00:00We now call on Mr. Chad Williams of Agence France-Presse to ask his question.
00:07This is for Secretary Hedges.
00:10You gave a speech last month at a Pentagon town hall where you specifically talked at
00:17length about accountability, and I'm wondering, including even in the smallest things you've
00:23said, and I'm wondering if now as we have the Senate Armed Forces Committee asking for
00:28a report into the signal controversy, if you feel as the leader of the Defense Department
00:34you have any level of responsibility for what Marco Rubio and some other people have called
00:39a mistake.
00:40Thank you for the question.
00:42I'm responsible for ensuring that our department is prepared and ready to deter and defeat
00:47our enemies, and I'm quite proud, quite proud of what our forces in CENTCOM did on that
00:55initial series of very effective and devastating strikes, and the ongoing campaign that we
01:01are undertaking, because that is a, again, on the backs of four years of deferred maintenance
01:07and failure and weakness of the Biden administration, we are reestablishing deterrence.
01:13And as the leader of that department, my job is to advise and work alongside the President
01:17and then work with my fellow cabinet members to ensure that we're operationalizing in every
01:23way possible, reestablishing that deterrence.
01:27So we will ensure the freedom of navigation returns to that part of the world, just as
01:32pertinent to our conversation today, freedom of navigation is something the Philippines
01:36experiences in the South China Sea or the West Philippine Sea.
01:42It's something we take very seriously.
01:45So we'll go with Kazu next.
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