proliferation so um just leave it there thank you very much body thank you General um the US um provided intelligence and ISR support to Israel to u to in order to deal with the attack from hisbah what is your assessment of of that attack and do you think was was a would failed or succeed in achieving some of the goals that were declared byah leader Hass yeah thanks for the question I'm going to refrain uh from putting a label on it and just you know it it was it was a large scale attack um Lebanese Hezbollah had uh essentially previewed that they intended to retaliate and by all accounts they did uh and so um you know Israel uh was well prepared to respond and and defend themselves uh but I'll let the leaders from each of those uh you know from Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah speak to the nature of that from a US standpoint we were very focused again on uh supporting the defense of Israel uh as well as ensuring that this did not escalate into a wider regional conflict and that continues to be our focus and on the um threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel do you see uh Iran still uh poised to attack Israel or in light of the weekend events between hisbah and Israel there's been some changes in What You observe Vis A Iran you know I'm I'm not going to go into intelligence but again I you know as I've said previously uh Iran has made uh those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take that very seriously and so we will continue to remain postured and we are well postered uh to to be able to support the defenses of Israel as well as protect our own forces thank you Noah Admiral paparo said recently that the US could um escort Filipino vessels during resupply missions that this would be within the bounds of the mutual defense treaty I wanted to know if that's consistent with the secretary's thinking yeah thanks Noah um what I would say is the the Philippines Remains the lead for its own operations in the South China Sea and we continue to provide significant advisory support in addition to our efforts to help modernize uh the Philippine military and so as allies we continue to stand with the Philippines given especially the PRC has consistently prevented them from executing lawful maritime operations in the South China Sea and so our commitment to that Alliance is Ironclad uh as you know our governments have close continual consultation so any Military Support would be at the request of the government of the Philippines and in that light Admiral paparo simply called it an option within the context of consultations so you're saying that if they requested such Military Support that that could be on the table for consultation that that wouldn't be an immediate closed door well again without getting into hypotheticals I think as allies uh it would require any type it would re require consultation between our two Nations thank you Courtney you're setting way in the back there today yeah all right um the Russian officials have spoken out recently about the us being involved in the K incursion the deputy foreign minister said consequences for the United States could be much harsher than those they are already experiencing they know where and in what areas we are reacting in Practical terms what is do you know what do that I guess what are the areas that they are reacting that the US knows about guess do you have any comment to their um labov also spoke out saying that the US was complicit in this Cur incursion so truth and advertising I'm not a kremlinology so I'm not going to pretend to be able to translate for uh Russian bureaucratese uh we did not have advanced notification of Ukraine's uh intent uh and operations to go into KK uh certainly again you've heard president zilinski say that their efforts there are to create a buffer zone and so we continue to have conversations with them about what that means um but more Broad speaking how the US can support Ukraine's efforts uh to preserve its sovereignty and deter future Russian aggression but but specifically on the on the this allegation that the US knows that the the consequences are going to be harsher than previously have you seen any indications of of consequences against the United States I I don't know what what that means again we're not at war with Russia we're not seeking conflict with Russia we are simply supporting a democratic Nation who is in evaded two and a half years ago and enabling them to protect themselves thank you last question uh the Iranian commander of rgc says Iran with Islamic resistance in Iraq and elsewhere will take uh retaliation but how does the Pentagon see the involvement of proxy in Iraq in the existing war between Israel and Hamas well kind of taking a step back um you know there there definitely Ely been actions by uh Iranian back groups in Iraq and Syria as it relates to attempting to uh conduct rocket attacks against Israel uh largely unsuccessful but you know we we've seen that um we've also seen those groups attack US forces that are uh in Iraq and Syria in support of the enduring defeat of Isis Mission so you know what they may do in the future I can't predict um but we take that threat seriously and we'll continue and the you know just like we're going to continue to support the defense of Israel uh we will stay very focused on ensuring that our forces are protected as well uh and we won't tolerate any tax against our forces uh and to purposely belabor the point uh if we are threatened or attacked uh we will always respond in a time and manner of our choosing thank you thank you very much everybody up uh domestic question related to a justice department plea that came down last night against one of the Navy's top ship Builders austa limited they pleaded guilty to product substitution and uh procure and fraud accounting fraud what steps is the dod General counil taking with the Navy to review whether they are a responsible contractor to keep getting Federal contracts or face debarment yeah thanks Tony um we've seen the Press reporting on it however I'm going to have to refer you to the Department of Justice for details and then to the Navy for any action that they're undertaking as a result I just don't have any more to Pro you don't have any more can you also check on the status of the Boeing review you were asked about like a month and a half ago in terms of their plea and you guys said at the time there's a review of Bo what steps Boeing is taking to be a responsible contractor can you take that as a question in terms of the status yeah I'll take the question I don't know that we'll have much more to provide but I'll take that question okay thanks oh seriously you walk in like last minute all right only because it's ABC Louis Martinez thank you uh congratulations to tap um oh yeah okay um tap was on time but um going back to the jots it was announced last week I think that um that last cargo shipment had left Cyprus is there an update has it been offloaded What's happen since um so what I'm tracking Louie is that uh essentially the ship is in the queue uh waiting for its turn to uh dock in ashdod and unload uh its contents uh but as of right now still at c um but that's the latest update I have okay afternoon everyone welcome back good to see you again uh just a few items at the top and then I'll be happy to take your questions uh first we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and remain postured to support the defense of Israel and protect US troops and Assets in the region in two calls with his Israeli counterpart Minister Galant this past weekend secretary Austin underscored the United States's Ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its Regional partners and proxies as many of you are tracking in support of this the secretary ordered our two carrier strike groups the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to remain in the region as we have been from the start we remain int ly focused on deescalate tensions in the Middle East while also remaining focused on securing a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza turning to the Red Sea last week on August 21st the MV Delta San a Greek flag Greek owned oil tanker carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil was attacked by Iranian backed houthi crude vessels as reported by the Greek shipping Ministry the MV Delta San was sailing from Iraq to Greece with a crew of two Russian and 23 Filipino Sailors the crew has since evacuated the iship with the assistance of a partner Nation vessel the MV Delta sonion now sits immobilized in the Red Sea where it is currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil presenting both a navigational Hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe although the houthis have claimed that they're conducting these attacks in support of the Palestinian people their actions proed to to the contrary in fact these are simply Reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize Global and Regional Commerce put the lives of innocent civilian Mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant Maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aiden the hou's own backyard us Central Command continues to actively monitor the situation and is coordinating with other Maritime Partners in the region to determine how best to assist the vessel and mitigate the potential environmental impact shifting gears and a display of an enduring and robust defense partnership the United States and the Indonesian National Armed Forces kicked off the 2024 super Garuda Shield exercise yesterday with an opening ceremony at an Indonesian military base at Janda Naval Airbase suraya super Garuda Shield is the largest annual us Indonesian trading exercise and this year service members from the US Indonesia Australia Canada Japan Singapore and the United Kingdom will engage in various training opportunities including Airborne operations amphibious operations and interoperability information exchanges as well as academic exchanges professional development workshops command and control exercises and a joint field training exercise culminating in a live fire event sponsored by US Army Pacific the exercise will last through September 6 and involves around 3,000 combined Armed Forces including approximately 1,800 us Personnel it enhances interoperability through training and cultural exchanges solidifying the US Indonesia major defense partnership and supporting a free and open Indo Pacific for more information on super Guru Shield I'd refer you to US Army Pacific finally on behalf of all who have served here in the office of the secretary of defense for public affairs I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate our very own Mr Taft febus on his 40-year uh Milestone of federal service in the defense press press operations office always the early bird in early and out late taed humbly and selflessly plays a foundational role here at ospa supporting the Pentagon press Corps and ensuring they have the support they need to do their jobs effectively anyone who has had the Good Fortune of working alongside Taft is familiar with the wisdom and professionalism he brings to the job every day so once more congratulations Taft and thank you for your service here's to 40 more uh and with that I will take your [Applause] questions I know ta also likes all the attention so all right all right with that uh we'll go to Associated Press first who I believe is on the phone today uh Lita thank you Pat and congratulations to Taft he's a huge help as always um I have a quick followup on the ship and then I have a Ukraine question um on the um the ship and the Red Sea that's on fire can I um assume that what you're saying is that at this point NE neither the us nor any of the other allies have been able to do anything to uh stop the fire or to do something actual to address the the ship's condition right now is that accurate yeah thanks Lita uh as I highlighted sencom continued to continues to Monitor and assess the situation uh we are aware of a third party uh that attempted to send two tugs uh to the The Vessel to help Salvage uh but they were warned away uh by the houthis uh and threatened with being attacked which again demonstrates uh their blatant disregard uh for for not only human life uh but Al for also uh for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents so again sencom continues to Monitor and and uh look at you know and assess the situation and we'll keep be updated on that front and then you said you had a question on Ukraine uh yes um does these uh does secretary Austin expect to meet with uh Min umarov this week and can you provide any update on whether the US has seen much Movement by Russians out of other parts of Ukraine to go to curse thank you um in terms of uh the secretary meeting with minister umarov I don't have anything to announce uh as you know he regularly speaks the secretary Austin regularly speaks with Minister umarov and so uh I would uh foresee them speaking again uh in the near future but again I I don't have anything to to provide from the podium today um in terms of K again we continue to keep an eye on this uh as we've said previously we have seen the Russians divert some forces uh to the K region um largely uh they have used forces that are already there uh and as they put together a defense a hasty defense um but but nothing large scale uh that I've seen at this point uh but again i' I'd refer you to the Russians uh to talk more about their operations and I'll just leave it there Jennifer um General Ryder the US doesn't have any Naval warships in the Red Sea right now do you think that if there had been USS coal or other uh Destroyers in or an aircraft carrier in the Red Sea that they could have prevented this hooti attack on this vessel that's now on fire um well you know I at this point the fact is is that there is a vessel that's on fire and as you know we've been uh patrolling those waterways for a while and have been able to intercept and mitigate the vast majority of of houthi attacks uh and so we'll we'll continue to stay focused on that uh but the reality is right now we have this situation and so again sencom will continue to assess uh we'll keep you updated on on any potential involvement there how long do you expect that there won't be an aircraft carrier strike group in the Indo Pacific isn't it risky right now not having an aircraft carrier strike group there well look you know as we as we look at Global Force management and as we look at requirements uh around the world in support of our national security interest we're always taking great care to make sure that we can cover those commitments to include uh in our priority Theater which is the Indo Pacific region and so we have a significant amount of capability there uh to include a large Naval presence uh and so in the case of the Middle East uh as I highlighted the secretary wanted uh those two carrier groups carrier strike groups to remain in the region for now to be able to provide us with additional capability and capacity to protect our forces support the defense of Israel and also be ready for a variety of contingencies but how long do you expect to have this carrier yeah uh you know look I'm not going to get into uh deployment timelines for operation security reasons but the bottom line is we can walk and chew gum at the same time Carla thank you Pat um Ukrainian president zalinski said yesterday that there should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine he said this before but he added that the terrorists referencing Russia have no such restrictions does the Pentagon agree with that statement well look I I won't speak for president zalinsky clearly uh he's made made his his views and perspective uh well known both publicly and privately from a US perspective we're going to continue to consult closely with our Ukrainian Partners as well as our allies and partners around the world and how best to support Ukraine uh towards uh the the you know ultimate end state of ensuring a free and Sovereign uh Ukraine that can deter future aggression from Russia and so are there still restrictions on Ukrainian weapons provided by the United States so our policies haven't changed you've heard us say that the the ukrainians can use us uh security assistance to defend themselves from crossborder attacks in other words counterfire uh but as it relates to long range strike deep strikes uh into Russia our policy is not changed let me go back out to the phone here uh JJ green WTOP thanks General um question regarding um Israel and Hamas the Pentagon has said for quite a while now that one of its stated goals was to prevent this conflict from spreading So based on what happened over the weekend between Israel and Hezbollah um how does the Pentagon view that does does this seem to be an expansion because they've done attacks against each other but this was these attacks these these were much more much bigger and um seemingly had much more impact how does that impact the pentagon's view of whether this is expanding or not yeah thanks JJ uh so again just to put this into context when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th um you heard us say that you know we deployed a significant amount of uh additional capability into the middle east region uh and the and the ukom region in order to uh send a very clear message of deterrence and to prevent this from becoming uh a wider regional conflict right now we still assess uh that the conflict between Israel and Hamas uh is contained to Gaza uh you have seen the uh you know crossb strikes between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah since October 8 what you saw over the weekend of course was a much larger scale than what we've seen previously but it is in our view not a wider regional conflict at this stage and so we're going to continue to stay very focused on deescalation of tensions in the region as I highlighted and preventing it from becoming a wider Regional War thank you Tony Afghanistan uh you were pillar this week about the the the third anniversary of not only the abig gate tragedy but also Friday is going to Mark the 30 anniversary of the fall of our withdrawal you've been criticized quite a bit by the by conservatives Republicans I and Trump yesterday I you saw that I wanted to get you what is the perspective of pentag on leadership at this point 3 years later to the criticisms the word chaotic is the most widely used adjective to describe it three years later what's the perspective here in terms of how you guys view what happened yeah thanks Tony um well as I'm sure you can appreciate I'm I'm not going to be able to comment on any remarks from any political candidates okay um but separately secretary Austin has spoken many times about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and his pride in the tremendous work of the men and women of the US military so I would point you to some of his previous statements to include in April of 2023 uh which reads in part and if you just allow me here quote over the course of 20 years of war in Afghanistan our service members and their families serve bravely selflessly and with and with compassion as the Secretary of Defense and as a veteran of the Afghanistan War I am proud of and deeply grateful for the men and women who stood up to serve after Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11 2001 we remember the 2,461 American Service members and Personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war even on the hardest days including August 26 2021 when we tragically lost 13 of our finest our Force performed admirably under incredibly challenging conditions end quote And in regards to the withdrawal he's also underscored that no other military in the world could have accomplished what we and our allies and partners did in such a short time span and that this is a a testament not only to our forces's capabilities and courage but also to our relationships and the capabilities of our allies and partners ask you to hunting down the perpetrators the enablers of the abig gate attack Chris Meyer your commando Chief talked to reporters on Friday he talked a little bit about the network was degraded but from from the podium can you give a feel for that President Biden said at the time we will hunt you down so what's the status of the hunt today yeah um well as uh assistant Secretary of Defense Meer High ated we are laser focused on defending our citizens from terrorist threats that could emanate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe we know that we can't turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as Isis K uh and that we must keep a Relentless focus on counter counterterrorism and we're doing that um we have and continue to invest in uh and deploy modern capabilities to keep Americans safe we're working closely with the intelligence Comm Community as well as to deepen our cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving threats I know that Mr Mayor addressed this as well in terms of how we've been able to foil plots and disrupt terrorist networks to include Isis K by sharing information and intelligence and enabling Allied and partner Nations to be the ones conducting arrests or taking actions and you've seen that demonstrated here recently with some high-profile news coverage of a foiled terrorist plot in Europe for example um but we've also demonstrated our ability to reach anywhere in the world when there is a threat including in Central Asia or in the Middle East and we've shown that we will not hesitate to take action to keep America safe as evidenced by centcom's recent strike in Syria which killed the senior leader of an Al-Qaeda Associated group thank you very much Janie thank you General North Korean Kim Jun announced that it would fully deploy suicide drones for the world what concerns does the United States have about this and what is the US's response to North Korea as metric power to its I'm sorry Jan to its what what is the US's response to North Korea's asymmetric power um on your first question uh you I've seen the Press reporting certainly it's something that we're we're keeping an eye on I I do find it interesting uh that or else it's known as oneway attack drone but for some reason when North Korea says it it's suicide drone uh interesting um but uh you know we clearly want to take that threat seriously and it's something that we'll keep an eye on I know that our South Korean allies are also keeping an eye on it and monitoring that uh and I'll just you know conclude by saying that we will continue to consult closely with the r and Japan and other partners and allies in the region to ensure uh that our Collective defense remains strong in terms of uh North Korea and its capabilities you know look they have a long history here of uh of destabilizing uh rhetoric and and activities uh again our focus in the region is defensive in nature and I'm working with allies and partners to promote Regional security and stability uh and to be prepared for any threats that North Korea poses or presents obviously don't want conflict with North Korea and we continue to call for uh diplomatic uh communication uh but so far they've not been willing to to take that Olive Branch can you can you predicted the possibility that suicide drone drones mes produced with the TCT tactical support put of Russia and Iran will be used on the battlefield of Ukraine and Middle East yeah I don't have anything on that nor do I want to predict so thank you yes ma'am thank you sir Naz Academy Afghan journalist uh as he said something about Afghanistan Afghan people also concerned about dish activity based of European dis get increase in Afghanistan and Taliban concerned about their activity too and what is the difference between Taliban and dises um how much time do you have uh I mean you know look first of all as you well know the Taliban currently L uh is the the government uh in in Afghanistan and I'll use that term loosely um and so as the uh so-called uh ruling entity in there clearly uh there is a difference between that uh Isis K but there are many other uh Terror groups that that are resident right now in Afghanistan uh so you know we're continuing to keep an eye on that that region at large ultimately at the end of the day our Focus continues to be broadly speaking on working with allies and partners throughout the world and to include Central Asia as I highlighted on promoting Regional security and stability and safeguarding US National Security interests uh to include uh the counterterrorism efforts and and nonproliferation so um just leave it there thank you very much body thank you General um the US um provided intelligence and ISR support to Israel to uh to in order to deal with the attack from hisbah what is your assessment of of that attack and do you think was was a would failed or succeed in achieving some of the goals that were declared by hisbah leader Hass yeah thanks for the question I'm going to refrain uh from putting a label on it and just you know it it was it was a large scale attack um Lebanese Hezbollah had uh uh essentially previewed that they intended to retaliate and by all accounts they did uh and so um you know Israel uh was well prepared to respond and and defend themselves uh but I'll let the leaders from each of those uh you know from Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah speak to the nature of that from a US standpoint we were very focused again on uh supporting the defense of Israel uh as well as ensuring that this did not escalate into a wider regional conflict and that continues to be our focus and on the um threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel do you see uh Iran still uh poised to attack Israel or in light of the weekend events between hisbah and Israel there's been some changes in What You observe Vis A Iran you know I'm I'm not going to go into intelligence but again I you know as I've said previously uh Iran has made uh those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take that very seriously and so we will continue to remain postured and we are well postered uh to be able to support the defenses of Israel as well as protect our own forces thank you Noah Admiral paparo said recently that the US could um escort Filipino vessels during resupply missions that this would be within the bounds of the mutual defense treaty I wanted to know if that's consistent with the secretary's thinking yeah thanks Noah um what I would say is the the Philippines Remains the lead for its own operations in the South China Sea and we continue to provide significant advisory support in addition to our efforts to help modernize uh the Philippine military and so as allies we continue to stand with the Philippines given especially the PRC has consistently prevented them from executing lawful maritime operations in the South China and so our commitment to that Alliance is Ironclad as you know our governments have close continual consultation so any Military Support would be at the request of the government of the Philippines and in that light Admiral paparo simply called it an option within the context of consultations so you're saying that if they requested such Military Support that that could be on the table for consultation that that wouldn't be an immediate closed door well again without getting into hypotheticals I think as allies uh it would require any type it would re require consultation between our two Nations thank you Courtney you're setting way in the back there today yeah all right um the several Russian officials have spoken out recently about the us being involved in the K incursion the deputy foreign minister said consequences for the United States could be much harsher than those they are already experiencing they know where and in what areas we are reacting in Practical terms what is do you know what do that I guess what are the areas that they are reacting that the US knows about guess do you have any comment to there um lavro also spoke out saying that the US is complicit in this Cur incursion so truth and advertising I'm not a kremlinology so I'm not going to pretend to be able to translate for uh Russian bureaucratese uh we did not have advanced notification of Ukraine's uh intent uh and operations to go into KK uh certainly again you've heard president zalinski say that their efforts there are to create a buffer zone and so we continue to have conversations with them about what that means um but more broadly speaking how the US can support Ukraine's efforts uh to preserve its sovereignty and deter future Russian aggression but but specifically on the on the this allegation that the US knows that the the consequences are going to be harsher than previously have you seen any indications of of consequences against the United States I I don't know what what that means again we're not at war with Russia we're not seeking conflict with Russia we are simply supporting a democratic Nation who was invaded two and a half years ago and enabling them to protect themselves thank you last question uh the Iranian command of rgc says Iran with Islamic resistance in Iraq and elsewhere will take uh retaliation but how does the Pentagon see the involvement of progress in Iraq in the existing war between Israel and Hamas well kind of taking a step back um you know there there have definitely been actions by uh Iranian back groups in Iraq and Syria as it relates to attempting to uh conduct rocket attacks against Israel uh largely unsuccessful but you know we we've seen that um we've also seen those groups attack US forces that are uh in Iraq and Syria in support of the enduring defeat of Isis Mission so you know what they may do in the future I can't predict um but we take that threat seriously and we'll continue and the you know just like we're going to continue to support the defense of Israel uh we will stay very focused on ensuring that our forces are protected as well uh and we won't tolerate any tax against our forces uh and to purposely belabor the point uh if we are threatened or attacked uh we will always respond in a time and manner of our choosing thank you thank you thank you very much everybody oh last one domestic question related to a justice department plea that came down last night against one of the Navy's top ship Builders austa limited they pleaded guilty to product substitution and uh proc and fraud accounting fraud what steps is is the dod General counil taking with the Navy to review whether they are a responsible contractor to keep getting Federal contracts or face dearment yeah thanks Tony um we've seen the Press reporting on it however I'm going to have to refer you to the Department of Justice for details and then to the Navy for any action that they're undertaking as a result I just don't have any more to Prov you don't have any more can you also check on the status of the Boeing review you were asked about like a month and a half ago terms of their ple and you you guys said at the time there's a review of Bo what steps Boeing is taking to be a responsible contractor can you take that as a question in terms of the staus yeah I'll take the question I don't know that we'll have much more to provide but I'll take that question okay thanks oh Louie seriously you walk in like last minute all right only because it's ABC Louis Martinez thank you uh and congratulations to tap um oh yeah okay um tap was on time but um going back to the jots it was announced last week I think that um that last cargo shipment had left Cyprus is there an update has it been offloaded what's happened since um so what I'm tracking Louie is that uh essentially the ship is in the queue uh waiting for its turn to uh dock in ashdod and unload uh its contents um but as of right now still at c um but that's the latest update I have okay afternoon everyone welcome back good to see you again uh just a few items at the top and then I'll be happy to take your questions uh first we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and remain postured to support the defense of Israel and Protect US troops and Assets in the region in two calls with his Israeli counterpart Minister Gant this past weekend secretary Austin underscored the United States's Ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its Regional partners and proxies as many of you are tracking in support of this the secretary ordered our two carrier strike groups the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to remain in the region as we have been from the start we remain intently focused on deescalate tensions in the Middle East while also remaining focused on securing a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza turning to the Red Sea last week on August 21st the MV Delta San a Greek flag Greek owned oil tanker carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil was attacked by Iranian backed houthi crude vessels as reported by the Greek shipping Ministry the MV Delta San was sailing from Iraq to Greece with a crew of two Russian and 23 Filipino Sailors the crew has since evacuated the ship with the assistance of a partner Nation vessel the MV Delta sonion now sits immobilized in the Red Sea where it ISR currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil presenting both a navigational Hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe although the houthis have claimed that they're conducting these attacks in support of the Palestinian people their actions prove to the contrary in fact these are simply Reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize Global and Regional Commerce put the lives of innocent civilian Mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant Maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aiden the hou's own backyard us Central Command continues to actively monitor the situation and is coordinating with other Maritime Partners in the region to determine how best to assist the vessel and mitigate the potential environmental impact shifting gears and a display of an enduring and robust defense partnership the United States and the Indonesian National Armed Forces kicked off the 2024 super Garuda Shield exercise yesterday with an opening ceremony at an Indonesian military base at Janda Naval Airbase suraya super Garuda Shield is the largest annual us Indonesian trading exercise and this year service members from the US Indonesia Australia Canada Japan Singapore and the United Kingdom will engage in various training opportunities including Airborne operations amphibious operations and interoperability information exchanges as well as academic exchanges professional development workshops command and control exercises and a joint field field training exercise culminating in a live fire event sponsored by US Army Pacific the exercise will last through September 6 and involves around 3,000 combined Armed Forces including approximately 1,800 us Personnel it enhances interoperability through training and cultural exchanges solidifying the US Indonesia major defense partnership and supporting a free and open indopacific for more information on super Guru Shield I'd refer you to US Army Pacific finally on behalf of all who have served here in the office of the secretary of defense for public affairs I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate our very own Mr Taft phebus on his 40-year uh Milestone of federal service in the defense press press operations office always the early bird in early and out late taed humbly and selflessly plays a foundational role here at ospa supporting the Pentagon press Corps and ensuring they have the support they need to do their jobs effectively anyone who has had the Good Fortune of working alongside Taft is familiar with the wisdom and professionalism he brings to the job every day so once more congratulations Taft and thank you for your service here's to 40 more uh and with that I will take your [Applause] questions I know ta also likes all the attention so all right all right with that uh we'll go to Associated Press first who I believe is on the phone today uh Lita thank you Pat and congratulations to Taft he's a huge help as always um I have a quick followup on the ship and then I have a Ukraine question um on the um the ship in the Red Sea that's on fire can I um assume that what you're saying is that at this point NE neither the us nor any of the other allies have been able to do anything to uh stop the fire or to do something actual to address the the ship's condition right now is that accurate yeah thanks Lita uh as I highlighted sencom continued to continues to Monitor and assess the situation uh we are aware of a third party uh that attempted to send two tugs uh to the The Vessel to help Salvage uh but they were warned away uh by the houthis uh and threatened with being attacked which again demonstrates uh their blatant disregard uh for for not only human life uh but Al for also uh for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents so uh again sencom continues to Monitor and and uh look at you know and assess the situation and we'll keep you updated on that front and then you said you had a question on Ukraine uh yes um does the uh does secretary Austin expect to meet with uh Min umarov this week and can you provide any update on whether the US has seen much Movement by Russians out of other parts of Ukraine to go to curse thank you um in terms of uh the secretary meeting with Minister umarov I don't have anything to announce uh as you know he regularly speaks the secretary Austin regularly speaks with Minister umarov and so uh I would uh foresee them speaking again uh in the near future but again I I don't have anything to to provide from the podium today um in terms of KK again we continue to keep an eye on this uh as we've said previously we have seen the Russians divert some forces uh to the KK region um largely uh they have used forces that are already there uh and as they put together a defense a hasty defense um but but nothing large scale uh that I've seen at this point uh but again i' I'd refer you to the Russians uh to talk more about their operations and I'll just leave it there Jennifer um General Ryder the US doesn't have any Naval warships in the redc right now do you think that if there had been USS coal or other uh destroyers in or an aircraft carrier in the Red Sea that they could have prevented this hooti attack on this vessel that's now on fire um well you know I at this point the fact is is that there is a vessel that's on fire and as you know we've been uh patrolling those waterways for a while and have been able to intercept and mitigate the vast majority of of houthi attacks uh and so we'll we'll continue to stay focused on that uh but the reality is right now we have this situation and so again sencom will continue to assess um we'll keep you updated on on any potential involvement there how long do you expect that there won't be an aircraft carrier strike group in the Indo Pacific isn't it risky right now not having an aircraft carrier strike group there well look you know as we as we look at Global Force management and as we look at requirements uh around the world in support of our national security interest we're always taking great care to make sure that we can cover those commitments to include uh in our priority Theater which is the indopacific region and so we have a significant amount of capability there uh to include a large Naval presence uh and so in the case of the Middle East uh as I highlighted the secretary wanted uh those two carrier groups carrier strike groups to remain in the region for now to be able to provide us with additional capability and capacity to protect our forces support the defense of Israel and also be ready for a variety of contingencies but how long do you expect to have this carrier Gap uh you know look I'm not going to get into uh deployment timelines for operation security reasons but the bottom line is we can walk and chew gum at the same time car thank you Pat um Ukrainian president zalinski said yesterday that there should be no restrict rtion on the range of weapons for Ukraine he said this before but he added that the terrorists referencing Russia have no such restrictions does the Pentagon agree with that statement well look I I won't speak for president zalinsky clearly uh he's made his his views and perspective uh well known both publicly and privately from a US perspective we're going to continue to consult closely with our Ukrainian Partners as well as our allies and partners around the world and how best to support Ukraine uh towards uh the the you know ultimate end state of ensuring a free and Sovereign uh Ukraine that can deter future aggression from Russia and so are there still restrictions on Ukrainian weapons provided by the United States so our policies haven't changed you've heard us say that the the ukrainians can use us uh security assistance to defend themselves from crossb attacks in other words counter fire uh but as it relates to long range strike deep strikes uh into Russia our policy is not changed let me go back out to the phone here uh JJ green WTOP thanks General um question regarding um Israel and Hamas the Pentagon has said for quite a while now that one of its stated goals was to prevent this conflict from spreading So based on what happened over the weekend between Israel and hea um how does the Pentagon view that does does this seem to be an expansion because they've done attacks against each other but this was these attacks these these were much more much bigger and um seemingly had much more impact how does that impact the pentagon's view of whether this is expanding or not yeah thanks JJ uh so again just to put this into context when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th um you heard us say that you know we deployed a significant amount of uh additional capability into to the Middle East region uh and the and the ukom region in order to uh send a very clear message of deterrence and to prevent this from becoming uh a wider regional conflict right now we still assess uh that the conflict between Israel and Hamas uh is contained to Gaza uh you have seen the uh you know crossb strikes between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah since October 8th what you saw over the weekend of course was a much larger scale than what we've seen previously but it is in our view not a wider regional conflict at this stage and so we're going to continue to stay very focused on deescalation of tensions in the region as I highlighted and preventing it from becoming a wider Regional War thank you Tony Afghanistan uh you were pillar this week about the the third anniversary of not only the abig gate tragedy but also Friday is going to Mark the third anniversary of the fall of our withdrawal you've been criticized quite a bit by the by conservatives Republicans I want and Trump yesterday I you saw that I wanted to get you what is the perspective of Pentagon leadership at this point three years later to the criticisms the word chaotic is the most widely used adjective to describe it three years later what's the perspective here in terms of how you guys view what happened yeah thanks Tony um well as I'm sure you can appreciate I'm I'm not going to be able to comment on any remarks from any political candidates okay um but separately secretary Austin has spoken many times about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and his pride in the tremendous work of the men and women of the US military so I would point you to some of his previous statements to include in April of 2023 uh which reads in part and if you just allow me here quote over the course of 20 years of war in Afghanistan our service members and their families serve bravely selflessly and with and with compassion as the Secretary of Defense and as a veteran of the Afghanistan War I am proud of and deeply grateful for the men and women who stood up to serve after Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11 2001 we remember the 2,461 American Service members and Personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war even on the hardest days including August 26 2021 when we tragically lost 13 of our finest our Force perform admirably under incredibly challenging conditions end quote And in regards to the withdrawal he's also underscored that no other military in the world could have accomplished what we and our allies and partners did in such a short time span and that this is a testament not only to our forces capabilities and courage but also to our relationships and the capabilities of our allies and partners ask you to hunting down the perpetrators the enablers of the abig gate attack Chris Meyer your commando Chief talked to reporters on Friday he talked a little bit about network was degraded but from from the podium can you give a feel for that President Biden said at the time we will hunt you down so what's the status of the hunt today yeah um well as uh assistant secretary defense Meyer highlighted we are laser focused on defending our citizens from terrorist threats that could emanate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe we know that we can't turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as Isis K uh and that we must keep Relentless focus on counter counterterrorism and we're doing that um we have and continue to invest in uh and deploy modern capabilities to keep Americans safe we're working closely with the intelligence Community as well as to deepen our cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving threats I know that Mr Mayor addressed this as well in terms of how we've been able to foil plots and disrupt terrorist networks to include Isis K by sharing information and in intelligence and enabling Allied and partner Nations to be the ones conducting arrests or taking actions and you've seen that demonstrated here recently with some high-profile news coverage of a foiled terrorist plot in Europe for example um but we've also demonstrated our ability to reach anywhere in the world when there is a threat including in Central Asia or in the Middle East and we've shown that we will not hesitate to take action to keep America safe as evidenced by senc comm's recent strike in Syria which killed the senior leader of an Al-Qaeda Associated group thank you very much jie thank you General North Korean Kim announced that it would fully deploy suicide drones for the world what concerns does the United States have about this and what is the US's response to North Korea's aetc power to its I'm sorry Jan to its What what is the Us's response to North Korea's asymmetric power um on your first question uh you I've seen the Press reporting certainly it's something that we're we're keeping an eye on I I do find it interesting uh that everywhere else it's known as one way attack drone but for some reason when North Korea says it it's suicide drone uh interesting um but uh you know we clearly want to take that threat seriously and it's something that we'll keep an eye on I know that our South Korean allies are also keeping an eye on it and monitoring that uh and I'll just you know conclude by saying that we will continue to consult closely with the r and Japan and other partners and allies in the region to ensure uh that our Collective defense remains strong in terms of uh North Korea and its capabilities you know look they have a long history here of uh of destabilizing uh rhetoric and and activities uh again our focus in the region is defensive in nature and I'm working with allies and partners to promote Regional security and stability uh and to be prepared for any threats that North Korea poses or presents obviously don't want conflict with North Korea and we continue to call for uh diplomatic uh communication uh but so far they've not been willing to to take that Olive Branch can you can you predicted the possibility that suicide drone drones mess produced with the TCT Tac support to put of Russia and Iran will be used on the battlefield of Ukraine and Middle East yeah I don't have anything on that nor do I want to predict so thank you yes ma'am thank you sir na Academy Afghan journalist uh as he said something about Afghanistan Afghan people also concerned about dish activity based of Europe and Das get increase in Afghanistan and Taliban concerned about their activity too and what is the difference between Taliban and dises um how much time do you have um I mean you know look first of all uh as you well know the Taliban currently uh is the the government uh in in Afghanistan and I'll use that term loosely um and so as the uh so-called uh ruling entity in there clearly uh there is a difference between that uh Isis K but there are many other uh Terror groups that that are resident right now in Afghanistan uh so you know we're continuing to keep an eye on that that region at large ultimately at the end of the day our Focus continues to be broadly speaking on working with allies and partners throughout the world and to include Central Asia as I highlighted on promoting Regional security and stability and safeguarding US National Security interests uh to include uh the counter terrorism efforts and and nonproliferation so um just leave it there thank you very much body thank you General um the US um provided intelligence and ISR support to Israel to u to in order to deal with the attack from hisbah what is your assessment of of that attack and do you think it was was a would failed or succeed in achieving some of the goals that were declared by hisbah leader yeah thanks for the question I'm going to refrain uh from putting a label on it and just you know it it was it was a large scale attack um Lebanese Hezbollah had uh essentially previewed that they intended to retaliate and by all accounts they did uh and so um you know Israel uh was well prepared to respond and and defend themselves uh but I'll let the leaders from each of the those uh you know from Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah speak to the nature of that from a US standpoint we were very focused again on uh supporting the defense of Israel uh as well as ensuring that this did not escalate into a wider regional conflict and that continues to be our focus and on the um threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel do you see uh Iran still uh poised to attack Israel or in light of the weekend events between hisbah and Israel there's been some changes in What You observe Vis A Iran you know I'm I'm not going to go into intelligence but again I you know as I've said previously uh Iran has made uh those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take that very seriously and so we will continue to remain postured and we are well postured uh to be able to support the defenses of is Israel as well as protect our own forces thank you Noah Admiral paparo said recently that the US could um escort Filipino vessels during resupply missions that this would be within the bounds of the mutual defense treaty I wanted to know if that's consistent with the secretary's thinking yeah thanks Noah um what I would say is the the Philippines Remains the lead for its own operations in the South China Sea and we continue to provide significant advisory support in addition to our efforts to help modernize uh the Philippine military and so as allies we continue to stand with the Philippines given especially the PRC has consistently prevented them from executing lawful maritime operations in the South China Sea and so our commitment to that Alliance is Ironclad uh as you know our governments have close continual consultations so any Military Support would be at the request of the government of the Philippines and in that light Admiral paparo simply called it an OP within the context of consultations so you're saying that if they requested such Military Support that that could be on the table for consultation that that wouldn't be an immediate closed door well again without getting into hypotheticals I think as allies uh it would require any type it would re require consultation between our two Nations thank you Courtney you're setting way on the back there today yeah all right um the several Russian officials have spoken out recently about the us being involved in the K incursion the deputy foreign minister said consequences for the United States could be much harsher than those they are already experiencing they know where and in what areas we are reacting in Practical terms what is do you know what is that I guess what are the areas that they are reacting that the US knows about guess do you have any comment to their um lavro also spoke out saying that the US was complicit in this Cur incursion so truth and advertising I'm not a kremlinology so I'm not going to pretend to be able to translate for uh Russian bureaucratese uh we did not have advanced notification of Ukraine's uh intent uh and operations to go into KK uh certainly again you've heard president zalinski say that their efforts there are to create a buffer zone and so we are continue to have conversations with them about what that means um but more broadly speaking how the US can support Ukraine's efforts uh to preserve its sovereignty and deter future Russian aggression but but specifically on the on the this allegation that the US knows that the the consequences are going to be harsher than previously have you seen any indications of of consequences against the United States I I don't know what what that means again we're not at war with Russia we're not seeking conflict with Russia we are simply supporting a democratic Nation who was invaded 2 and a half years ago and Ena in them to protect themselves thank you last question uh the Iranian command of rgc says Iran with Islamic resistance in Iraq and elsewhere will take uh retaliation but how does the Pentagon see the involvement of press in Iraq in the existing war between Israel and Hamas well kind of taking a step back um you know there there have definitely been actions by uh Iranian back groups in Iraq and Syria as it relates to attempting to uh conduct rocket attacks against Israel uh largely unsuccessful but you know we we've seen that um we've also seen those groups attack US forces that are uh in Iraq and Syria in support of the enduring defeat of Isis Mission so you know what they may do in the future I can't predict um but take that threat seriously and we'll continue and the you know just like we're going to continue to support the defense of Israel uh we will stay very focused on ensuring that our forces are protected as well uh and we won't tolerate any tax against our forces uh and to purposely belabor the point uh if we are threatened or attacked uh we will always respond in a time and manner of our choosing thank you thank you very much everybody last one domestic question related to a justice department plea that came down last night against one of the Navy's top ship Builders AA limited they pleaded guilty to product substitution and uh procure and fraud accounting fraud what steps is the dod General Council taking with the Navy to review whether they are a responsible contractor to keep getting Federal contracts or face debarment yeah thanks Tony um we've seen the Press reporting on it however I'm going to have to refer you to the Department of Justice for details and then to the Navy for any action that they're undertaking as a result I just don't have any more to put you don't have any more can you also checking the status of the Boeing review you were asked about like a month and a half ago in terms of their plea and you guys said at the time there's a review of what steps Boeing is taking to be a responsible contractor can you take that as a question in terms of the status of yeah I'll take the question I don't know that we'll have much more to provide but I'll take that question okay thanks oh Louie seriously you walk in like last minute all right only because it's ABC Louis Martinez thank you uh and congratulations to TA um oh yeah okay um tap was on time but um going back to the jots it was announced last week I think that um that last cargo shipment had left Cyprus is there an update has it been offloaded what's happened since um so what I'm tracking Louie is that uh essentially the ship is in the queue uh waiting for its turn to uh uh dock in ashdod and unload uh its contents uh but as of right now still at c u but that's the latest update I have okay afternoon everyone welcome back good to see you again uh just a few items at the top and then I'll be happy to take your questions uh first we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and remain postured to support the defense of Israel and Protect US troops and Assets in the region in two calls with his Israeli counterpart Minister Gant this past weekend secretary Austin underscored the United States's Ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its Regional partners and proxies as many of you are tracking in support of this the secretary ordered our two carrier strike groups the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to remain in the region as we have been from the start we remain intently focused on deescalate tensions in in the Middle East while also remaining focused on securing a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza turning to the Red Sea last week on August 21st the MV Delta San a Greek flag greek-owned oil tanker carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil was attacked by iranian-backed houthi crude vessels as reported by the Greek shipping Ministry the MV Delta San was sailing from Iraq to Greece with a crew of two Russian and 23 Filipino Sailors the crew has since evacuated the ship with the assistance of a partner Nation vessel the MV Delta sonion now sits immobilized in the Red Sea where it is currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil presenting both a navigational Hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe although the houthis have claimed that they're conducting these attacks in support of the palestin