00:00But I think I'm going to start with we have all this talk of talk, right, these negotiations,
00:04but it's very unclear if the U.S. is even involved in these at this point. It seems like this
00:09is being
00:09worked out between Oman and Iran, and it does also seem like there is going to be some sort of
00:15tolling
00:15structure, fee structure, exactly what the U.S. said it didn't want and wouldn't happen when we
00:22started this conflict. Well, that's right, Christina. I think that's the key point to make
00:27this week as we talk of talks, as you say. I mean, the talks this week were not about the
00:33U.S. in any
00:34sort of mediating position with Iran. It was more about, as you say, the Iran-Oman talks, which have
00:39always been about how do we manage the Strait of Hormuz, long-term interest even before this conflict
00:46for Iran to sort of solidify its control over the strait. It's been an economic concern for decades
00:52for them to just ensure that they can secure that as an asset. So the talks this week apparently moved
00:58a little further if you're reading from Iran's state media, which you have to take with a grain
01:04of salt just like any media these days or translation of what the regime is thinking. But we do have
01:15signals that they have come to some sort of agreement on how to toll the straits, which of course, as
01:20you
01:20mentioned, is not in the interest of the U.S. and not what the U.S. was seeking or declaring
01:25that would
01:25come out of this. So there's still no sign. You know, Trump did say this week that he was involved
01:30in the negotiations, but he didn't elaborate on who might be talking or how that involvement might play
01:35out. We do know that there's no formal talks right now, of course, between the U.S. and Iran.
01:41And even the mediaries, you know, Qatar and Pakistan have been fairly quiet about any sort of progress
01:47there. So we are in sort of even a more limbo period than we were before in terms of what
01:52is
01:53the diplomatic way ahead and does it threaten to return us to a sort of kinetic situation?
01:59And it's a familiar split screen once again. So we have the president talking about the prospects of
02:04a deal, his desire, I guess, to get both the U.S. and Iran back to a negotiating table eventually.
02:09And all the while, on the other side of the screen, there is the president with his bellicose rhetoric
02:13about how long he'll be willing to be patient till that happens and then what might happen were he
02:18not to be. Playing out kind of in the backdrop to all of this is the concern about the U
02:23.S.'s
02:23weapons supply. And we certainly saw in Ukraine this week, Ukraine's president saying, you know,
02:28effectively their missile defense is greatly handicapped by the fact that there aren't enough
02:31patriots left. And there was all of this reporting from the likes of NBC News, other outlets
02:37reporting on the fact that that stockpile of munitions has been greatly reduced because of the
02:41conflict in Iran. So the president unhappy about that. We saw him tweeting out, posting
02:47on Truth Social earlier this week, the U.S. has massive amounts of munitions, especially
02:50of certain types. Additionally, large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S.
02:54as needed. Defense companies are building the largest number of plants and factories in
02:58our country's history. The leakers, he writes, of these treasonous statements are being hunted
03:02down. Long-term jail sentences will be sought. Let's look beyond that rhetoric, if we could,
03:08Michelle, here. What do we know about the integrity of the munitions stockpile, the degree to which
03:12that is shaping the president's thinking about whether or not to go back to a more intensive
03:18sort of military fight against Iran? Well, David, I think we can start with what would
03:23be normal in any administration and any Pentagon structure is, you know, you don't want your
03:29leadership revealing what exactly the levels of munitions are, obviously for operational security
03:34purposes. From a political standpoint, yeah, you have Trump, you know, denying that there's
03:39any problem here. He sees it as a leverage issue, of course. You know, to say that we're
03:45running low on munitions would be giving and handing something to Iran that they think they
03:51already have, which is an understanding that the U.S. is vulnerable, that can't—the U.S.
03:55cannot, you know, keep up these massive strikes with very expensive missile defense equipment
04:00that's fighting very, you know, small drones that are pesky at this point, you know, in some ways,
04:06in a very asymmetric warfare game. So that is a problem that would be longstanding. But I think
04:11what we have here this week is, of course, the sort of Trump bellicose rhetoric, the bravado that
04:17he brings to every situation, every issue that he tries to project his own opinions on, is kind of
04:24setting up against the reality that, you know, his advisers are telling him that there is, you know,
04:29a real problem here, and it's becoming more obvious. And one thing I think you can look at,
04:33which I really appreciated, our reporter Tony Capascio had a good scoop last week,
04:38looking at what has the administration asked Congress for in emergency funding to replenish
04:44those stockpiles. So that gives you some idea to kind of back your way into what we're running low
04:50on or what might need to be replenished to prepare for maybe what's ahead on Iran, but also other
04:56conflicts. And as you mentioned, this is kind of, you know, running into in a very complicated way,
05:02other conflicts like Ukraine, where we're seeing, you know, as you mentioned, the shortage of patriot
05:07interceptors there. And so there's this sort of kind of global competition right now, you know,
05:13in some ways to kind of figure out how can we get these things produced faster. And the president has
05:18said that he is, you know, urged and the defense primes are responding to that faster production
05:24call.
05:25Always follow the money. It's always a good reporting tool. How much faster can they do this? We had the
05:32chief of naval operations here, and it seems like, and our colleague just interviewed the army secretary,
05:38and we've all asked this question. They are reticent to answer it directly because it is such a
05:42politically charged issue with the president. But they're at some point, to your point, it is becoming
05:47more and more obvious. It is the reality that this is going to become a problem. And the lead time
05:51for
05:51a lot of these patriots and bigger munitions is like five years. So aspirationally, the admiral was
05:56talking about even trying to get that cut down to half. What is the plan in the meantime? What are
06:00the options? And is this why you're hearing leaks and rumblings that folks in the Pentagon are trying
06:05to find off ramps to this conflict? Because in the meantime, there just aren't that many options.
06:10Yeah, well, two things. I mean, Christina, again, we can look at what happened, what the situation was
06:14before the war, and then now that it's exacerbated with the strains from the war. So before the war, and
06:21even decades back, you always have this debate about can the five defense primes, the biggest defense
06:28contractors to the government, can they move faster? Can they be more efficient? Can they do more to make sure
06:34that
06:34they don't have cost overruns, and that they just move on a timeline that works for the U.S. military
06:40and for the U.S. taxpayer? And that's always the pressure point between government and business
06:45on that front. So those are longstanding debates. The second Trump term, even dating back to its
06:51beginning a year and a half ago, was talking about getting the defense primes and defense
06:56procurement in general to move faster, to be more nimble, to draw on more startups, to get more next-gen
07:02tech, and to just be less clumsy in some ways than they have been. And you can imagine how those
07:09debates go with those executives who have been to the White House a few times and it isn't in their
07:16interest to kind of speak candidly about those meetings, but you can kind of read what those
07:21discussions are. Now, under this situation with munitions running low, you do see more of an effort
07:29and more talk from the likes of Defense Secretary Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Chairman Cain,
07:35and others to get those primes to move faster. And then we had, as you mentioned, Army Secretary
07:41yesterday, Army Secretary Discold yesterday, announcing another kind of avenue for startups to get more
07:47involved. So they're coming to military bases and they're being invited to move faster and bookings on
07:54those military bases to test weapons. So another effort there to kind of get this procurement process
08:00more nimble and to speed up production.
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