Pentagon Briefing With Press Secretary Pat Ryder 8/22/23 Transcript

… providing approximately 1,500 gallons of fuel daily in support of 18 US Army Corps of Engineer generators operating along the West Coast of Maui.

(00:11)
Meanwhile, US Pacific Fleet has deployed a three-person mobile diving salvage unit, which is scheduled to arrive later today. Also, our Coast Guard partners continue their work minimizing maritime environmental impacts. Coast Guardsmen recently partnered with Maui fire dive teams in Lahaina Harbor, and that operation is scheduled to resume today.

(00:32)
Separately, I also want to take a moment to highlight last Friday’s announcements following President Biden’s meeting at Camp David with Prime Minister Kishida of Japan and President Yoon of the Republic of Korea. As you all saw, our three nations committed to several important agreements that will strengthen peace and security for our people, the Indo-Pacific region, and the world.

(00:52)
On exercises, our leaders committed to a multi-year trilateral framework that includes annual multi-domain trilateral exercises. And this follows recent successful trilateral ballistic missile defense and anti-submarine warfare exercises among our three militaries. On ballistic missile defense, our three countries will activate by the end of this year a data sharing mechanism to exchange real-time missile warning data that will improve mutual detection and assessment of DRK missile launches. This follows the commitments that our leaders made together in November of last year, as well as an important meeting by Secretary Austin with his Japanese in ROK counterparts in Singapore in July, this July, or excuse me, this June.

(01:37)
On enhanced information sharing, our three countries will leverage existing secure lines of communications, and we continue building and institutionalizing our respective communication channels. This will enhance our trilateral security cooperation in the region in the face of North Korean provocations and improve information sharing and policy coordination in the future.

(01:59)
All of these agreements underscore that our relationships with Japan and the ROK are stronger than ever. That’s why Secretary Austin issued a statement last week celebrating what he called a, quote, “historic day for the United States and two of our closest allies,” and it’s why the department is looking forward to continue to work closely with our Japanese and ROK counterparts as we keep delivering results together.

(02:23)
Finally, US Indo-Pacific Command concluded Exercise Malabar 2023 yesterday, which ran 10 through 21 August. This annual exercise is a surface, air and subsurface multilateral exercise with the Royal Australian Navy, Indian Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and the US Navy. This year’s exercise was comprised of a harbor phase and a sea phase encompassing a wide variety of mission sets to develop the participants’ capabilities in integrated air and missile defense, combined undersea warfare, anti-submarine warfare, combined strike maritime interdiction operations, visit board search and seizure, and combine live fire.

(03:04)
Since 1992, Exercise Malabar has provided participating nations the opportunity to enhance and demonstrate interoperability while furthering peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. If you have more questions on that or for more information, please reach out to US INDOPACOM Public Affairs.

(03:22)
With that, happy to take your questions. We’ll start with Associated Press on the line, Tara Cupp.

Hi, General Ryder. Thanks for doing this. I was wondering if you could give us an update on the status of fighting in Ukraine’s counteroffensive. We haven’t heard much about that recently. Are there any concerns that there hasn’t been a lot of progress or enough progress, especially as the administration has now put in a request for another $24 billion in aid to Ukraine?

(03:52)
And then on a separate topic, Maui, if you could give us any details on what the DPA team is doing on the ground, whether they’re helping with collection or how they’re helping with identification.

(04:04)
Thanks a lot.

Yeah, thanks, Tara. On the first question, in terms of operations in Ukraine, I’d refer you to the Ukrainians, really, to go into more details on their specific operations.

(04:16)
Largely speaking, we continue to see fighting all along the forward line of troops, with the Ukrainians making some forward movement. And again, our focus is going to be on continuing to communicate closely with them and our allies and partners to ensure that they have what they need to continue to be able to defend their country and take back sovereign territory.

(04:38)
As it relates to Maui, as you probably heard on Friday, we had the Joint Task Force 5-0 commander provide a briefing in terms of what DPAA is being asked to provide. As I understand it, they’re sending subject matter experts to assist the civilian authorities there in terms of recovery ops and identification, but I’d refer you to them for more details on that.

(05:11)
All right, let’s go to the room here. Sir?

Hi. Pat Tucker, Defense One.

Hey, Pat. Didn’t recognize you there with the-

I know, I know. It’s very, very hard. New profile out in The New Yorker on Elon Musk corroborates what The Wall Street Journal’s reported over the summer. Basically, a lot of people around him suggest that his growing erratic behavior can be attributed to ketamine abuse. Is there going to be a review of Elon Musk’s security clearance?

Yeah, thanks, Pat. So a couple things. First of all, for privacy reasons, per policy, we don’t discuss particular individual’s security clearances. I’d refer you to Mr. Musk’s company to talk about that.

(05:55)
Broadly speaking, kind of behind your question is will the Department of Defense continue to work with companies like SpaceX? What I would tell you is that we work with a wide variety of companies. We have well-developed processes and procedures to look at things like contracts and services that are person independent, personality independent.

(06:19)
So again, we’ll continue to conduct business with a wide variety of partners in industry. I’ll just leave it at that.

(06:26)
Thank you very much.

(06:27)
Ryo?

Thank you. North Korea is planning military satellite launch as early as this week. What is the level of concerns about this launch?

Yeah, thanks, Ryo. So certainly seen those reports. I’m not going to get into specifics in terms of intelligence on what we may or may not be tracking. I will say that as always, we will stand with our Japanese and our ROK allies in the face of North Korea’s continued provocations, to include their claimed space program.

(07:00)
So we’re going to take all necessary measures to ensure that the security of our homeland and the defense of our allies continues, and we will continue working closely with Japan and ROK to promote peace, security, and stability in the region.

So are you preparing a strong response to such launch, including additional assets to the region?

Again, I’m not going to get ahead of any particular potential response other than to say again we, as always, will remain in close contact with our Japanese and ROK allies.

(07:32)
Thank you very much. Okay. Now I’ll go to the other Ryo. All right.

This is a follow-up. So in June, Pentagon said North Korea satellite launch is a clear violation of UN Security Council Resolution. So can I ask your stance on potential North Korea’s satellite launch?

Well, I just answered that question. Again, I’m not going to get into hypotheticals at this point other than to say again, aware of those reports, we’ll continue to remain in close contact and communication with our allies in the region.

(08:03)
Thank you very much. Fadi?

Thank you, General. I have two questions. Previously, when Ukrainians were able to push Russians away from Kyiv, the Pentagon was very keen on sharing information and perspective from this building on how successful the defense of Kyiv was. Now, you always refer us to the Ukrainians. However, the US American taxpayers putting big money to help Ukraine in this fight. What is your assessment of the counteroffensive so far? Have you seen any breakthrough? And is it succeeding in achieving its goals? That’s the first question.

(08:40)
The second question is on Niger. Is there any contingency planning in the Pentagon for maybe future decision to pull out troops? And is there any talks with partners on the continent in Africa to find other alternatives in the counter-terrorism operation?

Yeah, thanks, Fadi. So a couple things there. So first of all, when it comes to Ukraine, and I mean this with all due respect, I’m a US Department of Defense spokesperson, so I’m not going to provide an operational update from this podium on Ukrainian combat operations other than to say again, we are committed to supporting them in their fight.

(09:23)
We’ve said from the very beginning that this is going to be a very tough and difficult operation and a difficult fight for them. And I know you’ve heard me say this before, but Secretary Austin has highlighted the fact that this is a marathon and it’s not a sprint. So there should be no illusions about that fact.

(09:44)
I will also say that this is a Ukrainian operation. They are leading it. Our focus is on supporting them in terms of what they need to be successful, because the implications if Ukraine is not successful transcend just Ukraine. It has implications for Europe and the world, when it comes to Russia’s unprovoked invasion.

(10:08)
The last thing I’ll say on this, and I think it’s very important to understand, and I know that you know this, having watched and observed and reported on combat operations around the world, is that combat by its very nature is very dynamic, it’s very fluid, and its unpredictable, and any student of history would know that the battle’s not over until it’s over. And so our focus is going to continue to be, as I’ve said, on helping them have the training and the equipment and the resources they need to be able to be victorious on the battlefield, to defend their country and take back sovereign territory.

(10:47)
So I’m not going to get into providing scores in the middle of their fight. Again, that would be inappropriate. What we’re going to do is we’re going to keep supporting them for as long as it takes.

(10:58)
On Niger,

Look, we are a planning organization. I’m not going to get into specifics of any potential actual or speculate on any future plan. I’m going to say that’s what we do. We are an organization that plans and prepares for a wide variety of contingencies. As of right now, the number of US forces that we have in Niger remain the same. There’s been no change in our force posture. Broadly speaking, the US government remains focused on diplomacy and that will continue to be our focus. And if we have any updates to provide on the DOD front, we’ll certainly do that. Thank you very much. Let me go to Oren and then I’ll go to the phone.

I just wanted an update on Travis King. First, has there been any additional communication with the North Koreans, either through the US or through UN command about Travis King? And as of the last check, his status was AWOL, but if you’re AWOL for more than 30 days, you’re a deserter and you’re drop from the rolls. Has that happened? And has there been a decision made on whether to designate King a POW in North Korea?

Yeah, thanks, Oren. So the Army can certainly provide you more detail in terms of his status. I will tell you there’s been no change in status for Private King right now. And those regulations that you refer to are regulations that pertain to your normal situation. This is not a normal situation clearly. So from a DOD, from a US government standpoint, our focus remains on the safety and security of Private King and trying to get him home. But again, I’d refer to the Army to talk about his specifics from a personnel status going forward. I don’t have any updates to provide in terms of any communication and nothing new to report on that front. But again, we will continue to do everything we can to learn about his status and bring him home safely.

Is there a decision whether to designate him a POW or not?

Again, I’d refer you to the Army, but right now his status has not changed. Okay. All right. Let me go to the phone here real quick and then I’ll come to Tony. Wait, Mike, you’re in the room here. It says you’re on the phone, so.

We’re both in the room.

Okay. Wow. All right, well let me go to Carla Babb then, who’s on the phone, VOA.

Hey, thanks, Pat. So the Pentagon this week had said that it would consider training Ukrainian pilots state side on F-16s if the training capacity is reached in Europe. Can you tell us what locations are being considered for training F-16 pilots here and can video journalists have access to this training? And then I have one more question also. Can the Pentagon confirm that Russian military deaths in the war against Ukraine are now as many as 120,000 troops and that the Ukrainian figures are closer to 70,000 deaths on the Ukrainian side? That’s what the New York Times is reporting from US officials. Thanks.

Yeah, thanks, Carla. On your second question as it pertains to casualties, I don’t have any numbers to provide. Clearly this war has resulted in significant casualties on both sides, but I just don’t have any numbers to pass along. As it relates to Ukrainian pilot F-16 training in the US, we are prepared to support a training effort here in the continental United States if capacity is reached in Europe. I don’t have any specifics to provide right now in terms of which basis that training could occur at, but certainly if the decision is made to do that and we move forward, we’ll be sure to provide you with updates on that. Okay. Let me go to Nancy.

I wanted to follow up on a couple of things you said earlier. You mentioned that there were eight specific missions in Maui, can we get a list of those?

Absolutely. Yeah, there’s quite a few. Well, let me just go ahead and read them out for you here right now. So we’ve got establishing a defense coordinating element office, inner island air/sea transportation, providing Schofield Barracks in Oahu to assist with federal responders. So things like building, life support, hygiene. Strategic transportation, aerial fire suppression capabilities, FEMA incident support base at USARC Wailuku, fuel distro operations in support of the US Army Corps of Engineers, and then mortuary affair support.

Thank you. And then can you tell us how many times Secretary Austin or top civilian leaders here have spoken to the governor Hawaii about supporting their rescue efforts?

Sure. So shortly after the president declared it a federal emergency, shortly after the wildfires, the secretary spoke with both of the senators. And then last week the deputy secretary spoke to the governor.

Okay. And lastly, I want to come back to Pat’s question about Elon Musk. You said that any review of his classification is private, but it’s not classified whether he has security clearance. And I wonder if you would take the question to just answer whether he has security clearance and what level, given how extensive SpaceX contracts are with the US government.

I will take the question.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. All right, let me go back to the… Well, let me go back to the phone room here. Mike, Washington Examiner, did you have a question?

I’m Washington Times not the Washington Examiner. Are you talking about…? Is that Mike Brest?

I apologize.

We are two different people. I do have a question though.

Yeah.

Tell me, what does the administration think the long-term implications of the F-16 delivery to Ukraine is going to be? What’s the ultimate long-term goal that the Pentagon wants out of this?

In terms of for Ukraine?

Yes.

Yeah. So when the decision was announced in May in terms of providing Ukraine with the F-16, we highlighted that this is part of our long-term commitment to Ukraine’s security and defense. And so, I mean, we have clearly a focus on the near term, the battlefield situation, which is what our PDAs and USAI have really been focused on. The F-16 is really intended to be part of that longer term commitment.

Okay.

Now let me go to Mike Brest, Washington Examiner. And I apologize, Mike.

Not a problem. Not the first time it’s happened. I’m hoping to get an update on Russia’s attempts to build Iranian drones in Russian territory. We’ve heard that it could be fully operational by early next year. Has DOD see them already begin to produce drones?

Yeah. Thanks for the question, Mike. I don’t want to give you some bad data here, so let me take that question and we’ll come back to you on that. We do know, as we’ve spoken about before, that Iran and Russia clearly have a relationship when it comes to drones. We’ve seen the Iranian drones being used on the battlefield. But let me come back to you with that. Thank you. Okay, Janie, and then we’ll go here.

Thank you. Excuse me. On North Korea. Regarding the North Korean leader, Kim Jong’s reaction to the Camp David [inaudible 00:18:49] Summit talks, North Korea Kim Jong mentions their preempted use of nuclear weapons saying that the specific discussions for provoking nuclear war had taken place at the Camp David [inaudible 00:19:06] Summit. What do you think about the North Korea’s preemptive use of nuclear weapons?

Well, again, our focus is on security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, ensuring that we can work together for our mutual defense. And so any exercises, any summits are predicated towards those efforts. The provocative language coming out of North Korea is of course dangerous. And as you’ve heard, this building and others, it’s include the White House say, we certainly would be willing to engage in dialogue with North Korea with no preconditions. And so we’ll continue to maintain that stance. But to this point, they have not agreed to do that.

But North Korea wanted that. It would take a physical response if a US reconnaissance aircraft crosses the economic zones. How can you address that?

Again, the US will continue to fly, operate, and sail in international airspace and waters wherever international will allow us. So let me go ahead and move on. Yes, ma’am. And then I’ll come back to you.

So another North Korea question here. North Korea has threatened they’re going to launch an ICBM this week, but during last week’s trilateral there was… Or they state, there is a hotline that is going to be set up. The first one is, has the hotline already been set up since this North Korea has already stated that they were threatening to launch a missile? And number two, how would it work in a scenario like this?

Yeah, well, clearly as it relates to the items that I read out at the top, we’ll have more details to follow on those in the days ahead. How does it work right now? We have multiple means of communication with the Republic of Korea and Japan and our other allies in the region. And so maintaining those, and many of those are longstanding. But as you heard me say, the intent here is to ensure that we can increase and expedite any communication in the event that there is a potential crisis situation, most notably from a trilateral standpoint, which I think is significant. So again, we’ll have more details in the days ahead. Thank you very much. Yes, sir.

Sure. Returning to the F-16s, I know a lot of the work that’s taking place right now is going on in Europe, so I just wanted to step back and ask what the administration’s role right now is in that process?

Sure. So a couple things. First of all, we are very grateful to our European allies, Denmark and the Netherlands in particular for leading this effort. And so because this

Is a US system. There are certain laws and regulations in place in terms of how that equipment can be used by third parties. And so as you recently saw, State Department publicly announced our intent to support any requests. So that’s part of the process. Again, we’ll have much more details to provide in the future as Denmark and the Netherlands kick off this program and we’ll be able to illuminate some of our additional support on that front. Thank you. Okay. Time for a few more? Yes sir.

Yeah, I was just curious, you said that the Coast Guard’s working to mitigate environmental impacts. What exactly are they doing and what impacts is DOD concerned about in terms of the environment and Hawaii?

Yeah, so I’d refer you to the Coast Guard to speak about their efforts, broadly speaking as I understand it, given the scope of the disaster and how that impacted the harbor there. Clearly you had some vessels that were damaged. And again, I don’t want to speculate and just make things up from the podium here, but they’re going to be looking at that from an environmental safety, from a human safety standpoint, which as I’m sure you can appreciate, would be significant given the importance of any harbor. But I’d refer you to them. Let me go to Tony.

A couple of questions on the Persian Gulf escort issue. What’s the status of US OSD policy review in terms of whether the secretary is going to sign off on allowing Marines and sailors to go on commercial vessels if requested?

Yeah, thanks Tony. So I don’t have anything to announce today in terms of any changes to our forced posture in the Middle East, nor do I want to get into or speculate about potential areas that are under consideration or that are predecisional.

Could you commit to announce if in fact the secretary signs off on such a policy to announce that publicly?

I think if there’s anything significant from a force posture standpoint within the bounds of operations security, we will certainly look to keep the public informed.

On the New Yorker article, I don’t want to hype it up too much here, but buried in there is a discussion Colin had with Musk about the need to get SpaceX on contract to provide Sterling for Ukraine so they just couldn’t pull out summarily. The contract was announced in June. You guys have not announced any details of even the cost of it, the award of it. Can you give some kind of detail in terms of bound the dollars at least involved?

Yeah, thanks Tony. I do appreciate the question. And in this particular case for operation security reasons, we’re just really not able to go into details about this particular contract. As you know, satellite communication is an important aspect of the fight that’s occurring in Ukraine right now. And we are working with Starlink and others of course on that front. But I just am not going to be able to provide any details.

I got to ask you, there’s one quote in this article by Ronan Farrow that if it’s true, it’s somewhat outrageous and I need you to react to this. He says, “One Pentagon spokesman said that he was keeping Musk apprised of my inquiries about his role in Ukraine and would grant an interview with an official about the matter only with Musk’s permission.”

Yeah, well…

Do you have any idea about who might’ve said that?

Yeah. As a DOD spokesperson, I think that’s ludicrous. The anonymous spokesperson is not speaking on behalf of the Department of Defense. That’s not the way we do business. We make our own determinations in terms of the release of information to the public. And so that is patently false.

You think the statement is false that he’s making, this is not true.

That is not the policy of the Department of Defense. You all work with us here on a daily basis and know that’s not the way we operate. And an individual that you’re referencing is not going to make a determination on whether we do or do not answer questions.

All right. Fair.

Does that answer it?

Well, he says it. This guy is an award-winning journalist and the is from the New York-

I can’t speak to his sources, I’m just…

I’m telling you that The New Yorker fact checks the living daylights out of their reporters, that’s good for them. So when I saw this, this is fairly outrageous if it’s true, and I’m asking, did you canvas your guys, your people saying, “Did anybody say this to him?”

I did not canvas my guys. But I can tell you as the Pentagon spokesperson that that is not our policy and that person is not speaking on behalf of the Department of Defense. There’s a lot of people in the DOD, I don’t know who it is. I don’t know if it’s real, I’m not going to question this particular reporter, but I will tell you right here from this podium that that is not our policy and that person’s not speaking for the DOD, whoever that is.

Fair enough.

Okay. And you had a…

Just on the point about US troops going on civilian ships in the Persian Gulf, you said if there’s significant movement on that, it strikes me that any US personnel in a civilian ship would be significant. So I just wanted to make the plea for any release if that happens, however small the number of actual troops.

Okay. Appreciate that. Thank you. All right, do one more here, Heather, from USNI.

I also wanted to ask about the Marines out there. Can you tell us if they’re not going on the ships right now, is their presence alone being any kind of deterrent? Do you have any information about what is going on with those marines or anything that you can say to update on the force posture right now?

Yeah, thanks Heather. So we recently announced the arrival of the Amphibious Readiness Group and the Marine Expeditionary Unit, which you’re tracking. But for any further details in terms of the individual dispositions of those units, I had refer you to Navson, they should be able to give you an update. Okay. Thanks very much everybody. Appreciate it.