National Defense Authorization measure and north korea in the Washington Post afghanistan investigation. Good morning happy holidays. The chairman and i wanted to take this opportunity to meet with you all once more prior to the end of the year. I want to start by thanking congress for passing the national Defense Authorization act paid we appreciate the strong demonstration of support from the house and from the senate. This legislation is a big step forward. This will enable the department to it that to some powers, and i look forward to the signing of this into lot later today. Importantly, this authorization establishes the establishment of the space force. I want to think the president for the leadership of this historic initiative. The last time we developed a new branch of the military it was over 70 years ago when we separated the air corps from the army in 19 40 seven, creating the United States air force. Back then we saw how power had expanded during world war ii and we recognize the need for a Single Service to focus on the air domain. Similarly, reliance on space based capability has grown, and today it has evolved into a domain of its own. Maintaining american dominance is now the mission of the space force. The president will announce the official establishment later today when he signs this and we will provide Additional Details on the implementation and timeline. 3 s also authorizes a increase in pay through our Service Members, the largest in a decade. This is a welldeserved pay raise for the men and women of the military who continue to make sacrifices for the nation. It will also help to recruit the countrys best talent. Additionally, there are a number of important provisions directed towards one of my Top Priorities , taking care of military families. These are all very important for the force and follow through on our commitment to take care of Service Members and their families. As ive said many times, continuing resolutions cause great harm to military readiness. We are looking for to beginning a number of important programs in areas such as Hypersonic Weapons and others that have been held back because of this continuing resolution. As we close out 2019, i am happy with the progress we have made this year. I personally have tried but traveled to the indo pacific to meet with strong allies as well as some of our newest partners. Earlier this week secretary a meeting withld some counterparts, and additionally our alliance with nato is on the right trajectory following a meeting earlier this month. We have pushed for that analyze allies, and many have responded with greater contributions. This is resulting in a stronger more capable nato alliance. As ive said before, we must deal with the world we live in and not the one we want. Longterm our troops deployed continue to do great work to detour further aggression. I went to thank all of the Service Members around the world, especially those in harms way for their service over the holidays. Finally, i went to reemphasize our commitment to continue reforms as we entered the new year. Process tod this other parts of the department, we continue to free up resources to invest back. That i look for to taking a few questions, but first i would ask the chairman to make any opening comments. Good morning. Happy holidays. I appreciate the opportunity to do this on a frequent basis. In november i visited the indo Pacific Command and various officials and partner nations. Our military to military relationship in both regions remains strong and it is essential to continue efforts to maintain great power of peace in , and to continue our collective efforts. This week i met with my russian counterparts that you may recognize in switzerland and we discussed serious strategic. Ssues to enhance our i conducted my first discussion as a chairman with my counterpart in china, generally and over the phone we renewed a relationship that was established why was chief of staff and he was the head of the ground forces. I look forward to meeting with my nader counterpart in our gathering over in europe or after the first of the year. And i am looking forward to signing a ceremony later today. Before we look forward to 2020, i think it is important that we all take a moment and reflect on the contributions of our men and women around the world today in uniform, whether they are in the air are on the watch on the ground, it doesnt matter. They are all doing rate work. They represent the best of america, of our values, and that they and their families have our deepest respect as we enjoy the freedoms that they provide to us with their service. The secretary and i are happy to take your questions. Youve seen the statement about the Christmas Gift that they may give. Have you had any indications about north korea about a . Ongrange Missile Launch and another followup, mr. Beacon was on his way back from diplomacy dead and we on the path towards a potential conflict again . I will not comment on that details of that. Clearly we think that the political solution is the best way forward to denuclearize the peninsula and to address that north korean programs. I have two functions here. One is to ensure that we are in a high state of readiness, if need be, and i am confident. And secondly to enable our limits. I remain hopeful that we can get this process started and remain on the diplomatic path. We do not discuss those indicators. North korea has indicated a variety of things, so we are prepared. I want to ask about the status of forceswants this special to have his star back. Should he have those back . Comment ongoing to that. I am not going to comment on any personnel actions. Could go to turkey, do you see any willingness that turkey is going to go away from and time to operation to ask the specific question about the threats, they have threatened to impact u. S. Forces from turkey. Do take that seriously . Ont impact would that have our abilities in the region . They are a longstanding nato ally. I engages my counterpart routinely. They have accepted the s 400. That means they will not receive the f35. With regard to those comments, i think that is one of the things that i need to followup on and make sure i understand what is driving to and how serious they are. Our view is that we need to bind them closer to the nato alliance. Military, andable that is my aim. Have you followed up with them . I have not had the chance yet. The afghan papers suggested that public statements being made about the war were different than what was being said privately. Was that your experience . Is it fair to compare the papers that have been published to the pentagon papers . Things,ld say couple of jennifer. There is an assertion of some lie over the course of 18 years. I think that is a bit of a stretch could i find that a mischaracterization. You are looking at probably officers,f General Department employees, department of defense folks, i dont think you can get that level of coordination to do that kind of deception. Othersthat i and many gave assessments at the time based on the facts that we knew at the time and those were all honest. They were never intended to deceive. There is a very good piece of investigative journalism, but i think it is not the pentagon papers. , andwere multiple volumes they were contemporary papers written in advance of decisionmaking. Attemptan papers, and in about 2000 pages to do postfecteau interviews looking backwards to determine Lessons Learned as we go to the future. I think they are different in both nature and scale. It timeto followup, is to leave afghanistan . To ensure a mission it never becomes a safe haven for terrorists. Until we are confident that that mission is complete, we will retain our presence. A little bit about how the department of defense has stepped up its efforts to safeguard elections. Can you talk about what additional steps are being taken to protect the 2020 elections as far as threats are concerned . Are there specific countries you are worried about . Probably just talk because much of this is classified. We dissipate in a whole government approach to Cyber Command and others we felt we had a very good 2018 election. We reap congress often on these things. So we continue to look and make sure we understand what the threats are out there and we look at all threats wherever they may come from. We feel like the critical thing is to preserve the democratic process. I am confident we are doing everything we can to ensure that going into 2020. [indescernible] potentialoking at any airlift supply, and secondly, this week we wrote about a number of the very First SpecialOperations Forces sent to pakistan in the early days after the 9 11 attack and now face a multitude of cancers and they cannot get their medical costs covered. Let me go to your first issue. Obviously this is a brutal regime, but he is unto the country and the people of venezuela is horrific. Otherk we join the countries, particularly in that region, and the state department has leave for actions there we are fully supportive of what they want to do it we always are prepared and plan to provide humanitarian assistance, but this is an issue that we appear to support them as they go through their steps. Mr. Secretary, the Inspector Generals Office launched to investigations related to the border operations. Two investigations into the border wall, one whether it was thel and the other about awarding of the contract. Do you have confidence that the department conducted thorough views of whether the operations were legal and whether it should be conducted and the awarding of the contracts . I dont characterize it that way. My understanding is he is conducting an evaluation, not an investigation. It is assessing whether the troops were properly trained. That was it. All of the other stuff that you are referring to is not consistent with what i have been briefed in pitt we can get you offline and explain what that is. The president says this is a question for both of you. How long do you think you will need to stay in syria . That is a crystal ball that i do not have. I think we are there as long as we can ensure the defeat of isis or we get other partners to step in and help offset us or that the isis can be controlled by local police or security forces. That is the metric. The broader landscape is what i refer to, we have a National Strategy that says we are now in great power competition. The principal challenges are china and russia. Whether its syria or afghanistan, how can we reduce our presence in other parts of the world to return troops home for Bigger Missions or reallocate them. That is my principal aim. Months,ink it will take a year . You mean in terms of our troops are, i think all of the situations are different. I would say none of us want forever wars. Mostly those of us who serve in uniform, and we have taken care of our wounded, so none of us want that. It has to do with national interest. Appraisaldo with the of our adversaries and what their threats are to america. We weigh the costs and benefits and the risks, and thats why we are where we are. With respect to syria, we are there to ensure the enduring defeat of isis. When that condition is met, then i think the president will be apprised of that, and then we will probably come out. Happy holidays. Gamer ago at the army navy the president announced he would nominate you to your present then both of since you have assumed your current jobs. Looking back on the year, how would you characterize it for the Defense Department . I would like to hear from both of you if you dont mind how you look at the year and the roles you inherited. We cannot escape each other. [laughter] its deeply humbling and it is an honor to have been nominated and confirmed. Ive spent my final year as the chief of staff focusing on the army business. A month or two in preparation specifically for this job, a very long professional and personal relationship with my predecessor, and we did a very professional handoff pit that is how i spent the year. I had a great pleasure working with the chairman before i assumed this position and certainly after. I think the transition has been seamless. Seamless. Relatively i think we have strong teams across the department now and each of the departments. Last night we got three more senior officials confirmed. Its good to have that. We have more in the pipeline. The constant charge, it happens. They are demanding jobs. They bring people out quickly. It is something that you have to continue to deal with. I think we have a strong team, happy with the commanders we have in the field as well. Everything looks good. To follow up on the border. I happen to have the letter on this. It talks about the use of military personnel on the border. The request was specifically whether there could be a violation of how they interacted with professionals there. Do you have any concern that the troops who are working on the this . Could be violating oneral, i went to followup this, they seem to be telik raping that there could be this watch. I am just curious, have you increase your Readiness Level . Is there a concern that they will exit do something, or is thisrhetoric . I dont have any concerns they are violating policy, taught us tatus. Ee come lets see where the evaluation goes. I dont shy away from them. If we learn something, we will improve our training. I am used to that. We will see what goes. In terms of the orders and instructions with our commanders , i feel confident. We will see where it goes. From my military perspective, korea is one of those places where you maintain high levels of readiness. Today we have high levels of readiness. Shoulderhoulder to without republic of korea counterparts militarily. It is a close bond with the military in japan. The Tripartite Alliance between japan, the u. S. And the republic are rock solid. Republic of korea are rock solid. It is prepared to defend their interest at a moments notice and it has been for quite some time. Thank you very much. Oneral, i want to follow up my colleagues question from fox news. The afghanistan papers revealed senior officials have been far more pessimistic in private and public about prospects for a military victory in afghanistan. Youve had several combat tours in afghanistan. I asked this with the greatest respect. Has the United States for throwing away american lives . Absolutely not. Not in my view. I was there many times. Our original objective going into afghanistan on the seventh of october, 2001 was to prevent afghanistan from ever again becoming a platform to launch terrorist attacks on the continental United States. That is what we set out to do antedate that has been successful and to date that has been successful. I could not look myself in the mirror. No, i dont think anyone has guided vein per se. As far as a military victory, for years we stated there is not going to be a rational, reasonable chance of a military victory against the taliban or the insurgency. Something like signing surrender documents. President bush said that, before christmas in 2001. There is only one way this will end in it is a negotiated solution with the taliban. It has to be an afghan afghan solution. Militarily this has been an estate strategic stalemate where the taliban cannot defeat luke ry the regime of couple military regime of kabul. The regime will not militarily defeat the taliban or the various other groups militarily as long as they have sanctuary in pakistan and some degree of popularity amongst the people, graded at about 10 to 15 in rural areas. At the base of it for the United States it has to do with our Vital National security to recheck our people, and are people who have given their lives have not given their lives in vain in my view. Upi would add before we wrap for 18 years now the media has been over there. Many of you have traveled multiple times. Congress has been there multiple times. I was probably on the first congressional delegation to go into thousand one and have traveled there multiple times. There. At igs it is not like the war was hiding somewhere and now there has been a revelation. Between all the folks looking at this conflict over the years, some type of insinuation there has been a largescale conspiracy is ridiculous. I echo the chairmans comments on that front. You have been reporting this. Many of you have been over there. You have talked to the commanders. We can go back today one. To day one. It will be looked upon for decades from now. Thank you and have a happy holidays. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] coming up today, mark morgan, acting head of customs and Border Protection will talk about immigration policy and border operations. That is lit from the National Press club at 1 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Later, we will bring you President Trump signing the national Defense Authorization act which sets defense policy and programs for fiscal year 2020. That is live starting at 7 20 p. M. Eastern. You can watch online at cspan. Org, and listen with the free cspan radio app. Q a, wallnight on street trader turned photojournalist chris arnoty on his book giddy dignity. It was a saturday. It was empty. All the semis were gone. Its an industrial part of hunts point. Immediately intelligence came right through. We spoke for about an hour, half an hour or so. She told me her life