Good afternoon, everyone. Just a few items to pass along at the top and then well get right to your questions. As some of you may be aware, the department of defense released a statement earlier today regarding support to the department of Homeland Security, which ill reiterate here from the podium at the request of the department of Homeland Security secretary austin approved a temporary department of defense increase of an additional 1500 military personnel to supplement us customs and Border Protection efforts on the us southwest border for 90 days. These 1500 military personnel who will be sourced from the active duty component will fill critical capability gaps such as ground based detection and monitoring data, entry and warehouse support until cpb can address these needs through contracted support. Military personnel will not directly participate in Law Enforcement activities. Its important to note that the department is also evaluating options on how we might replace these deploying forces in stride with other sources to include potentially forces from the reserve component and contracted support. And while this request is for 90 days, i would point out that dod has supported dhs on the southwest border for 18 of the last 22 years and every year since 2006, shifting gears, the department of defense through us, Africa Command remains committed to supporting the department of states efforts in sudan. Over this past weekend, this support involved organizing and synchronizing transportation from khartoum to port sudan and on to saudi arabia for us, citizens and others who wished to depart sudan. Today, the uss brunswick along with the uss truck and uss polar remain in the vicinity of port sudan and are able to provide support to the Evacuation Mission as needed. Additionally, isr assets continue 24 7 overwatch over potential land evacuation routes. And africo s deconfliction cell continues to distribute relevant information to the department of state, our allies and partners and International Ngos to help enable informed decision making. Looking ahead, secretary austin looks very forward to welcoming philippines president marcos to the pentagon tomorrow. Its important to point out that were standing at a transformational moment in the us philippines alliance. Weve made Great Strides recently in advancing our bilateral defense relationship from announcing four new enhanced defense Cooperation Agreement sites to successfully completing the largest ever iteration of our annual bilateral exercise. Balaton secretary austin and president marcos will discuss a wide range of security topics including support for the Philippines Defense modernization efforts and expanding operational cooperation in the south china sea. Separately, the department of defense is joining with the Us Small Business Administration and our interagency partners in celebrating national Small Business week, april 30 th through may six. As many of you know, Small Businesses play an absolutely vital role in securing our nation. In fact, more than 70 of the Us Defense Industrial base is made up of Manufacturing Companies with 20 or fewer employees. The Department Released a new Small Business strategy in february of this year and has a range of programs to both both assist and encourage Small Companies to do business with the dod. More information on dods Small Business initiatives can be found on the dod website. Finally, the department of defense Outreach Office is proud to announce the premiere of chopped military salute on the food network hosted by tim allen. The five part tournament features 16 active duty chefs from the us navy, us air force, us, marine corps and us army competing with their service for a slot in the final joint service competition. Chopped military salute premiered tuesday, april 25. And we would encourage everyone to tune in every tuesday from now until may 23 to see these talented Service Members in action. And with that, well get to your questions. Well go to a lido. Thanks, pat. Um can you say when you expect these troops to arrive at the border even um in a range of days in the coming week or presumably by may 11 . Would that be accurate . Do you expect these will be active duty troops or are you going to try to have to pull some from the guard and third, sorry. In the past dod requested that dh s provide quarterly reports updating as to when and how dh s was going to be able to take over these jobs on the border . Is dod getting these quarterly updates . And is the department confident or concerned that dh s will or wont be able to meet this requirement by the end of the fiscal year . Yeah, thanks. So, on your first question right now, i think well see these troops arrive as early as may 10th and then in the coming weeks, again, these will be active duty forces. Although, as i mentioned at the top, we continue to explore other options so that we could return those active duty forces back to their home stations and stride with potentially reserve component or contracted entities. Again, thats work that well continue to do as far as quarterly reports. Ill have to take that question for you. I can tell you that, you know, as a matter of course, we do regularly communicate with the dh s and i think again, were in a situation here where dhs has requestedistance and the department of defense is assisting on this important issue. So, thank you. Is it, are you is it, are you saying just for clarification that within this 90 day period you would like to replace or you will look at replacing some of these active duty troops with the National Guard or reserve or potentially beyond that . Exactly. So, within that 90 day period, again, we are secretary austin has approved the deployment of 1500 active duty troops. But again, we are looking at evaluating options. Should we be able to replace those in stride. And then well go to will thank thank you general rider. So just which units will these troops be coming from and will they be helping with Drug Enforcement . Because thats what the original executive order from the president said. Yeah. So in, in terms of the types of work that theyll be doing as i highlighted at the top, these will be very much focused on support tasks to cbp. So no, and ill just leave it at that. I mean, what i said in terms of the specific units, these forces will come from the army and the us marine corps. But id refer you to the services to talk about specific units that will be tasked in in 2018 just before the midterm elections. President trump ordered 5200 us troops to fortify the border at the time democrats and former military officials and officers came out against that saying they were being used for political reasons. How is this different . Yes. So you know, really my focus here is on talking about what weve been asked to do and what were doing. Clearly dhs felt that there was a need for the department of defense to assist so that they can continue to do their important work. Secretary austin approved that request. And so thats what we are focused on. Thank you. Yes . Thank you. Two questions on the, on the border situation. Um first, what, what is the current number of troops who are there prior to the 1500 being deployed . And what necessitated this additional deployment now . Is it, was it the changes on may 11th that are coming up or is there any other reason regarding . Yeah, thats correct. So, uh in light of the changes on may 11th and the uh anticipated surge, dh s did reach out and request this support in terms of the number of us military that are there. Now, there are approximately 2500 us military who are National Guard forces. They are focused again on supporting cd p with detection and monitoring and aviation support. A couple non border questions. Ukraine, are there any p ds or Ukraine SecurityAssistance Initiative contracts in the works . They may be released in the next couple of weeks to help the potential spring invasion, spring offensive . So, so first of all, i dont have anything to announce today in regards to any upcoming Security Assistance packages. Although broadly speaking, we will continue to support ukraine with Security AssistanceGoing Forward as we have been doing, im not going to get into the specifics on timing in terms of any potential counter offensive other than to say from the very beginning, weve been working closely with ukrainian leaders, with our allies and partners to assess what ukraine needs to defend their sovereignty and to take back their sovereign territory. A different part of the world. South korea. Last week, the white house announced a nuclear, a Nuclear Powered submarine would visit just to clarify that roughly when might that happen . And will this be an ohio class that carries Nuclear Missiles or it will be one of those s s g n s that just carries tomahawks . So in terms of the timing, tony, im not going to get ahead of or announce any timing of a deployment. It will be an ohio class ssb n a model, but thats about as specific as i can get, but itll Carry Nuclear Weapons though . Im not going to get into the specific payloads other than the type of submarine will be an ssb. Ok thank you. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you very much, general. A question from syria, the killing of the daesh leader on saturday in an operation by the turkish intelligence. This was announced by a turkish president. Does the United States have any comment on that confirmation comment or what do you know about this . Certainly, at this time, we cant corroborate those reports. Certainly. That would be welcome news if true. You know, broadly speaking, we do appreciate what turkey has done to counter isis, but thats about as much as i have just a quick follow up on that. You know, you have times when the United States said that the Turkish Military presence in the region has been hampering the fight against daesh. So like looking at the overall, how would youess your nato allies efforts against daesh or tackling daesh terrorism . Yeah. Well, certainly as you know, in the, in the Border Regions there in northern syria, Turkish Forces have engaged with isis in the past. And again, i think anything that the International Community can do to help with the enduring defeat of isis is very helpful. Thank you very much. Thank you general. So question on sudan, you mentioned the three navy ships supporting the evacuation from port sudan to saudi arabia. So i was wondering if you can give more details on the type of activities they were involved in throughout the weekend and up until now in this supporting role. Sure. So to my knowledge, we had the brunswick was able to assist with the evacuation of approximately 300 people from port sudan to jeddah where they were obviously met by Us Consular Affairs officials. Again, the brunswick has returned to port sudan to be available to transport any additional citizens or others who may require transport out of sudan. And the other two ships are just in the sea in case they were called upon to be involved. Correct, correct just to, to provide, to provide us with options should we need that capability. Thank you. Thank you. I have two questions. Actually, one follow up. So, has there been any communications between turkish and american militaries with respect to the killing of the isis leader . I dont have that. I, i dont know, qasim i would refer you to or sorry you to ask them what, what type of communication there may have been. Second question, we have seen the russians have increased the barrage of missile strikes in ukraine. Can you update us on the battlefield currently in ukraine . Sure. I mean broadly speaking, we continue to see heavy fighting in baku again, its been tenuous for a while there. Now, as you highlight, weve seen russia firing missiles into civilian infrastructure again, nothing new, unfortunately for them, but largely along the front lines, it continues to remain static. Thank you very much general. Yesterday, the us and the philippines agreed to agreed to establish a framework of trilateral cooperation with japan and australia respectively. So, can you share a little bit more details, a little bit more specifics on what the pentagon wants to do with this new trilateral format militarily moving forward . Yeah, yeah, sure. Um well, i dont, i dont have anything specific to announce today, rio, i would tell you that the philippines, japan and australia continue to remain very essential allies for us. We obviously share common focus and common values when it comes to promoting peace, stability and security in the indo pacific region. And so were going to continue to look at ways that we can Work Together to achieve that end. Thank you very much. Go back here and then well go back to over here. Hi, Caitlin Kenney with defense. One tomorrow is World Press Freedom day and its been more than 10 years since reporter austin tice was captured in syria. Can you provide an update on what the pentagons efforts are to help bring tyce home . And can you explain what may be hindering the governments effort to bring him back . Thank you. Yeah, thanks very much. Um so, first of all, i would just offer again our, our thoughts and prayers to the tice family while i dont have an update to provide today from the pentagon in terms of efforts to recover or find austin. I would say that we do continue to recognize the important work that journalists like austin or evan kovich and many others have done and continue to do around the world to report on important issues as part of a free and independent press. Thank you. Thank you you general. I have a follow up question on the visit of philippine president marcos to the us. So yesterday white house announced that two countries are adopting a new defense guideline. So through this new defense guideline, how can the us and the philippines prepare for the potential contingency in the region including the invasion of taiwan . Sure. So well obviously have much more to provide tomorrow after the president s visit to the pentagon. To underscore your point, youve heard the white house talk about the fact that uh the United States and the philippines will be adopting bilateral defense guidelines. And what these will do is help to institutionalize key bilateral priorities, mechanisms and processes that will help deepen our alliance. What were looking to do here is uh look at enhanced bilateral planning, information sharing, accelerated Defense Capability Development and collaboration on emerging security technology. So again, well have much more to provide in the, in the days ahead. Thank you jennifer. And then ill go to mike general rider. Why are these active duty troops being sent to the border and not National Guard . And not National Guard . Is this just an effort to message to the tens of thousands of migrants on the other side of the border not to come across by using active duty troops . Because i seem to remember a few years back when the Trump Administration wanted to send troops down there that there was concern by using active duty troops that you would affect readiness. Yeah. So really, this is about being responsive. Uh dh s has asked us for this support and so the ability to rapidly provide support from our active duty forces. Is, is really the key here. Again, we are. As i mentioned, were evaluating options to look at potentially replacing some of those forces with reserve or contracted support. And as you know, calling up reserve Component Forces involves some Time Associated with that. And so by tasking the active duty forces, were able to meet this request very urgently and support dh s and so it wont affect readiness, it will not affect readiness. Phil. Hey there. Just wondering if youve now that the dod assesses that it now knows the totality of the material leaked by airman te and whether or not youve initiated or completed a Damage Assessment . Thank you. Im sorry, phil. Can you say that first part again . Yeah, whether or not the dod now uh knows that assesses that it knows the totality of the material leaked by airman te and whether or not youve initiated or completed a Damage Assessment. Thank you. Yes. So that work is ongoing as you know, the secretary directed that we do a comprehensive review uh of, of the impact of that leak. And so that work is ongoing as is the criminal investigation into uh the airman specifically. So then to be clear, then youre not quite sure yet. Its not, its not clear yet whether or not, you know the totality, but we continue to, we continue to evaluate just exactly what was leaked out, leaked as part of this uh unauthorized disclosure. Thank you. Yes, sir. Go here and then over to mike. Thank you. On ukraine in january and in november general miley stated that there are well over 100,000 russian casualties. And yesterday, nss kirby stated that there was since december, about 100,000 russian casualties with 20,000 dead. So is it safe to assume that there are now well over 200,000 russian casualties in ukraine. Again, im not going to have anything to add beyond what mr kirby provided yesterday. Other than to say this, this conflict has been bloody from the beginning. Russia. Russias invasion has caused the death of thousands and thousands of people. And again, another reason why we would call on russia to end this, this needless and senseless war as quickly as possible immediately. Thank you. And last question. Go to mike change the subject. But archbishop timothy broo of the military archdiocese sent out a letter a couple of days ago criticizing secretary austins policy saying that it mandates federal funding for abortion, travel and compels military commanders to authorize such undertakings. He said the policy fails to incorporate basic conscience protection and creates First Amendment pitfalls for military commanders. I was wondering if the pentagon has any thoughts on any comment upon the archbishop . Yeah, i i dont, i dont have a comment to provide on the archbishops letter. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, everybody, appreciate it