As secretary, i have gone to bethesda to visit wounded warriors. When i have gone to arlington to bury our dead, there is no distinction that is made between the sacrifices of men and women in uniform. They serve, at they or wounded, and they in die right next to each other. The time has come to recognize that reality. By opening up more opportunities for are men and women in uniform, we are making our military stronger and we make america stronger. We deeply honor all of this past generations of combat soldiers and marines who fought and died for our freedom. In many ways their sacrifice has ensured that the next greatest generation will be one of men and women who will fight and die together to protect this nation. That is what freedom is all about. Thank you, mr. Secretary. Today we are acting to expand the opportunities for women to serve in the United States armed forces and to better align our policies with the experiences we have had over the past decade of war. Ultimately, we are acting to strengthen the force. Congress acted first in 1948 by legislating that women became a permanent part of the armed forces. Last year, as the secretary mentioned, we acted to open thousands of missionessential occupations at more echelons and more Ground Combat units. After months of work, the joint chiefs and i recently submitted to the secretary our unanimous recommendation to rescind the direct combat exclusion role for women. In so doing, we are acting to eliminate all unnecessary genderbased barriers to service. The joint chiefs share a common cause on the needed to start this now and to do it right. We are committed to a purposeful and principled approach, specifically, we would extend opportunities to wick in a way that would maintain readiness. And we will uphold the trust and confidence of the American People as we go forward. Our nation demands no less. Well also integrate women in a way that enhances opportunity for everyone. This means setting clear standards of for everyone in all occupations based on what it takes to do the job. It also means that ensuring these jobs are gender neutral. As we introduce women to closed occupations we must make sure there is a sufficient number of females entering the career field and already assigned in the leadership positions in order to sustain the positions overtime. These patrols will guide the work ahead. These principles will guide to the work aheadwell expand the number of units to those units this year. So we can start assigning personnel to previously closed occupations and they will take the time needed to do the work without compromising the principles i just mentioned. Some specialties and ratings shall remain exceptions. The services will bear the responsibility for providing the thorough analysis needed to better understand and better articulate what is best for the joint force and the women who serve in it. At the same time, women will continue to serve with distinct in and out of with distinction in and out of combat on land, at sea, an in the air. We all wear the same uniform and most importantly, we all take the same oath. Thank you, the secretary and i will now sign the document. \[applause] [applause] ok, now onward. Go ahead. Mr. Chairman, over course of your career, based on your experience the you talk about what you think is realistic as we look ahead to the next couple of years. Have you considered the physical demands of the job, do you expect you will see anywhere near 100 of jobs open or what are the realistic expectations that you have based on what you have learned over the past year . Mr. Secretary, on a separate issue, north korea, im sure you know, can you talk about what if any, military preparations are maybe needed over the next couple of weeks to prepare for will be taken . To answer about the question of what i see happening. With the direct combat in place, i saw a ticker that says women about to be allowed to serve in combat. Were way beyond that. That is the point here. Women are serving in combat and have been. When i got to baghdad in 2003, i hopped into the humvee and i asked the driver who he was and where he was from. I side who are you and she said shes amanda. I said ok. From that point that i realized something had changed and it was time to do something about it. What weve done though, is by eliminating direct combat exclusion provision, the burden used to be the burden used to say, why should a woman serve in a particular specificity . Now, it is why shouldnt she serve . The services now with that now as the reversed paradigm to come back overtime and with careful analysis and make sure we have the standards right in other words if were going to keep them close they have to explain right. They have to explain why. I think there will be the right amount of scrutiny on that. We have to be the most ready force that we can possibly be. I dont know how that will sort out but im eager to begin the journey. One thing that ive been struck by, you know, in almost 50 years since i served in the military. To go out now and see women perform in roles and doing a great job at it, i think it encouraged me and i think it encouraged all of us that everybody should have a chance. You should be able to perform in any mission if they can meet the qualifications. I think weve been talking and working this issue for a while but i think we both share the feeling that what were seeing in the men and women in uniform are just outstanding individuals and make a hell contribution to this country and they are willing to put their lives on the line. Their lives on the line then we that they want. With regards to north korea, we are very concerned with north koreas continuing behavior. What they said in these in needlessly provocative. If they go forward with the kind of tests they are talking about, it again, representing a violation of the u. S. Security resolutions and a violation of the national law. U n security resolutions and a violation of international law. We made it very clear that they have a choice. They have a choice to between trying to become a member of the International Family by negotiating a way to resolve the issues that concern the International Community and try to do what they can to improve the status of their people. Or to engage in this kind of provocative behavior which in the end, will do nothing, nothing other than jeopardize the hope for peace. The United States, we are fully prepared, we are prepared to deal with any actions from the North Koreans but i hope they determine it is better to make a choice to become part of our team. Part of the International Family. Are there any signs that a rocket launch is eminent . I certainly follow the intelligence closely. Indications. But that doesnt tell you much. They have the capability, frankly, to conduct these tests in a way that makes it difficult to determine whether or not they are doing it. That this policy change is a great policy change back in 1948, at the end of dont ask dont tell. Will this be as challenging or less challenging because of the major shifts the military has to adapt to . This is not on auto pilot, there overcome. Sure. Thats why you see the time intervals that weve asked for and the secretary has given us. One of the things we want to make sure we do, tony, we talk about learning the lessons of the last 10 years of war. We want to make sure we dont learn the wrong lessons. What i mean by that is, the kind of warfare were involved in now youre generally back there frequently, sometimes every day you come back to the base where you have a mess hall, you have Housing Units and showering units. One thing we want to do with the time that the secretary has given us is make sure that the standards we develop and accept and measure are standards that apply in any particular kind of convict not just one kind of conflict not just one kind of conflict. Thats why we want to make sure we have the standards right so anyone who makes the standard can serve in that particular occupation skill. Do you see any major roadblocks here over next year or two . In this country, as the president himself pointed out in his inaugural speech, weve been on a long journey. A long journey in achieving equality. There have been some tough challenges along the road in facing every barrier, whether it was racial barriers, which weve overcome, the dont ask dont tell, dealing with women, all of these have not come easy. They have all required a lot of sacrifice, a lot of work, a lot of dedication, a lot of leadership. I think that is the case here. We have the experience of women being in the service. Weve seen them in combat as the general pointed out. I think that gives us a head start. I feel very confident we can make this work. What are the necessary gender \[indiscernible] in genderbased areas . The issue of that is the issue of standards. If you think about the difference between counterinsurgency and conflict on the current peninsula. On the korean peninsula. It is a different environment that requires a different level of physical stamina. We want to make sure we get the standards right. We dont want to over engineer them either, they ought to be fair. Then we allow individuals of any sex to compete for the position. Is it just physical standards . No, it not just physical standards. The standards we have for occupational for these military occupations or the military calls them ratings they including the from mental standards to physical standards. But physical standards are the one that people focus on. What about privacy . We can fix out privacy. We can figure out privacy. We figured that out right from the start. By the way, desert shield, desert storm 1991 h we did live in that environment where we were somewhat in the zests and we figured out privacy. We were somewhat nomadic and we figured out privacy. We can do that. The fact is, women are now in the ranks and that was the concern of the time. But weve been able to adapt to that situation. Women are fighter pilots, air force, navy, have moved in that direction. Marines and the army obviously are going to move in the same direction. They are going to be there will have to be some adjustments in some situations. Based on the experience that we already have we make those adjustments. It sounds like there might be combat operational situations where women might be excluded from still. What would be the reasons for that . What sorts of operations i wouldnt put in the terms of operations. As we look at the requirements for a spectrum of conflict. We really need to have standards that apply all of those. Importantly though, if we decide a particular standard is so high that a woman couldnt make it the burden is on the service to come back and explain why is it that high . Does it have to be that high . With the direct combat exclusion we never to do have that conversation. Your personal opinion as if women maybe able to serve, especially those as navy seals . If you look back at what ive said when i was the chief staff, i think we all believe that thereby women who can meet those standards. The other part of the equation, of course, is in order to account for their safety and success in those kinds of units. We have to have enough of them so they have mentors and leaders above them. You dont want to take one woman who can meet a standard and put her in a particular unit. The issue there wouldnt be privacy it would be where to have upward mobility if shes one of one. We have to work both the standards and the kind of critical mass, if you will, to make this work. That is our commitment. By the way, thats why i asked services to provide a plan that would be presented in may of this year. It will point out exactly how this is to be implemented. Briefly about president obamas involvement with this discussion, how hutch was he involved . How much was he involved . We had the opportunity to meet with the president usually every week, depend on his schedule. But we met with him individually to go over issues. Over the past year, i have regularly briefed the president on what was going on with regards to this issue that we had opened up the additional positions that were looking at providing even more opportunities to women. He was very supportive. I would like to add, he was supportive and always encouraged us to ensure that whatever we did, it made the force better and made and assured readiness. He is alert to the fact that the armed forces have to be ready. Is it possible that earlier you said it was your experience traveling around and seeing these women in these positions . That is since becoming defense secretary,it was in the last 18 months well, at the c. I. A. , i tell you that, you know, we were at a point where close to 50 of the people working there are women. For me it was really reassuring to see young men and women were equally dedicated to the intelligence services. Then coming here to the army and going out and seeing that firsthand, it was again, something for me, was a special experience. I thought, you know, america stands for giving young people those kinds of opportunities. If they can do the job, if they can meet the standards, if they can meet, you know, the qualifications that are involved here, there is no reason why they should not have a chance. That is a fundamental belief of me and i think that is a fundamental belief of the American People. Today, the british, french, and the dutch are pulling their citizens out of benghazi saying there is a threat. Is the u. S. Going to help at all getting citizens out and because you certainly would want civilians to be safe. What is this threat in benghazi . Secondly, on algeria, can you update us on who may have been responsible . Do you view that they have rejoined forces . Do you think there is involvement as what secretary clinton said yesterday . On benghazi, it is no mystery that it is a dangerous situation there. Everybody in that area, i think is very concerned that they cant provide the security necessary to protect people in those places. I think that is why these countries have made the decision that they have made. As far as i know, we have not been asked to participate in moving anybody out of benghazi. I will pick up the rest of the question. The way to think about the north africa and west africa is a syndicate of groups who come together when it is convenient to them in order to advance their cause. Sometimes their cause is terrorism, sometimes it is trafficking. In algeria and mali, it is aqim and there is a group out there and they Work Together when it is convenient to them. What we have to be alert to is as we look at the individual groups or the individual countries we have to acknowledge the connective tissue there. That takes us to a regional strategy not necessary a country specific strategy. With regard to algeria and what happened there. The qim did take credit for what took place. As of this moment, have not been able to look at the specifics of who was involved, who took place. We understand the algerians are questioning two individuals that they were able to capture during this operation. So were hoping we will get better information from them specifically as to who was involved. If i could quickly followup. You and the president have said in the cases of benghazi and algeria that you would go after the perpetrators, that americans were killed. How do you do that in north africa when you have this mix . Can you still promise that youre going to get the perpetrators of these two incidents that killed americans . I can assure you, if we find out who the perpetrators were were going to go after them. That will be the first challenge is to determine precisely who was involved here. Americans were killed. We dont stand by when americans are killed and not take action. Without getting into specifics we will take whatever action is necessary to go after these people. You both said this decision will make the military stronger. There will be and there are critics of that premises. Can you give us examples on how putting women in the most physically demanding situations will make our military forces stronger . Let me not limit it to military. I graduated from west point in 1974. It was an allmale institution. I came back in 1976 to get married and i watched the first class of women enter. I wondered what that would be like. I went back to teach and found the academy a better place than it was when i was there. It became better in almost every way. It was just a better place. And i attribute to the fact that we opened up the academy to women. Secondly, we had this ongoing issue with sexual harassment, sexual assault, i believe it is because we have separate classes of military personnel, at some level. It is far more complicated than that. But when you have one part of the population that is designated as warriors then you have another part designated as Something Else i think that disparity establishes a psychology that in some cases led to that environment. I believe that the more we treat people equally, the more likely they are to treat each other equally. Is there any thought in changing the Selective Service requirements so that young women at age 18 will have to if we were to reintroduce the draft and is it safe to say this was your idea to go forward with these changes . No, when it comes to an issue like this, this was a team effort. It was, you know, the joint chiefs and i, we have the opportunity to meet almost every other week. Sometimes we did meet every week in the tank to talk about these issues. Opening up opportunities for men and women in the military has always been something weve talked about. They expressed an interest in it, i expressed an interest in it and we worked together to ensure that we take steps to do that. I, basically general dempsey and i looked at each other and i said look, we both know that we want to be able to open these opportunities up. But i want to make sure that you and the military, you know, really are the one who is are the movers with regards to this idea. They got to support it, they have to back it up. To their credit, they are the ones that came forward with the recommendation. I was very pleased when i got that recommendation because it was a fulfillment to what we talked about and what we want to achieve. With regard to Selective Service, that is not our operation. I dont know who the hell controls that, if you want to know the truth. Whoever does they have to exercise some judgment based on what we just did. What specialties were open today, none, we just made the announcement. Give us a break we need time to sort it out. Thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] what is the best 24 policeman . The best training you can get to become a really good police of a cert is walking a fourth beat. You learn how develop sources, you learn how to