00:00to do that, and we'll continue to do so pursuant to the orders of the Secretary and the President.
00:04But reckless mining like that is a violation of the ceasefire.
00:08Unwise to do that.
00:09And very unwise to do.
00:10Absolutely.
00:11Jerry.
00:15So Pope Leo has made some strident comments about the war in Iran,
00:19and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently put out a statement
00:23suggesting that the war does not fit the requirements of just war theory.
00:28And I wondered if the Pentagon had thought about this war against the terrorist regime in Iran
00:34in terms of the framework of a just war, and if either one of you could talk about that.
00:39And then just my second question would be, the Pentagon recently, this week,
00:45gave well-deserved award upgrades to the members of golf company 2-1 Marines
00:53who served at HKIA and Abbey Gate during the withdrawal and evacuation.
00:58I wonder if you, Mr. Secretary, could speak a little bit about that
01:02and maybe give us a little bit more in terms of what to expect
01:06from this Afghanistan review in terms of further proper recognition
01:12and proper accountability.
01:15On the first question, Pope's going to do his thing.
01:17That's fine.
01:18We know what our mission is.
01:20We know what authority we have.
01:21We're very clear about that.
01:22We follow that.
01:23The orders of the president, we've got lawyers all over the place
01:27looking at what we're doing and why we're doing it
01:29and giving us every authority necessary under the Constitution
01:31and under our laws to execute it.
01:33So we feel very confident across the spectrum
01:35about what we're doing and why we're doing
01:37and the legal justification that we're following in order to do it.
01:41You mentioned the Marines at Abbey Gate.
01:45And what we've undertaken at this department
01:47is a historic Afghanistan review.
01:50So we have, over the course of months,
01:52reviewed what happened leading up to and including the events at Abbey Gate
01:55and the disastrous withdrawal in Afghanistan.
01:57There's never actually been a full accounting in this department
01:59of the decisions that were made.
02:01There's been sort of papered over congressional attempts
02:04but never a real deep dive where we brought everybody in
02:08to talk about what happened and why it happened.
02:09That has happened.
02:11That review will come later this summer.
02:15And I think you'll find it to be probably the most comprehensive review
02:18this department has ever done about a single series of events.
02:21And it's because the cascading effect of what Joe Biden did
02:25in abandoning that mission the way that he did
02:29and that disastrous withdrawal had ripple effects
02:32for our military, for our country, and for the world.
02:35That's why reestablishing deterrence is one of the core pillars
02:38of what we've been doing at the War Department
02:40is because the world looked at that disaster and made choices.
02:43Vladimir Putin made choices.
02:45Hamas made choices and saw that America wouldn't do anything about it.
02:49Houthis shot at ships.
02:50They made choices because Joe Biden and his administration
02:53were seen as feckless and weak.
02:56And that withdrawal was a part of what the world saw.
02:59People clanging to planes as we fled.
03:01That deserves a full accounting, which is exactly what we're doing.
03:04Sean Parnell, our chief spokesperson, one of my senior advisors,
03:08has been leading that effort, getting to the bottom of it.
03:10And one of the revelations was that those Marines at Abbey Gate
03:14who showed courage, who were out there exposed,
03:17knew there was a threat, nebulous mission,
03:20the only gate that's open,
03:21did not receive the kind of proper recognition
03:23they should have for their heroism.
03:25So one of the early results of this Afghan review
03:28is to ensure they get the due recognition and award they deserve
03:32for the heroism and courage they showed at that gate.
03:34Despite the bad decisions of this building and that administration,
03:38those Marines acted heroically.
03:40And we're going to recognize them for that.
03:43Yeah, right here.
03:44Michael Casey with O'Keefe Media Group.
03:46Earlier this week, James O'Keefe published a story
03:48on Department of Army nuclear chief Andrew Hugg
03:51who revealed top-secret national security information
03:54to a stranger he met on a dating app.
03:56Will you defer Mr. Hugg for termination and prosecution?
04:00Yeah, he won't work here anymore.
04:01And given the revelations, will any changes be made
04:05to the current anti-espionage training
04:07for all Department of War employees now, given this?
04:09Well, we're always on the lookout for CI threats,
04:11any internal threats, anyone talking out of school
04:14about things they should not.
04:15We take leaking very seriously here, informally or formally,
04:19which is why some of the reporting done by some of the people in here
04:22is incredibly problematic.
04:23They're willing to publish things based on classified information
04:27that would potentially harm those in harm's way.
04:30And we think them doing so is incredibly irresponsible and unpatriotic.
04:35And I would encourage members of the press to think twice
04:37about the lives they're affecting when they publish things
04:40in their publications like the New York Times.
04:43Yes, right here.
04:43Mr. Chairman, was the Tuska carrying the use of equipment to China?
04:47Sir, I'm sorry, the question is right here.
04:49Ryan Morgan with the Epoch Times.
04:51Earlier this week on that topic, there was a report,
04:54I believe, with the Washington Post
04:56that the Pentagon had briefed Congress
04:58that it could take up to six months
05:01to fully sweep the Strait of Hormuz for mines.
05:06I was wondering if you could comment a little bit more
05:08on the specifics of the timeline,
05:10the range of time that it could take,
05:13and then just a general idea of how many mines have been placed.
05:17We would not speculate on a timeline.
05:19I saw that report.
05:20It was based on, again, another leak from a closed-door session
05:24which was supposed to be classified,
05:25and apparently, allegedly, that was something that was said
05:29about we feel confident in our ability in the correct period of time
05:33to clear any mines that we identify.
05:36I would encourage other countries to be a part of such an effort as well,
05:39but we're tracking that very closely.
05:41Mr. Chairman, do you want to add anything to that?
05:42No, sir.
05:43I think we covered it.
05:44Right here, new members of our press corps here.
05:47Jacob Wasserman with TMZDC.
05:50We have two questions.
05:51I'm going to ask the first.
05:52My colleague will ask the second.
05:53You know, I've heard you talk a lot about bombing people in places,
06:03and when you give these orders to carry out this extreme level of violence,
06:07what's going through your mind and your body?
06:10Do you have, like, an adrenaline rush?
06:12Are you scared?
06:13Do you feel like you're on a power trip?
06:15Just walk us through and paint us a picture
06:17of what it feels like mentally and physically.
06:20It's a very TMZ question.
06:22My only thought process is to ensure that our warfighters
06:26have everything they need to be successful,
06:28defeat and destroy the enemy, and they come home.
06:31I want them to feel empowered,
06:33to have every authority they need within our rules and within our law
06:37to bring maximum violence to the enemy,
06:40because war is violent.
06:43War requires doing difficult things.
06:45But I want our people to feel empowered
06:47so it's our guys that come home and their guys that do not.
06:50Sure, I'll give you one chance.
06:52Charlie Cotton from TMZ DC.
06:54You changed the Department of Defense to the Department of War.
06:59Would you consider changing the name again to the Department of Peace
07:04since that's what we're all after?
07:07Well, that's the pursuit.
07:08It's a great question, actually.
07:10You go from defense to war because you want to be proactive about peace through strength.
07:15And really, I gave a speech in front of generals about what the ethos of the War Department is all
07:20about
07:20because I wanted to go through every echelon of this department.
07:23It means something.
07:24It's not just words.
07:25And when you fight a war the right way,
07:28the idea is on the other side you bring about peace.
07:30That is what we'd like to see the most.
07:32In fact, I once did a video about the one institution that should win the Nobel Peace Prize
07:37every single year is the United States military
07:40because we are the guarantor of the safety and security,
07:43not just of our country, but of a lot of people in this world.
07:46Last question.
07:46Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary.
07:50I do appreciate your time.
07:52Since February 28, 725 drones and missiles have hit the Kurdistan region as your loyal ally,
08:02killing 22 people and injuring 100 others.
08:07Even after the ceasefire, Mr. Secretary, 20 more attacks were carried out.
08:17My question is, those that ceasefire include Iraq and the Kurdistan region.
08:24And really, what is your clear policy toward proxies?
08:28Why I am asking this question by President Masoud Barzani's statement five times targeting his office.
08:37Even targeting president of Kurdistan region residents in the whole city.
08:42We watch it very closely.
08:44And that area and those folks, the Kurds, deal with a lot of what the IAMGs or the proxies are
08:51capable of doing.
08:52And a reminder of the reverberating effect of this Iranian regime.
08:56It's not just what it does to its own people, killing 45,000 of its own citizens just recently,
09:01but it's also the terror they've brought to the region.
09:04And so getting a good deal and making sure they can't wield a nuclear weapon over top of those proxies
09:08is why this mission is such an important one.
09:11Thank you very much.
09:12Appreciate it.
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