00:00I heard the question about four weeks. It's the typical NBC sort of gotcha type question.
00:06President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it may or may not take,
00:10four weeks, two weeks, six weeks. It could move up. It could move back. We're going to execute
00:15at his command the objectives we've set out to achieve. And what he has shown ability to do that
00:20other presidents can't quite seem to have the aperture to do, well, I mean, Joe Biden didn't
00:25even know what he was doing, is to look for opportunities and off ramps and escalations
00:29for the United States that creates new opportunities to execute what we need on our own timeline. So you
00:35can play games about four weeks, five weeks. He has all the latitude and I'm glad he does because
00:39there's no better communicator than our president expressing those things. I've been in meetings
00:44with the president for the last two and a half days. We know exactly where his head space is and
00:49he will communicate as he should exactly what he would like and we will follow those orders and
00:55I think he, everything he said on that is right down the middle. Absolutely. Yes, right there. Yes, sir.
01:01Thank you. Thank you very much, Secretary. I left my hometown of Saqqas in Iranian Kurdistan in 1996.
01:10Can you promise that I will be able to return home safely this year? And I have a following question
01:17too, please. I appreciate the question. I'm not here to place guarantees on that, but I think the message
01:23the president has given has been clear to the people of Iran, this is your moment. There were,
01:28the world was seized by these crowds and then seized by the reality of this regime killing tens of
01:35thousands of innocent protesters. So we saw the nature of the regime yet again exposed. We saw many,
01:41many of the Iranian people seek a change there. This is their moment to take advantage of it for sure.
01:47Secretary, you serve in Iraq and know that no American soldiers were killed in Kurdistan.
01:56The Kurdish people are very pro-American. Will you continue to protect Kurdistan and Peshmerga as loyal
02:04ally of the United States? Why I'm asking this question? Because no, Kurdistan is under attack by Iranian drones
02:13and by proxies in Iraq and on the region.
02:16I think I can speak to allies generally in the region who we've been in constant communication
02:21with. We have been standing shoulder to shoulder with them and we appreciate their capabilities.
02:26Absolutely. Yes, right here.
02:27Hi, thank you. Cameron Arkin with The Daily Wire. My question is about some of the domestic
02:31threats, if any, regarding this right now. Is there any concerns about Iranian sleeper cells and kind
02:38of what has the Trump administration been doing to kind of monitor these threats?
02:41Well, across the interagency, in full coordination, of course, we're paying attention to any
02:46potentialities there. This is a former regime, a regime that seeks to export that ideology and try
02:53to sow terror. We're ready for that. We've seen these types of folks before, and the American people can rest
03:00assured that we're vigilant on that.
03:03Second, thank you. Kind of a follow-up on that last question. There was just this, what appears to be
03:08a terrorist attack in
03:09Austin yesterday. Does that change the operation at all? What effect does that have?
03:15It doesn't change the operation at all, and I know the authorities are executing exactly the way they should.
03:20Secretary Hicks, and one for Chairman Cain as well. I understand, to your point here, that you don't want to
03:26broadcast
03:26everything for our adversaries to hear, but the American people also want to know what they're sending
03:32their men and women to war for. Is there a concern of this spiraling into a longer war, and then
03:39one for
03:39the Chairman when you're done?
03:41Did you not hear my remarks? I mean, we're ensuring the mission gets accomplished, but we are very clear-eyed,
03:47as the President has been, unlike other Presidents, about the foolish policies of the past
03:53that recklessly pulled us in to things that were not tethered to actual, clear objectives.
04:00So, we know
04:02we have plans, we have generals, we have chairmen, we have
04:05commanders, CENTCOM commanders, Admiral Cooper, who's executing very deliberately
04:09to ensure outcomes that I laid out are accomplished, but we would
04:13never, in front of a press pool, lay out how long that may take.
04:17The mission for our warfighters, which is what matters to us,
04:20is very, very clear, and they're executing it right now violently.
04:24And just for the chairman quick...
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