Attack from pentagon spokeswoman dana white and Lieutenant General mckenzie. They updated reporters during the daily pentagon briefing. This is 25 minutes. Good afternoon. The secretary will attend a summit in the philippines this philippines,the departing this afternoon. That severalseen militants were killed in a firefight with the armed forces of the philippines. We congratulate our filipino partners on their success of illuminating leaders of the monthlong siege. We continue to stand with our partners providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance as well as training. As they come that terrorist combat terrorists. The aspirations of isis to have a physical caliphate are crumbling rapidly, from mobile raqqa. L to many of their Senior Leaders have been decimated. Our fight against isis is global and other groups who align with them or adopt their brand will face the same dead end. Iss is on the run, and losing credibility, resources and losing every day. Fightinga, we are also alshabab, and al qaeda affiliate. Earlier this week we conducted an airstrike airstrike against alshabab. We will continue to use appropriate measures to protect americans and prevent terrorist threats. Whenas we are fighting and he against isis and other terrorist groups, the threat remains real. We offer our deepest sympathy to those valiant soldiers who died this week in cowardly taliban suicide attacks. Attacks against the Service Members in niger is a reminder of the threat. For Service Members were killed during an advise and assist mission. Two additional servicemembers were injured and evacuated in stable condition to a Regional Medical center in germany. The wounded have since been moved to the u. S. And are being treated. These Service Members were providing advice and assistance to Nigerian Security forces and their Counterterrorism Operations when they came under fire. The secretary is committed to gathering all the facts about this tragedy and to learning from it. He wants to ensure our forces are postured to prevail always. Thoroughmmitted to a and rigorous investigation without speculation. We owe that to the follmann and their families. We will not we know that to fallen and their families. We will not be rushed. In another incident, the wounded incident, theis Service Numbers were airlifted out. And when the investigation is finished, we will provide more details. I separate note, earlier this week, secretary mattis sent a letter to the chairs and ranking members outlining his key nba s with the 18 mbaa. Are eliminating the bca defense caps, concerned with proposed cyber the iions and with missed my place and support for background and premature efforts we organize. He also weighed in on handful of other issues including space corps, tricare, the military health system, relocation of marines to guam and military instruction. We will make his later available to you at the end of the briefing. We now open up to your question. Your questions. In the back. Reporter [indiscernible] i want to know if by now the army knows why [indiscernible] secondly, i would like to ask that you of the army, how did you feel when you heard President Trump the other day everything has changed because of [indiscernible] maybe the army is not very pleased with that kind of information. First of all, we dont leave anyone behind. He was separated. To your second question, 90 of raqqa has been liberated, that it is important to remember the fight is continuing. We are fighting isis around the world, as are other groups. We continue to fight but isis is losing. The commentnzie about leaving someone behind. The secretary talked about this earlier this afternoon and expressed our position. Me give you some detail, this is about as much as i will be able to give you, even the fact that we dont want to share our tactics so that the enemy can learn how we approach these problems. I will to you that from the moment of contact, no one was left behind. Partnerhe u. S. , our nigerian forces, the french forces. Effect fact of the matter is, it is the battlefield. We had a significant engagement, it is tough country, it perhaps is not as clear as this briefing room. A lot of men and women, we search very hard to find. We did not leave them behind, we searched until we found him and brought him home. Let me get someone else and we will come back to you. Explanation,r general, that he was separated. I was wondering what that means exactly. Lieutenant general mckenzie it was a firefight. It took little bit of time to recover the soldier appeared more details would come out as the investigation proceeds. I will not be able to give you more information. I want to emphasize that the search continued until he was found. We never left him, we never left the battlefield and stopped looking for him until he was found. U. S. Or nigerian or french. Reporter could you give us a little battle letter better ambushn why this was an and why you did not know that know what they would encounter that day . Lt. General mckenzie i cant go into very much detail. That they make sure cannot profit from the experience. Reporter when did the attack start . Ms. White were not going to get into details, it is an active investigation. It is all under investigation and we will give you details when we have more. Reporter when did you tell the white house and attack was underway . Ms. White that is confidential. The white house was briefed and understood. Reporter dr. Think you should tell the American People what happened to those soldiers . Is ie i think it think we should tell them the right information, and we will tell them when we have that. Reporter is it still the position of the pentagon that you have no information about the involvement of iranian militias in iraq, or do you have new information . Ms. White i would have to refer you to all ir oir. The man who once helped a senior position in this building, in an interview, he said it was important for the United States to disable the the Shiite Militia got from the iraqi government. U. S. Tanks used in kerr cox kirkuk. I will have to get back to you. Reporter i have two questions. Id like to get answers to both of them. My first question, when you talk about what happened, you said, if we had a problem again in niger, you would like to know what it is and how to address it. Ambush. An it seems selfevident you had a problem, i dont think there is any question about that since the troops were ambushed. I first question is, you had first question is, how is this not an intelligence failure . My second question is, when you asked about the distinction between being separated and left behind, i believe you said it was a distinction without a difference. It is still very unclear to me what happened to this young soldier, if you know he was knowated, tell us what you about what happened to him. Because the department is sitting a conclusion, he was separated. You must know something about what happened to him. That, and how is it not an intelligence failure . We know al mckenzie lot about what happened to him but i cannot share that with you. When the investigation is complete, i will share with you but i cannot right now. Reporter the second question, i was asking two questions. We willral mckenzie look at it and come to conclusions about how intelligence could support it inadequately or adequately. On the battlefield, the opposition gets a vote. Let me finish. We dont live in a perfect environment where everything is visible all of the time. It is a difficult environment, Subsaharan Africa is a difficult place to operate. We will investigate and have conclusions and they will be presented. Im not prepared to go further. [crosstalk] related but different question. You elaborated on the search and said it never stopped. Wouldare reports that suggest Additional Resources were brought in. Could you share with the American People at all what the search look like, what sort of things were involved, and what the troops on the ground did to find this young man . Lt. General mckenzie we never share our tactics and procedures , but i will take you Additional Resources were brought in and we searched very hard. That search never stopped until we for covered the soldier. That is the most important thing i think the American People want to know. The what i hear you correctly that american troops stained on the battlefield the entire time troops stayed on the battlefield the entire time until sergeant johnsons body was recovered . Within the mckenzie battle space, american, nigerian, french, or all three were engaged in active searches. Once the investigation is complete, i can give you a better timeline. The sense that somehow it was a desolate site, we went back, did not search for the soldier, nothing could be further from the truth. That is a myth that needs to be corrected. Reporter a quick followup. Could you talk about fighting isis across the globe . As well as what you are doing with alshabab. Obviously american troops came under ambush. You have assets in the region. Will you be retaliating . Ms. White we will not be talking about future operations. The ambassador to the United Nations said that, war mayabout nuclear break out at any moment. [indiscernible] United States is always prepared to address any threat to us from north korea or anywhere else. Reporter you mentioned the weeknistan situation last [indiscernible] ms. White i think the taliban is desperate. And theyouve seen secretary has mentioned they are trying to pull off a major offensive and they failed. Again, the taliban is on the run, i think the fact that we announced a strategy has them on notice. Reporter do you have anything to say about the situation in kirkuk, iraq . It was said one of the leaders was present in the city. [indiscernible] ms. White i understand there are reports in negotiations. We encourage all parties to have a political solution and again focus on defeating isis. Ciarter what does the director have to say . Ms. White i refer you to the cia. Are specialat forces doing on the african continent, and are any advising direct combat missions . We areeral mckenzie engaged with a variety of partner nations on counterterrorism capacity. Weve had a long relationship varietyer, there are a of nations we do that with. We are advising assist, not directly involved. Reporter are you Partner Forces . Lt. Generale mckenzie no. Thatter do you think taliban is in africa because they are losing their caliphate in the middle east . Mckenzie weve had Great Success with the core caliphate and i think we are and are in the end phase of the. Aliphate after raqqa i think the physical core of the caliphate will go away. I think however through the internet, fiber, broad internet, cyber, broad information exchange, there is selfs the possibility of radicalization. We will continue to see pockets popup in different places across the globe. To come back to africa, what we actually seek and we recognize we will never completely do away with this problem. But we want to get to the point niger is annations, excellent example, local nations can do with it themselves. Niche supportther we could give them, but that is an excellent example. Ms. White a general question about the niger prints. All of the troops involved in the patrol, had they all completed the requisite qualifications and training . With a fully qualified to be on the mission they were on . All haveal mckenzie to get back to you on the specific details. I have no reason to believe that is not the case. I just dont have that level of detail right now as i talk to you. Reporter one more. Senator mccain has said he expects to see more transparency out of the pentagon following all of this, so has senator graham. Senator mccain said he would be willing to hold nominees to do whatever he needs to do to get more information out of the pentagon. Any response . Ms. White the pentagon did andfy the staff of the fasc hasp, and we have kept them uptodate. We will work with senator mccain and his staff to make sure they get everything they need. It is very important to the secretary and he is personally dedicated that to that. Reporter do you think there has been enough transparency . Ms. White we have done all we can and we will strive to do as for we can force in a senator mccain and the members of those committees. Reporter going back to iraq and secretary the foreign said yesterday that the coalition is unable to keep the partners in line to defeat isis and the department repeated statements that the coalition is cohesive is dangerous. Could you respond . Ms. White the coalition is very strong. We worked closely in niger with the french to ensure the rescue of our Service Members. I think the relationship is very strong. We support mckenzie a unified iraq, we will continue to support that. You dont think the recent election in kirsten was helpful to that election in kurdistan was helpful to that end but we will continue to support that. Reporter a question about the senate. A couple of lawmakers have said they did not know about the operations in niger until these incidents happened. Has the pentagon provided outreach in advance of this to notify lawmakers this was going on . Did, we notified committees and their staff that afternoon that we knew of the incident and we also updated them both by feeding by phone calls and meetings. We had a general who briefed today in a closed session with them. Reporter i think the point was that they did not know the operations were going on until this incident occurred, thus more push for transparency from the pentagon. Ms. White we stay in those contact with our authorizing committees and appropriators. I dont know necessarily at what , but again, we will always stay in touch with them. If members have any questions, we are always available to them. Reporter general mckenzie, on the accountability of personnel, did they realize immediately that one soldier have been separated or did that become clear you mentioned there were u. S. And french forces, but at what point that they realize someone was separated . Im notral mckenzie going to comment on details. In a fight, is very confusing. But i cannot give you details. Reporter we know there is an ongoing investigation, does secretary mattis have a ticktock of the ambush that took place now two weeks ago . We are gathering acom. Mation from afr reporter he doesnt have a ticktock . I can tell you that the team is working hard to get him all of the Accurate Information they can provide. Reporter houston after the ambush did secretary mattis how soon after the ambush did secretary mattis receive information . Again, i can get into the timeline, but he is in consistent communication with his commanders. Raqqa was liberated at the cost of millions of dollars to the american taxpayers [indiscernible] a live video about the pkk and other terrorist organizations. Is it acceptable that a victory enabled by the u. S. Is dedicated to a terrorist group . What is your reaction . Ms. White we work with the sdf to fight isis. That is our soul commitment and responsibility. We will continue to work to ensure we defeat isis. Way in the back. Reporter why did you have to rely on a contractor to medevac it . Iger and who was cannoteral mckenzie i go into detail on that. Reporter have there been any patrols in niger with u. S. Soldiers since the incident . Ms. White i dont have details. That is lt. E general mckenzie i cannot get into our techniques and procedures as we approach an enemy out to kill us. The secretary said today contact was considered unlikely. Can you flesh that out a little bit, the backdrop of that comment implies many of these operations have been going on on a routine basis and this was a bolt out of the blue. And one of the less significant issues with congress todays is based today is base closure. 19 excessy has capacity, this is based on 2012 figures. A lot of members want to know, what is the confidence level you have in that member . 80 , 50 , 10 . Maybe 100 confident you have 19 excess capacity. Over theal mckenzie last six months we have conducted. 9 partner patrols in the general area. 29 part number trolls in the area. 29 partner patrols in the area. That led us to think contact was unlikely. But the investigation is being done and we will release that information with me have it. Ms. White the secretarys letter, he says we could save as much as 2 billion annually with a new background, were fairly confident we can save the taxpayer a great deal of money. For me details, i have to refer you to my budget guy. We are another background would save the Department Great deal. , there hashe gao been a lot of questions about excess inventory. You fairly confident that 19 is in the ballpark, could be less . Not willing to give you a certain number but i will get back to you. Thank you, all. The u. S. Senate passed a 2018 budget resolution thursday night, clearing the way for work on tax reform. Withinal vote was 5149 kentucky senator rand paul being the only republican to vote against the legislation. Theay, the senate takes up Disaster Relief bill already passed in the u. S. House youd live coverage of the u. S. Senate always on our companion network, cspan2. Cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Writing morning, we look at the federal response to the Opioid Epidemic in the u. S. , and we will discuss the future of the iran nuclear agreement. And an npr justice correspondent on attorney general Jeff Sessions congressional testimony. He should watch washington journal friday morning, join the discussion. Tomorrow, the French Armed Services minister on her and ys defense defense strategy. Also, attends to battle terrorism. Can watch that was on that live on cspan two. President trump has been regulatory changes a major issue of his agency. Friday, the Brookings Institution releases a report on the changes his institution his administration has instituted so far. See the conversation live starting at 10 30 a. M. Here on cspan. In, it is arst went long story, but i was barely able to get back to the surface, but a bunch of them jumped in. There is a picture which i am sure you will show of them pulling me out of the lake. You can see my arm is broken. Once they pulled me out, they were not very happy to see me. [laughter] why not . I had just finished bombing the place. It got pretty rough. Hurt my kneelder, again. But look, i do not blame them. We were in a war. I do not like it, but at the war time, when you are in a and your captured by the enemy, you cannot and you are captured by the enemy, you cannot expect to have tea. 50 years after his capture, arizona senator mccain talks about the impact of the vietnam war on his life and the country, sunday at 6 00 and 10 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan3. Former barack obama was in virginia to campaign with virginia Lieutenant Governor roughly from with the virginian Lieutenant Governor. They were cleared they appeared at the Richmond Convention center