Watch again: Pentagon briefing with Major General Pat Ryder

Watch again: Pentagon briefing with Major General Pat Ryder

All right good afternoon everyone happy New Year I just have a few things to provide at the top and then we’ll get to your questions first on behalf of secretary Austin and the department our hearts are with the Japanese people after their tragic earthquake earlier this week the

United States and Japan share a deep bond of friendship that unites our people and our Japanese Ally graciously hosts thousands of US service personnel and family members as you’ve heard from the president and the US ambassador our military forces in Japan are ready to assist as needed second I’d like to

Recap a few significant develops developments that occurred over the holidays on December 28th the offices of special trial Council reached full operational capability shifting prosecutorial discretion for 13 serious offenses away from the chain of command this is the most important reform to our military Justice System since the

Creation of the uniformed code of military Justice in 1950 and aims to help strengthen accountability and increase service members trust in the fairness and integrity of the military justice system this Milestone follows through on secretary Austin’s commitment that we must do more as a department to counter sexual assault and sexual harassment in

The military separately on January 1st the US Navy announced that the USS Gerald R Ford carrier strike group will redeploy from the Eastern Mediterranean to its Home Port as scheduled to prepare for future deployments as was highlight lighted in navier’s press release we continue to retain extensive US military capability

Both in the Mediterranean and across the Middle East this includes the current deployment of the USS Dwight D Eisenhower carrier strike group to the Middle East the deployment of additional Cruisers and destroyers in the Mediterranean and Middle East and the recent arrival of the USS baton and USS

Carter Hall in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea notably the USS baton and USS Carter Hall join the amphibious transport dock ship USS m s and have Consolidated as the amphibious ready group in the Eastern Mediterranean along with the embarked 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit the argm consists of three ships more

Than 50 aircraft and approximately 4,000 Sailors and marines that provide seab based expeditionary forces capable of conducting a wide range of missions in support of our regional deterrence efforts as we have done since hamas’s brutal terrorist attack on October 7th DOD will continue to leverage its Collective Force posture in the region

To deter any state or non-state actor from escalating this crisis Beyond Gaza and finally I can confirm that on January 4 at approximately 12:00 p.m. Iraq time US forces took necessary and proportionate action against mushtak Jawad kazim Al jawari AKA Abu taka who is a harakat Al najua leader abuakwa was

Actively involved in planning and carrying out attacks against American personnel the strike also killed another Han member it is important to note that the strike was taken in self-defense that no civilians were harmed and that no infrastructure or facilities were struck with that I’ll be happy to take your questions we’ll start with

Associated Press Tara Hi General Ryder happy New Year Happy New Year I wanted to talk about the warning that the US sent yesterday with allies to the houthis about not conducting an additional attacks on ships and then you see just hours later there’s an attempt to attack with an unmanned surface

Vehicle on ships in the Red Sea what are the options for the us at this point and will those options also include potentially addressing Iran’s role in supplying the houthis with these weapons thanks Tara um so as you’ve heard uh us and others say within the US

Government um we we are approaching this um for many different facets to include sanctions but from a DOD standpoint of course working closely with the International Community uh to establish uh a uh coalition to help deter houthi efforts uh and reassure Mariners as they Transit this vital Seaway in the in the

Red Sea um so we’re going to continue to work very hard at that deterrence in in of itself uh excuse me presence is a deterrent in and of itself uh and so we expect to continue to see the Coalition the International Coalition grow uh in support of operation Prosperity Guardian

Uh as you heard uh vice admiral Cooper the navent commander say earlier today over 20 Nations so far have joined uh and and again we continue to expect to continue to see that grow uh this is a issue that affects the entire International Community uh the economic impact never mind the dangerous unlawful

Behavior Uh is something that we’re all taking seriously and that requires Collective action but what sort of options would there be militarily because obviously the the statement didn’t stop the houthis from sending an armed drone towards ships again today yeah I’ll let the statement speak for

Itself uh and I’m not going to speculate or get into hypotheticals uh about potential future military operations Jennifer I’ll come right back to you um Pat I’d just like to follow up on the January 4th strike um targeting Abu taka um what kind of weapon was used was it a

Hellfire missile uh why now is this the beginning of a new campaign to Target the leaders and this group that you’ve targeted in terms of planning it’s not KB Hezbollah which has been behind a lot of the attacks why not yeah thanks Jennifer so I’m I’m really not going to

Have more specifics to provide uh in terms of what I’ve I’ve read out as I highlighted uh this individual was actively involved in planning and carrying out attacks against American personnel and as we’ve long said we maintain the inherent right of self-defense and we’ll take necessary action to protect our personal and who

Was the second person killed uh it was an associate uh of uh Mr Abu taka but I don’t have any further details provide let me go to Joe thank you uh General Ryder I want to go back to the to the issue of uh the statement that was

Issued yesterday from the US and its Coalition about the houthis uh have you seen any evidence that there is a serious escalation from the huis over the last few days and uh given the situation could you tell us if the option of striking the huis is on the

Table or it’s something just related to contingency plans yeah again Joe I I think I’ll let the statement speak for itself uh which again represented many nations uh around the world and highlighted that if these strikes don’t stop there will be consequences but again I’m not going to get into

Speculating uh forecasting or or talking about hypotheticals um in terms of escalation again uh these are illegal dangerous attacks since November 18th there have been now 25 attacks against Merchant vessels transiting the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aiden uh and so we have worked closely with the

International Community to stand up operation Prosperity Guardian under the umbrella and Leadership of task force 153 with the Express purpose of deterring this illegal activity through the increased uh overall presence and also providing assurances to the maritime industry to help Safeguard uh their their transiting of that that Waterway Orin a couple followup

Questions on the Iraq strike uh you call this a self-defense strike what attacks was this group harakat aljaba uh responsible for and how many uh did you notify the Iraqi government in advance and and given the condemnation of us strikes in Iraq that we’ve seen uh in

The course of the past couple weeks do you think the US military presence in Iraq is is at risk have you seen a tension there yeah thanks Orin so uh again I’m not going to have any more details to provide as it relates uh to this this particular strike uh and uh

You know in terms of the specific attacks uh that that Han has conducted against US forces in in Iraq and Syria as you well know you’ve been following this for a while uh those attacks have continued putting US forces in danger uh and as I just highlighted to uh to

Jennifer we maintain the inherent right of self-defense and we’ll continue to take necessary actions to protect our Personnel how many of the 120 attacks has this harac Al n I’m not going to get into a breakdown um so as far as your other question um you know Iraq is an

Important and valued partner uh our forces are there at the invitation of the government of Iraq to help train and advise and support of the defeat Isis Mission and so as we have been doing all along we will continue to consult closely with the Iraqi government about

The Safety and Security of US forces uh in the meantime we will continue to stay very focused on that defeat Isis Mission are you able to say whether you notified the Iraqi government in advance I’m not going to get into diplomatic discussions Carla thank you uh question two

Questions actually first on the Red Sea operation so Admiral vice admiral Cooper and you have both said that this is a defensive op operation why is this a defensive operation why is this not an offensive operation why is the US and the International Coalition either unwilling or unable to Target launching

Areas inside of Yemen so the the express purpose of operation Prosperity Guardian again uh under the um Coalition Maritime forces is a coalition of the willing and so this particular operation is a defensive operation focused on helping to reassure uh commercial uh uh vessels as they Transit the Red Sea and also

Helping to safeguard uh the lives of mariners who are are sailing those ships and so um it’s as simple as that why should I interpret that as some of the Coalition did not want this to be offensive is that fair to say um Carla so again you know countries are going to

Uh be willing to participate in various efforts um focused on very specific operational goals and again operation Prosperity Guardian is a defensive Coalition focused on safeguarding uh the commercial vessels transiting the the Red Sea in the Gulf of Aiden so uh that’s the the mission now again I’m not

Going to get into hypotheticals or speculate about what individual countries may or may not do as it relates to their security uh or the uh collective security but again for OPG uh this is is a defense defensive Coalition thanks and then separately on let me go

To one of your colleagues follow up on attack and then I’m done um there there’s a Newsweek story out there that says that there’s uh attacks up for Destruction the expired attacks us attacks that would be a significant expense to American taxpayers according to one former adviser to Ukraine’s leag

Commander um is this true are there a bunch of attack thems expired attack thems set to be destroyed and if that is true why would they not be going to Ukraine yeah so I’ve seen those press reports we looked into this and it is not true

Those reports are false body thank you I have two separate topics first on the strike in Iraq against the last week U as you said the the US forces are inside Iraq at the request of the Iraqi government however Mr as Sudani Iraqi prime minister has rejected

Any uh action from US forces outside the parameters of advising and assisting Iraqi forces and and he said the Iraqi government is headed toward ending the presence of the uh International Coalition uh inside Iraq um has the pagon been notified or by the Iraqi government of any uh steps to get the US

Forces out of Iraq and how do you respond to his U comments on actions taken by US forces yeah thanks FY so so I’m not going to comment uh on the remarks of others and not going to speculate about what what the future may pretend or get into hypotheticals as I

Mentioned earlier US forces are in Iraq at the invitation of the government Iraq to help train and advise in support of the defeat Isis Mission uh and you know you’ve been covering this story for a very long time uh in terms of us presence as of many of your colleagues

Here and and you’ll recall it was 10 years ago this coming summer that Isis was approximately 24 kmet outside of Baghdad um when we we kicked off the counter Isis Mission um after they had subsumed large swas of Syria and Iraq so no one wants to see a return of Isis um

Which oh by the way just claimed uh responsibility for the attacks that we’re seeing we saw yesterday in Iran uh so our focus is going to continue to remain on the defeat Isis Mission um but again we’re not going to hesitate to protect our forces if they’re threatened

Thanks very and um a couple of days ago the senior Hamas uh leader was assassinated in a strike in Beirut uh and it’s you know supposedly carried out by by Israel um the US has uh maintained a position that you don’t want to see this um the war in Gaza escalate uh

Either in Lebanon or in the region uh was the dod or the US government notified of this uh operation and U does the US Administration or the Pentagon support uh such uh strikes beyond the borders yeah so I I don’t have anything you know obviously uh seen the the

Reports on that strike I just don’t have anything to provide on that let me go to the phone here real quick um JJ Green from WTOP yeah thanks for the uh opportunity um can you characterize the strength of herriott Al njba uh the threat that it

Poses to us forces and when you look at all of the other Terror organizations that are active in the region now especially Isis and Islamic Jihad Hamas Hezbollah can you characterize what that looks like for US forces and how the Pentagon is is approaching um dealing with

That yeah thanks JJ um as I’m sure you can appreciate um you know there there are Myriad uh threats throughout the region you know uh not only only to the United States uh but to other countries as well and and so I won’t go into a a detailed briefing about terrorist groups

Across the the AO other than to say uh as we’ve highlighted in several of our press releases when we’ve conducted strikes in Iraq and Syria uh they have been against groups that are sponsored by Iran Iranian proxies to include Han and kab Husalah uh and so those uh those

Forces uh have represented a threat to our forces and again we maintain the inherent right of self-defense and we’ll take necessary actions to protect our forces uh and that will continue to remain our Focus uh as well as doing the mission which we’re there to do which is

To help defeat Isis thank you all right let me do one more from the phone here Jeff shle task and purpose thank you and thanks to the audio folks for getting my mic to work I just wanted to double check the uh person killed in Baghdad I’ve seen his name spelled differently

I’ve seen it Al Sai I just want to make sure we’re talking about the same guy and also uh this uh person was a commander in the popular mobilization forces was this also an attack on Iraqi Security Forces thank you thanks uh Jeff again I’m not going to have anything to

Provide uh beyond what I’ve spelled out for you um and this was a strike against a member of of Han uh the the terrorist group that I’ve uh highlighted the Iranian proxy group thank you Tony couple Ukraine questions one of the things you didn’t highlight in your recap was the December 27th presidential

Draw on Authority package 54 is that the last package the US can give Ukraine until Congress approves a supplemental yeah thanks Tony as you as you heard us say uh as we went into the holidays here um you know we have no more replenishment funds uh and so right

Now I’m not anticipating any new PDA announcements in terms of of new capabilities which is why you know we will’ll continue to work closely with Congress and urge them to pass the supplemental final one uh F16 is the Ukraine what’s the latest in terms of when they would finally show up there

Sure I don’t I don’t have any uh specific dates to provide that training does continue uh in Arizona um as you know that you know again depending on the the skill level of the pilot that can range from five to eight months uh and so um I would expect you know

Sometime later this year we we’ll start to see those Pilots graduate but I don’t have any specifics for one H question this is talk about military strikes what would they be striking I what would they be striking are these mobile missile units that the hoodies have or are they

Fixed sites the US knows about and you’re deciding what to do yeah thanks Tony I appreciate the question but again I’m just not going to get into hypotheticals or speculate or forecast any potential future operations thanks Nancy um I want to go back to some of the comments you made earlier about the

Strike in Iraq um you know as you know earlier today the Pentagon was unwilling to talk publicly about the strike and now you’re telling us you you can’t tell us the threat that demanded a self-defense strike and I just can you help me understand why the US can’t

Provide basic information about a strike that it conducted in an Allied nation’s territory is this the expectation going forward that you’ll conduct self-defense strikes but we won’t know why you’re doing them yeah so I I appreciate the question Nancy I would take exception at the the characterization um first of all

I’m I’m here briefing you on the record about the strike and and if I can finish answering the question that you asked me but the answer we’ve got repeated is that you won’t tell us I’ve provided you uh the information that I have available to provide and I have answered why this

Was a self-defense Drake because this particular individual was involved in the planning and execution of attacks against American Personnel in Iraq in Syria which by definition is a threat which by definition us taking action is a self-defense I guess what I don’t understand is is it one strike that they

This person was involved in was it several were they deadly over what period of time it on January 4th at 12:00 p.m Iraq time we took a strike targeting this individual it killed him and an associate there was no civilian INF no civilians injured no infrastructure uh and no facilities so I

Mean that’s as much information is I’m able to provide thanks yes sir thanks Pat um going back to the Red Sea for a second um operation Prosperity Guardian both you and vice admiral Cooper have described it as a defensive action but um vice admiral Cooper earlier this week

I believe gave the USS Carney a Combat Action ribbon for its actions you know I believe in December I mean are US Navy ships in combat in the Red Sea look I I think that uh the Admirals actions speak for themselves in terms of recognizing the crew for what they’ve done to be

Able to protect not only themselves but also International Commerce and Mariners as they they Transit so just leave it at that thank you ma’am thank you General my question is about your opening remarks on Japan so we appreciate it and pentagon or us for in Japan received any

Request from Japanese government on to asking sure um so as I said earlier we remain in close communication with the government of Japan and we do stand ready to Aid in any way that would be most helpful to Japan uh I would say this could include support from US

Forces uh who are stationed there who are would be able to respond at a moment’s notice at this time I’m not able to go in any specific details U but of course we’ll keep you updated on on what that could look like should we receive any specific requests thank you

Very much Jan thank you General happy New Year happy New Year okay recently Chinese president shiin ping declared that he would eventually unify Taiwan and the put Russian Putin I mean President Putin also uh designated Korean Peninsula and Taiwan as conflict risk areas this year and also the North Korea R

King de that he was ready for nuclear war against United States and the South Korea what is the pentagon’s position on this world crisis yeah so we’re going to continue to stay very focused on working with our allies and our partners in the region to ensure that Regional security

Stability uh and prosperity uh are the main focus um no one wants to see conflict in that region uh and so that will continue to be uh our our Focus do you think a nuclear war can be supressed through US extended deterrence uh I believe that uh us extended deterrence

Will continue to help contribute directly towards Regional security and stability let me go back to the phone here Howard Alman thanks pad question answer uh and Jared uh from all monitor my question has also been answered thank you take a few more Chris uh on the air strike in irck I understand your

Comments on the rationale but to be very direct did this US air strike violate the agreement US forces and the Coalition has with the Iraqi government uh the US always maintains the inherent right of self-defense if our forces are threatened and again we’ll continue to communicate uh as we have been all along

Closely with our Iraqi Partners uh when it it comes to the Safety and Security of our forces in Iraq R yeah thank you uh just uh two questions first follow up on the US response to the earthquake in Japan so is it accreate to say the US and Japan are

Discussing that us is in discussion with the Japanese about what type of assistance uh uh would be necessary yeah so as I understand it uh US forces Japan uh is in regular contact with the government of Japan to discuss how we might help uh should assistance be

Requested but i’ I’d refer you to usfj for any further details yeah on the second question uh the China appointed a new defense minister in late December so has the Pentagon requested the first contact her first engagement between the secretary and the new defense minister after his appointment yeah so we

Continue to be uh in communication with the PRC at the working level uh about the sequencing of upcoming engagements and certainly we’ll share more uh when we have more to announce we continue to believe that sustained communication between our two countries is important in order to uh prevent miscalculation

And mitigate potential risk thank you very much Tom thanks Pat um you know at the end of the year they cleared up all the holds on the military promotions are there any uh delays holds or otherwise of Civilian nominees for key dood positions that are still remaining uh

There are uh some individuals that continue to be um uh held delayed uh and again we’ll continue to work number on that please uh we can get that for you thanks very much ma’am thank you uh I have two quick uh Offray related questions the house committee on

Oversight and accountability uh sent a letter to SEC Olin last month and asked to provide documents and information about the O spray program safety and perform perform Us by today has the dod responded to the request and does the committee’s investigation affect US military decision on when to resume po

Flight yeah thanks very much um so the Department of Defense commits to working cooperatively with the committee to accommodate its requests and we’ll work diligently to provide additional information as soon as possible I I don’t have any further details provideed beyond that at this point thanks very

Much got time for a few more yes sir thank you General uh Iraqi prime minister’s office statement says that Abu tawa or these attacks was an attack on the Iraqi security entity that is operating within the powers authorized by the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces does that concerns you

At all that there are some elements and people that operating under the Iraqi prime minister authorities and they are planning and are masterminding to attack the US forces in Iraq again look Iraq is an important valued partner we work very closely uh with the Iraqi Security

Forces uh you know as part of cjtf oir uh and have had a relationship with the Iraqi Security Forces for many years supporting training and Advising their counterterrorism efforts and so uh we will continue to work closely with our Iraqi Partners uh we do know that the Iraqi security forces have continued to

Assist in identifying in some cases uh where these Iranian proxies have conducted attacks against US forces and we are very appreciative of that that support uh and so you know this is an important part partner to us and we’ll continue to to lean into that relationship you also said that this

Will undermines the previously established understanding between the Iraqi armed forces and the Coalition uh forces do you have the same concern again I think I responded to that question earlier I’m not going to comment on the remarks of others thanks very much time for just a couple more

We’ll go here and then here thank you General the recent attacks by the militian groups in Iraq uh on US forces seem to be more accurate than before you know they recent targeted a US base in a injured three US service members and one more attack in

Kurish on kurish pmo forces so aren’t you concerned that these militia groups have now more sophisticated weapons that can Target as forces so to date uh we continue to see uh the the one-way attack drones uh and Rockets um again over the course of these uh you know largely ineffectual but to your

Point they continue to remain very dangerous which is why uh we will respond seriously uh to any threat of our forces do not seek any broader conflict with with Iran we don’t seek conflict uh with with these groups but we’re not going to uh stand aside and

Allow our forces to be uh threatened without ensuring that we’re properly protecting them yes sir you mentioned replenishment money is out how much is left in PDA for Ukraine uh right now we’ve got roughly 4.2 billion in restored PDA Authority U but again the replenishment funds are are expended

Jennifer just to be clear harad Al NVA is it considered to receive funding and support from Iran or is it simply an Iraqi based Shia militia um this is an Iranian proxy group uh just leave it at that Tara to um just one off of Jennifer’s um is this group part of the

Pmf um look the Han group uh is a Iranian proxy group that has been targeting uh US forces and so again we took appropriate and proportionate action what are part of the Iraqi pmf forces I don’t have an answer to that question other one that I was going to

Ask is Ukraine with the 4.2 billion because there’s no replenishment money does that mean that money is essentially Untouchable like you can’t dip into the so that is the authority to spend funds um again without having the the replenishment funds in order to actually um replenish our own funds it’s the

Authority to spend but not necessarily the funds available thus we need the supplemental from Congress okay so you don’t actually have 4.2 billion in we have the authority to spend that uh from available funds but wouldn’t have the ability to replenish the stocks by taking money out or taking uh stuff out

Of our inventory so in Practical terms that means that’s not right last question F I just want to revisit the Iraq I mean on the one hand you say the Iraq is an important Ally you talk about how uh the US presence is is at the request of the Iraqi

Government when the Iraqi government is saying no you cannot take military actions inside Iraq uh because this is a breach of the agreement M about advising and supporting the security uh forces you refuse to comment is there a disagreement between the Pentagon and Iraqi government about the situation

Iraq Visa US forces look again I I’ll be very clear US forces are in Iraq at the invitation of the government Iraq and they’re there for one reason which is to support the defeat Isis Mission we’ll continue to work very closely with our Iraqi Partners when it comes to the

Safety and Security of our forces when when those forces are are threatened just like we would anywhere else in the world we will maintain the inherent right of self-defense to protect our forces and so again uh this was a necessary and proportionate action against this particular individual who

Was personally involved in the planning and execution of attacks against American Personnel thank you very much everybody appreciate it

Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder conducts a news briefing on 4 January.

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