senator cotton, i believe that first of all, i know the president to be an honest and forthright man. it s a simple question, secretary austin. he said no senior military advised him to leave a small troop presence behind. is that true or not? good d these officers get to the president personally? their input was received by the president and considered by the president for sure. in terms of what they specifically recommended, senator, they just as they just said, they are not going to provide what they recommended in confidence. sounds to me it is shocking to me and sounds to me like maybe their best military advice was never presented personally to the president of the united states about such a highly constitution ention matter. let me move onto another
about over the horizon and the capabilities as we look to the future and what s available there. but i think it s what we re seeing in the reports today about asking to use russian bases, that s just another example of the biden administration that have left us in taeshl position that we have to ask them to keep us safe from terrorists and ask them to use their installations. and we re not asking the russians for anything. but you re negotiating to trying to get these bases to be able to use their speculations, because afghanistan is a land-locked country. and when we have explanations from the military and they give examples for over the horizon and use countries like libya and yemen and somalia, that does not
general mckenzie about over the horizon and the capabilities as we look to the future and what s available there. but i think what we re seeing in the reports today about asking to use russian bases, that s just another example that we see of the biden administration. they ve really left us in a terrible position that we have to ask the russians to be able to protect the united states from terrorists and we have to ask them to use their installations. thank you. i would just reemphasize we re not asking the russians for anything. but you are negotiating trying to get these bases to be able to use their installations because afghanistan is a land-locked country and when we have explanations from the military and to give examples for over the horizon and use countries like yemen and libya and somalia, that does not take
launch authority and he doesn t launch them alone. and that i am not qualified to determine the mental health of the president of the united states. there are processes, protocols, and procedures in place and i repeatedly assured her that there is no chance of an illegal, unauthorized, or accidental launch. by presidential directive and secretary of defense directive, the chairman is part of the process to ensure the president is fully informed when determining the use of the world s deadliest weapons. by law, i am not in the chain of command and i know that. however, by presidential directive and dod instruction, i am in the chain of communication to fulfill my legal statutory role as the president s primary military adviser. after the speaker pelosi call, i convened a short meeting in my office, with key members of my staff, to refresh all of us on the procedures which we practice
chain of command. now let me see if i can get one question in here having taken two minutes to mention a very important objection. general milley, in the fall of 2020 you said an accelerated withdrawal would risk substantial gains and damage u.s. credibility. i want to ask our witnesses about u.s. credibility. on july 8 president biden said the likelihood there will be taliban overrung everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely. we you now know he was advised this might happen. turns out it was completely untrue the statement on july 8th. later in july the president of the united states, president biden says i trust the capacity of the afghan military. better trained and better equipped and more competent in terms of conducting the war.