congress feels about that. and so we need to double our communications efforts, and we ll do that. thank you, general. you mentioned this was a reconnaissance mission. have you seen any indication to suggest the nature of the mission changed from its original intent? no. here s what we know. it was planned as a reconnaissance mission. what happened after they began to execute it? did the mission change? that is one of the questions that s being asked. it s a fair question. but i can t but, yes, we ve seen reports. we ve seen the speculation. given what happened, it s a fair question to ask because if the enemy situation was unlikely, we obviously lost four soldiers and two others wounded in a significant firefight. at some point, did the intelligence that was available to them change? did they have other intelligence available? did they decide to do something different than the original patrol with the department forces? those are the key questions the investigation is looking to
assessment, intelligence assessment that put in motion everything that happened next. is that the case? i think, you know, they had a campaign plan for that training mission. they d been on the ground, as general dunford by the way, very professional, straightforward, thoughtful explanation of what he knew and what they re going to find out. look, this is squad-sized units and special forces a-team, incredibly talented, capable, operating in a dangerous environment, not trying to engage this mission in direct combat, which is more likely in other places in africa. somalia obviously being one exception and libya, another exception. i think they went out on a mission, did not think they would encounter a sizable force and then were engaged and had a very bloody encounter. let me pick up on your point. i saw your appearance on friday
night, and so it strikes me as important to note that he went out with this mission. he started by saying, there s a perception that the department of defense has not been forthcoming. he made it clear he was there to erase that perception. the military remains one of the institutions in which the public by and large has a great deal of trust and respect and he seemed to have that in mind. the political climate in which this has all been taking place. did you get that sense in watching him? oh, yeah. look, this guy s a thorough professional, been in combat himself in numerable years both in iraq and afghanistan. these are extremely competent senior officers. they all grew up in combat. this stuff has been going on for start in the balkans, they spent their entire life in operational requirements. i think what the other thing i always caution people is, that, look, i spent a lot of time in combat as a lieutenant and a captain. the enemy always gets a vote. these are dangerous situ
we re armed. we re scared. we re trying to do the best we can. and when we encounter casualties, it doesn t mean something went wrong. it meant, we were in contact with direct small arms fire with ieds, with mortars, rockets. you know, i think the perception is, we had one special ops s.e.a.l. mission, i think in yemen, where one s.e.a.l. operator was killed, and the substance characterization of it was, it was a blown mission. right. this is dangerous work. let me please stay with us. bringing hans into the conversation. in the briefing. you were peppering general dunford with questions trying to tamp down the timeline. i started with the general saying october 3rd when they accompanied some french troops and some local troops, there was an assessment that contact with the enemy was unlikely, and you drilled down on the rest of the
forward more in africom. can you do that without sending more equipment isr over there. fair question. and i think i would distinguish between what does the commander africom need to do the full range of nations he believes need to be done, and what missions are being done with the equipment available? i would tell you that general walthauser may need more capability to do more mission or more expansive mission, the responsibility of commanders is to employ the force within the resources that they have available. so we shouldn t confuse the need for more capability to expand the mission with what capabilities are provided to a particular unit at a particular time if you understand the distinction i m trying to make. a particular question that still needs to be answered absolutely. there s two reasons to do the investigation. one reason is to make sure that we inform the families, the american people and the congress, of course.