JUST IN: Pentagon Holds Press Briefing As Gaza Aid Pier Project Prepares To Shut Down

2 months ago

On Tuesday, Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder held a press briefing.

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Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, everyone. Just a couple of things at the top, and then I'll get right to your

00:06questions. Yesterday, Secretary Austin welcomed Singapore Minister of Defense Ng to the Pentagon

00:13for a bilateral meeting during which they reaffirmed the longstanding defense partnership

00:18between the United States and Singapore. The two leaders discussed opportunities to expand bilateral

00:23force posture cooperation and the importance of expanding joint training and interoperability.

00:30The officials emphasized the strength of U.S.-Singapore collaboration on emerging technologies

00:35as demonstrated by the signing of a U.S.-Singapore Statement of Intent for Data Analytics and

00:41Artificial Intelligence Cooperation by the U.S. Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer

00:47and the Singapore Deputy Secretary for Technology. Secretary Austin and Minister Ng reaffirmed their

00:54commitment to advancing the historic momentum in the U.S.-Singapore defense partnership

01:00and a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific region. A readout of the call

01:04has been posted to defense.gov. Finally, I know many of you have been following the status of

01:10the JLATS humanitarian mission or temporary pier. This time, the temporary pier remains in Ashdod,

01:16and a potential re-anchoring date has not been set. As we've said, the pier has always been

01:21intended as a temporary solution, and it will conclude its mission soon. But as of today,

01:26I don't have any announcements to make in terms of when the mission will officially conclude.

01:31Very aware of the press and public interest, and we'll be sure to provide updates as appropriate.

01:36And with that, happy to take your questions. We'll go to AP Elita.

01:40Thank you, Pat. Pat, do you know if there is any U.S. military involvement at all in Ashdod

01:47as they try to get more aid in through that port? Is there any U.S. involvement at all in any of that?

01:56So we'll have more details to follow in terms of, you know, next steps. As far as Ashdod goes,

02:02as you know, we have a convoy management board that's situated there with Lieutenant General

02:09Frank. In terms of U.S. military presence at Ashdod, in terms of accepting aid, moving it,

02:17I'm not aware of any activity at the moment, other than to say, again, you know, we are aware that

02:25aid has moved through Ashdod, and we have delivered aid to Ashdod for onward distribution.

02:32But again, we'll have more details to provide for you in the future.

02:35Just on that point, has the aid, is there any aid on the floating dock

02:42that is offshore of Gaza, or has all of that aid been delivered now to Ashdod?

02:50I'd have to take that question. I don't know the answer to that.

02:53Okay. Yes, sir.

02:55Thank you, sir. Two questions. One, during the NATO summit in Washington, Prime Minister

03:02Narendra Modi of India was in Moscow meeting and greeting with President Putin of Russia.

03:11They have discussed so many issues between India and Russia, including military pact and also

03:19situation in the Middle East, war going on, and also, of course, Russia and Ukraine war.

03:25And Prime Minister Modi offered many options there, and both leaders that this war in the

03:32Middle East should be end, because it's in the interest of India, of course, in many ways.

03:38And also at the same time, war in between Russia and Ukraine, also in the interest of

03:45India to end this war also. So where do we go from there? NATO was meeting here,

03:50and they were meeting there at the same time. And where do we stand as far as US-India

03:56military to military relations into this connection also?

04:00Yeah. Well, as you heard me say last week, India is a strategic partner,

04:05and we look forward to continuing to develop that partnership. When it comes to

04:09Ukraine and Russia's illegal occupation and invasion of Ukraine, ultimately, at the end

04:15of the day, it's up to Ukraine to decide when they are ready to negotiate for peace. And right now,

04:24our focus continues to be on working with Ukraine to provide them with what they need to defend

04:30their country and defend their sovereignty and take back territory. But at the end of the day,

04:39there's no decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine.

04:43Second, sir, if a lawmaker or senator acting as a foreign agent of the United States

04:53and have been found guilty by the New Jersey grand jury, Senator Bob Menendez is now,

05:00as far as the military connection, because he was found guilty in connection with those countries

05:06that he was acting as a foreign agent, those countries have a military to military relation

05:11with the United States. So in any way that this building or a military to military relation will

05:17be affected in any way because of a guilty... Yeah, as it relates to Senator Menendez,

05:23I don't have anything to provide. I'd refer you to Department of Justice on that. Carla?

05:28Thanks. Just first to follow up on the situation with the pier,

05:33are there any additional airdrops going on or does DOD assess that there's still a great need

05:39for humanitarian assistance? Is there anything going on in the interim while we're waiting for

05:43the pier? Yeah, I don't have anything to announce at the moment in terms of airdrops. Of course,

05:47that's a capability that we maintain, but nothing to announce specifically on that.

05:52When it comes to humanitarian assistance for Gaza, we know that there is an urgent need for

06:00humanitarian assistance. Of course, USAID is the lead for the US government in terms of working

06:05with the international community and the DOD is supporting their efforts. So we'll continue,

06:10obviously, to maintain close contact as we have all along with USAID

06:16on that front to ensure that we're doing our part to support those efforts.

06:20Okay. Thanks, Matt. And then just a couple of questions on the country of Georgia.

06:24Following Noble Partner being canceled, are there any other cancellations? Has every

06:30mil-to-mil operation been put on hold for the time being? There's supposed to be some sort

06:35of celebration at the end of August. Has that been put on hold? Can you give us any other updates?

06:41Yeah, I'm not tracking any other cancellations at this time.

06:44Okay. And then, I guess, does DOD see Georgia still as a US-friendly ally or does it see it

06:51moving towards Russia at this point? Yeah. I mean, we'll continue to partner

06:54with Georgian Defense Forces and we'll continue to look for ways to strengthen Georgia's ability

07:00to safeguard its sovereignty and maintain its territorial integrity. The decision to

07:05cancel the exercise was not taken lightly. We place great consideration on the extensive value

07:12that allies and partners add to exercises such as Noble Partner. And so we're going to continue

07:18to look forward to future opportunities to cooperate with allies and partners. So I'll

07:23leave it there. Let me go to Konstantin. Thanks, Pat. So CNN is reporting that

07:30remnants of two US-made munitions were used in an Israeli missile strike on Sunday

07:34on a school in central Gaza. Does the Pentagon have a reaction or comment to that?

07:39I mean, I've seen the press reports, but I'd have to refer you to Israel to talk about their

07:42operations. Okay. And just more broadly, this isn't the first time

07:47that reports like this have come out. You know, does the Pentagon leadership feel like it's doing

07:53an adequate job of making sure that the weapons we give Israel are not used in incidents such as

07:57this? Well, look, I mean, we've been very clear to our Israeli partners on our view as it relates to

08:05mitigating civilian harm. And I think there's something I would hope we could all agree on.

08:11This war is undoubtedly tragic. Way too many civilians have died. It's heartbreaking to see

08:18the images that we see. And that's, I think, a reason, a main reason why you see the US government

08:23working so hard to obtain a ceasefire between the factions that are fighting here.

08:32When it comes to the IDF operations, we continue to urge them both publicly and privately to

08:38take civilian harm mitigation into account. We know that they need to do more on this front,

08:44and we're going to continue to communicate that to them. I would also say, though, that Hamas bears

08:50some responsibility for this as well, in the sense that they continue to embed among the

08:55civilian population. And if they truly cared about the Palestinian population, one has to ask why

09:03they continue to build command and control nodes, barracks, armories, tunnels underneath the city,

09:09and put themselves in places where there's active military operations. So I'll just leave it there.

09:17Janie. Thank you, General. I have two questions.

09:21At the US and South Korea summit last week, the two countries issued a joint statement on nuclear

09:30deterrence and approval of nuclear operational guidelines. Does the approval of nuclear

09:39operational guidelines refer to new guidelines that will enable the US and South Korea to jointly

09:49respond to nuclear weapons in an emergency situation on the Korean Peninsula?

09:57Well, I think, again, our alliance with the Republic of Korea is ironclad, and we've been

10:04very clear that when it comes to extended deterrence, the United States makes available

10:12all of its capability to support the defense of the Republic of Korea. Of course, this is a

10:19defensive alliance. We're not seeking to go to war, obviously, in the region,

10:25and we're seeking regional security and stability, and that will continue to be our focus.

10:30Thank you. And on China, China and Russia are conducting joint maritime exercise, including

10:38live fire. Do you see this as training aimed at the RIMPAC exercise?

10:46I'll let them speak to the rationale behind their exercises. It's, of course, something that we

10:51monitor closely, and we'll continue to do so. Let me go to the phone here real quick. Heather

10:57from USNI. Hi, thank you so much. So USS Dwight D. Eisenhower just returned from a

11:04nine-month deployment that everyone is calling unprecedented. So two questions. Based on what

11:11what the Pentagon has seen since February of 2021, does the Secretary of Defense predict that

11:19these extended deployments are going to become the norm? And then if so, and based on what's

11:25already been happening, what resources is the Pentagon offering the Navy in order to

11:31bolster up resilience among sailors who are stuck on a ship for nine months?

11:36Yeah, thanks, Heather. So I won't, you know, speculate or get into hypotheticals about

11:40the duration of deployments. I mean, as you know, the military, the US military,

11:45maintains a wide variety of capabilities that enable us to respond to a wide variety of

11:50contingencies around the world. In other words, we are able to surge assets to where they're needed

11:56most to support our national security interests and our obligations around the world. And so

12:03in the Red Sea area right now, we continue to see Houthi aggression impacting the innocent

12:10lives of mariners and the freedom of navigation through that important waterway. So we'll continue

12:16to work with the international community toward that end. And as for Navy personnel, you know,

12:23confident that Navy leadership will continue to look at doing everything it needs to do to take

12:28care of our sailors and their families as they conduct these important missions around the world.

12:33You go to Jeff Schogol, Task and Purpose. Thank you. The Coast Guard recently rescued Dave Portnoy,

12:40founder of Barstool Sports. And I was wondering if any DOD assets were involved in the rescue,

12:45like satellites, SEAL teams, aircraft? Thanks very much, Jeff. I will have to

12:53take that question. I don't have any information on that. All right, let's come back to the room

12:58here. Yeah, I'll come to you and then to Tony. Thank you, sir. Jahanzaib Ali from

13:02Airway News TV, Pakistan. Yesterday, eight Pakistani soldiers were killed and dozens of

13:07them injured in a terrorist attack. A terrorist organization affiliated with the Tariqat

13:13Taliban, Pakistan, claimed responsibility. Do you have any comments, any kind of last

13:16thoughts? Well, certainly our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those soldiers that were

13:22lost. I know that, as we've talked about in the past, Pakistan is in a tough fight at times when

13:28it comes to fighting terrorists in the region. And so certainly sad to hear that. You know,

13:36when it comes to counterterrorism, the U.S. and Pakistan have worked together in the past,

13:40and we continue to discuss ways that we can work together. And so I'll just leave it there.

13:47Pakistani government and Pakistani military is asking for U.S. support. Pakistani military is

13:52asking for modern American weapons to deal with the situation because, according to them,

13:57all the terrorists in Afghanistan are using American weapons left by U.S. forces. I know

14:02U.S. forces left those weapons for Afghan forces, but somehow they are in the hands

14:06of terrorists right now. So are you going to consider to provide modern American weapons

14:10to Pakistan? Yeah, I don't have anything to announce. As you know, we do maintain a security

14:16cooperation relationship with Pakistan, and so I'm sure that those discussions are happening

14:22via those mechanisms to look at Pakistan's requirements and what the U.S. can do to

14:27support. I have one last question. It is about the assassination attempt on President Trump.

14:34I don't know if U.S. military is involved in the investigations, but do you think that any

14:40foreign country involved in this kind of assassination attempt to create disturbance

14:44in this country? We have been watching a lot of news stories on the media that maybe any foreign

14:50country, because we recently have seen that a foreign government and foreign intelligence

14:53agencies involved in the assassination attempt on U.S. citizens here in New York and also in Canada.

14:59So do you think that any foreign country can participate? Yeah, I mean, as it relates to

15:05the attempted assassination of former President Trump, I would point you to Secretary Austin's

15:11statement over the weekend condemning the violence has absolutely no place in our democracy.

15:17As it relates to that attempt, I'd have to refer you to the FBI and the Secret Service for any

15:22questions on the investigation. Yeah, I've seen those reports. I'd have to refer you to DHS or

15:30DOJ for any questions on that. Thank you. Tony. A couple hardware questions. The House Oversight

15:35and Accountability Chairman today wrote Secretary Austin demanding V-22 accident documents going

15:42back a couple of years, two, three years. He's threatening subpoena if they're not produced.

15:47This has been a long-running controversy with that subcommittee. Do you have any comment on that in

15:51terms of providing documentation that the committee is asking for on this highly controversial aircraft?

15:58Yeah, well, first of all, I would just say up front that the department remains committed to

16:02the safety, health, and the well-being of all of our service members. We have worked very hard to

16:09accommodate the House Oversight Committee's requests. We've provided more than 3,500 pages

16:15of documents. In addition, representatives from the V-22 Joint Program Office and the military

16:21departments provided a briefing to committee staff in March, and the department made multiple

16:26officials, including the Commander of Naval Air Systems Command, available to testify at the

16:30committee's hearing last month on the safety of the V-22 Osprey. All that to say, we will continue

16:37to work with the committee to accommodate their requests, and we will continue to do everything

16:42we can to ensuring the safety of all of our aircraft platforms, including the V-22 Osprey.

16:48Less contentious, a hypersonic weapons question. Last week at the NATO Summit,

16:52the White House and NATO put out a statement saying that starting in 2026,

16:57the Army's multi-domain task force will start fielding long-range fires to include the

17:05now-developmental hypersonic weapon that the U.S. is working on. On June 28th, you put out a press

17:11release saying that the weapon successfully completed what they call an end-to-end test.

17:16My question is this. How close is this weapon to being deemed operationally suitable for production

17:24and eventual fielding? Will there be more tests, or was this the one

17:29big one that it had to pass for graduation? Yeah, so with regards to hypersonics, we will

17:35continue to develop a range of hypersonic-based programs. We'll work to accelerate development

17:42and testing on these programs. As you highlight, the Navy and the Army did recently complete a

17:47flight test of a hypersonic missile from the Pacific Missile Range in Hawaii. That test provided

17:53data on the performance of the conventional prompt strike and the long-range hypersonic weapon.

17:58For reasons of operations security, I'm not going to be able to get into details on future

18:03tests. I will say, though, that we remain committed to developing these hypersonic

18:08capabilities that support the National Defense Strategy. You guys have spent like $12 billion

18:13over the last five years trying to develop this capability. You can't say whether this was a

18:17graduation test or whether there will be subsequent tests to prove it out more.

18:22What I would say is that the test marked a step forward for those programs,

18:26and I'll just have to leave it at that. Graduation, but a step forward.

18:30I'll just step forward, leave it at that. Thank you, sir.

18:34Thank you, General. Regarding to the escalation of the border of Lebanon, do you still believe

18:40that escalation could lead to the wider world? Do you have still these concerns? And do you

18:47think that the diplomatic solution still exists? And what's your message to both parties there?

18:56Well, sure. I mean, I think that a diplomatic solution does remain possible. So far, we have

19:05not seen a wider regional conflict. Tensions do obviously remain along the Israel-Lebanon border,

19:14and so we'll continue to stay in constant communication with Lebanon, Israel, and others

19:27in the region to ensure that this does not become a broader conflict. Of course, the concern here

19:34is the risk of miscalculation, which could spark a wider conflict that no one wants.

19:40So we'll continue to stay very focused on that.

19:43General, do you believe that any ceasefire deal could be reflected in a positive way

19:48to that escalation at this area exactly?

19:51Well, it's difficult to get into hypotheticals or speculate, but I think, again, what we would like

19:58to see is a ceasefire in Gaza so that we can restore calm and we can start to get humanitarian

20:04assistance in there. Certainly, I think that would contribute to more positive outcomes in

20:11the region and a reduction of tension. So again, we'll continue to work toward that end.

20:16Let me go to Charlie. Welcome to the briefing, Charlie.

20:19Thank you, General. If I understood correctly, you mentioned a word about re-anchoring the

20:23pier at the top of today's session. Sources tell us what's actually being discussed is pulling

20:30the plug and dismantling the pier, and that may happen in the next couple of days. Where are we

20:35on that decision-making?

20:36Yeah, what I said was that a potential re-anchoring date has not been set,

20:41and we've said all along that this is going to be temporary and that it will conclude its mission

20:47soon. But as of today, I don't have any announcements to make in terms of when the

20:51mission will officially conclude. And when we do have information in that regard, we'll certainly

20:56be sure to let you all know.

20:57There's no window, you can't estimate?

21:00Well, no, I don't have a window other than soon. And part of the discussion,

21:05of course, here is taking into account weather states, taking into account the requirement to

21:10deliver humanitarian assistance. Again, the most specific I can get right now is we anticipate

21:16that the mission will conclude soon. I just, I don't have a date to give you right now.

21:21So keep you posted. All right. Thanks very much, everybody. Appreciate your time today.

JUST IN: Pentagon Holds Press Briefing As Gaza Aid Pier Project Prepares To Shut Down

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