Pentagon Press Briefing On 10/10/24

… chiefs of staff, Admiral Christopher Grady, US Northern Command Commander Gregory M. Guillot, National Guard Bureau acting vice chief, Lieutenant General John Stubbs and other senior DOD leaders to discuss the latest department efforts to support the federal, state and local response. Additionally, Secretary Austin, Deputy Secretary Hicks and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General CQ Brown Jr. also participated in President Biden’s White House meeting today with the vice president, DHS secretary and other senior DOD leaders to discuss the response to Milton and ongoing relief for Helene. Because of efforts to prepare and evacuate, this was not a worst case scenario and the evacuation orders saved lives. As you know, Hurricane Milton impacted Florida as a category three storm and DOD took appropriate precautions in advance for our facilities based in Florida to ensure the safety and security of our personnel, their families and our equipment. Of note, US Special Operations Command and US Central Command remain evacuated from MacDill Air Force Base and will reenter when safe.

(01:03)
The priority is the safety of personnel and their families and ensuring they have the resources they need as they recover from Hurricane Milton. Both commands continue to operate out of multiple locations, ensuring no degradation to operations. We’ll provide updates as they become available. In terms of specific DOD actions, first, I’ll address our efforts related to Hurricane Milton and then I’ll turn to Hurricane Helene. As of this morning, the Florida National Guard has activated more than 6,500 guardsmen and mobilized 500 plus high-water vehicles, 26 helicopters and more than a dozen watercraft from a dozen states for the response and recovery mission following Hurricane Milton.

(01:41)
In addition, another 3,000 national Guardsmen from 19 states are also ready to support. Also, the US Army Corps of Engineers has approximately 250 people supporting the response with temporary roof support, debris control, flood control, waterway clearance and more. US Northern Command and US Army North also have active duty forces and capabilities postured and ready to support FEMA when requested to include up to 60 high-water vehicles from Fort Stewart, Georgia, up to 100 US Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to provide support for urban search and rescue, search and rescue helicopters, plus light and medium rotary wing airlift aircraft from the 3rd Infantry Division, as well as command and control support capabilities.

(02:26)
Additionally, NAS Whiting, Eglin Air Force Base, Moody Air Force Base, Fort Moore and Fort Stewart have all been designated as staging areas for hurricane relief and support efforts. Turning to Hurricane Helene, the department’s support for the US Government’s combined response continues. The National Guard has approximately 5,000 guardsmen, 80 high-water vehicles and 50 helicopters from 17 states mobilized. More than 1,500 active-duty members are deployed in North Carolina as well, working with federal, state, and local partners on the coordinated response effort. These active duty forces have been engaged in road clearing and commodity distribution, such as delivery of food and water. 18th Airborne Corps soldiers are currently conducting operations in nine counties and have cleared 45 miles of roads in Haywood County, 28 miles in the town of Poplar and 14 miles in Buncombe County. Seven active duty CH-47s have flown a combined 37 hours in support of resupply missions and overland commodities distribution continues using highly mobile infantry squad vehicles. In addition, the US Army Corps of Engineers has more than 550 personnel mobilized to 14 emergency operation centers across the region, supporting debris control, temporary power, infrastructure assessment, flood control and safe waterways assessment. And we’ll continue to keep you updated on additional DOD support to both Hurricane Helene and Milton. Turning to a different part of the world, at the request of the government of the Philippines, the Third Marine Expeditionary Force and the USS Boxer are providing humanitarian assistance operations in the Philippines following Typhoon Krathon, known locally as Julian, which made landfall on September 30th. The US military is providing air transport and other assistance, including transporting 98,000 pounds of supplies in coordination with the Armed Forces of the Philippines through the US Department of Defense Overseas Humanitarian, Disaster and Civic Aid program. As always, the United States is committed to supporting our allies and partners in their times of need.

(04:28)
For additional questions, I’d refer you to Indo-Pacific Command Public Affairs. And shifting gears, earlier today, Secretary Austin spoke with his United Kingdom counterpart, secretary of state for defense, John Healey, to discuss defense-related issues of mutual interest between our two nations. A full readout of the call will be available later today on defense.gov. And finally, I’d like to wish an early happy birthday to the US Navy, which is 249 years young this weekend. And with that, I’ll take your questions. Go ahead. I think AP’s not in the room today, but we’ll go ahead and start right up front. Liz.

Thanks, Pat. Going back to Hurricane Helene, when did the FEMA request come in to send the active duty troops to North Carolina to help with recovery efforts?

Thanks for the question, Liz. I don’t have any dates in front of me. I’m happy to take that question and we can get back to you. But I do know that we obviously responded very quickly after receiving the request, but again, I’ll take that question.

And now I have a National Guard response request from Hurricane Helene. Initially, only 300 North Carolina National Guard troops were activated. That’s compared to the 6,500 National Guard troops for Florida which you just highlighted. Why the difference in the responses to each hurricane?

Well, look, I think every state is going to look at what its requirements and as I highlighted right now, you’ve got upwards of 5,000 National Guard. It’s also activated to support response efforts across the Southeast to include North Carolina. It’s also important to understand that just like I highlighted, you’re going to have multiple states that are going to be supporting that effort, as is the case in North Carolina. The other thing too is keeping in mind that it’s not like you’re necessarily going to have forces just sitting in locations without knowing the track of the storm, where they’re most needed. You need to do this in a way that’s synchronized and integrated with a broader effort in order not to create additional problems in the midst of a crisis and an emergency.

(06:34)
So as FEMA and as the State of North Carolina work closely together to identify what requirements were, of course, those capabilities were rapidly put online and rushed to the areas where they’re needed most. And again, with the size and the scope of Hurricane Milton, certainly as we saw that coming, we were able to, again, from a whole of government standpoint, look at what we needed to do to be ready to respond. Does it mean that you’re going to need all those forces in all those places? Maybe not, but again, you’re going to try to make sure that what you’re not doing is adding to problems, but that you’re being additive to supporting solutions.

And I just have one last question. Vice presidential candidate JD Vance wrote an op-ed criticizing Hurricane Helene relief efforts and specifically the DOD’s response. He said it was delayed. He compared it to the Obama Administration only taking two days to authorize active duty troops to send them to Haiti for that recovery effort from the earthquake, as opposed to the six days it took for Secretary Austin to sign FEMA’s request to authorize these active duty troops to North Carolina. Do you think that’s fair to compare? What do you think of that characterization?

Yeah. So a couple things. So first of all, as I’m sure you can appreciate, I’m not going to wade into the political campaign or comment on remarks or op-eds by political candidates. It just wouldn’t be appropriate. What I will say is from a DOD standpoint, I can 100%

Guarantee you that we will lean as far forward as we can to be prepared to respond to requests from FEMA and our state and local partners, and this is no exception. So I think as I highlighted, we have forces on the ground actively supporting our fellow Americans in their time and need, and we’re going to continue to do that. Tony.

I need to ask you about Israel and conversations between the secretary and his counterpart in Israel and the sharing of information about what comes next. The world’s on pins and needles about whether or when Israel may strike Iran, what’s the tenor of the conversation and frequency between either the E ring here and Secretary Austin and his counterpart?

Yeah, so your last question there, I mean, as you know, Secretary Austin and Minister Gallant have a close working relationship. They talk frequently. I don’t have any new calls to read out since the last one, but as one could imagine, I’m sure there will be one again in the near future. And again, we will read that out as we have been from the beginning. Those conversations are very focused on the situation in the Middle East, the tensions in the Middle East, the defense of Israel, but also looking at ways to ensure that what we’re seeing there does not escalate into a wider regional conflict and to work toward a diplomatic resolution of the tensions. So I can tell you from a US perspective, that doesn’t change. We continue to seek the conditions to enable a ceasefire in Gaza and a reduction of the tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border so that folks can return back to their homes.

I got to ask you though, are they sharing at all their intentions for a potential retaliatory strike on Iran, even in the broadest of detail?

Yeah, I mean, as we’ve highlighted, we’re certainly talking with Israel about their next steps as it relates to any type of response from Iran’s one October attack, but I’m not going to speak for Israel in terms of what they may or may not do. I’d refer you to them.

Just one final… Are they going to give you a heads-up of some kind of imminent action? Did they make any commitment on that?

Yeah. Again, I’d refer you to Israel to talk about what they may or may not do. Tony, we’re going to continue to keep the lines of communication open for all the reasons that I highlighted. Joseph.

Thanks. Just staying on Israel and then have a second on the Houthis. So today we saw the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said that the Israeli Army military deliberately targeted their bases, their watchtowers on multiple occasions in the past 24 hours. There was also videos that the Israelis destroyed Lebanese Army watchtower in the south. In the past couple of days, we’ve seen Israelis… Israeli military plant an Israeli flag inside of Lebanese territory, one territory that’s not disputed between the two of US officials, current officials of relatives, excuse me, of the US, people serving in the US government have been destroyed, indisputable evidence that there’s no Hezbollah weapons there. So how do you square that circle in terms of the support for what you guys have said is Israel’s limited ground operations or do you condemn any of these that I just mentioned, or do you believe that these align with US interests?

Yeah, thanks Joseph. So a lot to break down there. So first of all, as it relates to the reports that you highlight in terms of UNFIL or LAF, certainly those reports are concerning. I don’t have any information to independently corroborate those reports. I’d refer you to the IDF to talk about their operations in that regard. Certainly we do not want to see noncombatants targeted as operations are being conducted. All indications that we have right now is that Israel continues to conduct limited ground operations across the border to remove Hezbollah attack infrastructure. And again, we’ve highlighted that we fully support Israel’s right to defend itself and we understand the threat that Hezbollah has posed for the last year. Ultimately, at the end of the day, though, again, I’d go back to our belief that for long-term security and stability, the best way to do that is through diplomatic means. So we’ll continue to work toward that end.

Just a second. I don’t know if you saw the report from Brown University a couple days ago on how much military aid has been sent to Israel and then how much the US campaign against the Houthis has cost, they said it has cost $4.86 billion so far, and that the US military could require an extra 2 billion in the coming months. Can you confirm or take the question or let us know if you have any numbers of how much this specific campaign has cost so far?

Yeah, I haven’t seen the report, so I’m just not in a position to comment on it. Orrin.

Has the Israeli Ministry of Defense or Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant reached out to reschedule the visit that was delayed from earlier this week from yesterday?

Yeah, so I don’t have anything to announce in terms of potential reschedule dates. I’d refer you to Minister Gallant’s office to talk about when they may be available to do that. Certainly we will welcome the minister should he come back to Washington DC. Regardless, as I highlighted earlier, Secretary Austin will continue to maintain open lines of communication with the minister and continue to frequently communicate with him.

And then just a hurricane question quickly. On MacDill Air Force Base, SOCOM CENTCOM, the base remains evacuated. Do you have a sense of whether the base suffered damage and to what extent as a result of Milton and any reports of service member or family injuries as a result of Milton?

So we’ll obviously have a lot more information in the hours ahead. I don’t have any updates to provide you right now. I’d refer you to the Air Force to talk about the specific condition of MacDill Air Force Base, but as we get more information, we’ll definitely push that out. Let me go back over here. Fadi, you’ve been patient.

No, no. Thank your general. Again, you say that this raid operation is limited, the fact on the ground in Lebanon say something else. You’re talking about limited incursion. What about the widespread airstrikes daily including Beirut? What about what the UN just said that almost quarter of Lebanon is under forced evacuation? Let me put it this way. If Washington DC is being bombed every night, 60 million Americans have to flee their houses, quarter of the nation, Texas is being targeted, strikes in Washington State and in New York. Would you consider that a limited operation?

Yeah. What I said, Fadi was in terms of their ground operations, what we continue to see is a limited… limited in scope in terms of ground operations as far as their broad efforts against Lebanese Hezbollah. Again, we continue to have conversations with our Israeli partners in terms of the size and scope of what they’re doing. Recognizing again, as we’ve highlighted the importance of not only enabling the defense of Israel, but also thinking through what’s next in terms of regional security and stability. Taking civilian safety into account in terms of planning and operations, and so we’ll continue to have those conversations with them. Again, ultimately what we want to see is a prevent further escalation broadly across the region, prevent a wider regional conflict, and get back to the conditions for a ceasefire and a resolution of these tensions through diplomatic needs.

Thank you. In terms of the secretary’s recommendations to the president,

… when it comes to the US interest in the region and protection of US forces, obviously there are, as you said, discussions with the Israelis about their next steps to strike Iran. What did the Secretary recommend in terms of what the Israelis should and should not do in order not to harm US interests and forces in the region?

Yeah, I appreciate the question. However, I’m not going to talk about the Secretary’s recommendations to the President. That’s privileged and confidential information. Again, what we’re focused on in the Middle East are several things. Again, protecting US forces and Americans who are in the region, supporting the defense of Israel, and also working with the interagency and with our partners in the region to create the conditions ultimately to return to ceasefire negotiations and resolve these tensions through diplomatic means. So again, we’ll continue to stay focused on that. Charlie?

Hi Pat. Yes, it’s a routine question, but one, we have to routinely ask. The force posture in that region, we know that Harry, S. Truman is on the way. Is that playing into the calculus about the timing of the Israeli attack on Iran to make sure that, or at least give the defense secretary the option of having two carrier strike groups in the region at the same time?

Yeah. Thanks, Charlie. I don’t have any announcements to make in terms of forced posture in the European Command or US central command regions. As I’ve highlighted before, we have a significant amount of capability there already to enable the protection of our forces and respond to a wide variety of contingencies. So I’ll just leave it there.

Thank you. Yesterday, Minister Galant said that the Israeli strike on Iran would be lethal and surprising. Is this something that you agreed upon?

I don’t have any comments to make regarding Minister Galant’s comments. Again, I’ve highlighted what we’re focused on.

The reason I’m asking, I would like to know if this department and the Israeli Minister of Defense are on the same page when it comes to the Israeli plan to strike back on Iran.

Yeah, and again, I’m not going to speak for Israel about any operations that they may or may not take. As I highlighted, we continue to have conversations with the Israelis about next steps as it relates to any type of response from Iran’s missile attack. But I’m not going to speculate, nor would I again speak for Israel on that. Wafa.

Thank you, General. So first clarification, since October 6th, there was no phone calls between Secretary Austin and Mr. Galant. So for four days, there no consultation or engagements between Secretary Austin and Gallant?

The last phone call that they had was on Sunday.

Yeah, October 6th. So since then, there was no calls-

I don’t have any calls to read out. But again, as I highlighted, don’t have anything to announce today, but I’m confident that they’ll speak again in the near future.

And I have follow up on Joe’s question. I know you said you didn’t see the University Brown report, or you don’t have any numbers, but can you explain why the Pentagon consistently declined to give or provide information details regarding the cost of US assistance to Israel since October 7th, 2023? How do you explain this lack of transparency to US taxpayers on this matter, on this issue?

Yeah, I mean, we certainly provide information to Congress as it relates to the security assistance that we provide to many countries around the world. As we’ve highlighted previously, I’m not able to provide a specific number, Wafa, other than to say we have provided billions of dollars in security assistance to Israel since Hamas’s attack on October 7. And as we have more information to provide on that aspect, we certainly will. But I just don’t have any dollar figures to pass along to you today. Thank you. Yes, ma’am.

[inaudible 00:20:31]. All right. Nice to see you again. General, I have two questions. North Korea recently fortified the border between North and South Korea. When North Korea declared for the fortification of the inter-Korean border, it notified only the United States, and not South Korea of its move. How does the Pentagon assess North Korea’s intention?

Well look, when it comes to the security on the peninsula and our alliance with South Korea, that’s something that we obviously take very seriously. We maintain frequent communications with our Republic of Korea allies. As for why the DPRK may choose to do something as it relates to communicating items like that, I’d refer you to them. Regardless, we have a very strong alliance with South Korea and we’ll continue to work together towards security and stability throughout the region. Thank you.

[inaudible 00:21:42] on North Korea is intervening the War in Ukraine by sending troops for Russia. Iran and North Korea are called the Axis of Evil. Are there any signs of a military cooperation between Iran and North Korea in the Middle East war?

Between Iran and North Korea?

Yes.

I don’t have anything to provide on that. Janie, I have not seen anything to indicate that that’s the case, but obviously something we’ll continue to keep a close eye on. Thank you. Let me go to the phone here. Constantine from Military.com.

Thanks, Pat. And just following up on Oren’s question and broadening it out slightly, can you speak to whether any military facilities or bases sustained any damage as a result of the hurricane in Florida? And second question, is the Navy specifically sortied a few ships and a squadron and some sailors out of Florida, are you able to offer any timeline as to when those assets will be returning home? Thanks.

Yeah, thanks Constantine. So for the most up-to-date information on that, I’d refer you to the services to talk about their capabilities. And I’m hesitant to speculate and provide something off the cuff in terms of the status of DOD facilities in Florida. I would say anecdotally, initial indications are, as I highlighted in the topper, that it wasn’t the worst-case scenario. In other words, there’s some damage but not extensive damage. But again, we need the time to be able to go in, have the teams make those assessments and come back with more detailed information. So I appreciate your patience on that, but I’m confident we’ll have more up-to-date information in the very near future. All right, let’s go to Chris Gordon, Air and Space Forces Magazine.

Thanks, Pat. And I appreciate the full name. Can you confirm whether the Ukraine Defense Contact Group Summit is indeed going to be postponed at the Secretary of Defense and the Minister

… for defense level. And I understand these summits are useful, but can you give us a sense of how much work is actually done by the UDCG in between these formal meetings?

Yeah, thanks for the question.

(24:13)
So yes, the Ukraine Defense Contact Group that was originally scheduled for October 12th has been postponed. I don’t have a new date and location to provide to you. That’s something that we’re working through, and certainly once we do, we’ll provide that to you.

(24:32)
But to your second question, there absolutely is a lot of work that happens in between the UDCGs, and that really entails the capability coalitions working through their co-chairs on identifying, developing and delivering capabilities to the Ukrainians, both for their near-term and long-term defense requirements. As well as one of the things that Secretary Austin, for example, and our policy team do on a very regular basis, is working through ensuring that Ukraine is able to get the security assistance it needs to defend itself. So that entails phone calls and entails bilateral meetings and discussions that are very frequent. And then, oh, by the way, don’t forget, you’ve got the Security Assistance Group Ukraine in Germany that is also working with our international allies and partners to help facilitate the acquisition and delivery of those capabilities to Ukraine.

(25:37)
So the Ukraine Defense Contact Group is an incredibly important forum for helping to synchronize and to ensure that we’re sharing information and providing Ukraine support in a cohesive way, but is by no means the only mechanism by which we support Ukraine. Thank you.

(25:57)
Take a few more. Let me go to Louie, and then I’ll come back to you.

Sure. Thank you. One question on Israel-Lebanon and another on the hurricane.

(26:09)
I remember that when you were looking for clarity for quite some time from Israel about their intentions and their plans when incursion went in to Lebanon. Is that still the case when you’re talking about discussions? In other words, do you still need to get a clearer picture, other than this talking point of a limited ground incursion?

I’m not sure I understand your question.

In other words, let’s go back two weeks ago. Israel went in and the talking point was, we are wanting more clarity from Israel about what their intentions are inside of Lebanon, how long they plan to be there, how large of an incursion this will be. Is that still something that you’re looking for answers for, or are you just taking at face value when they say this is a limited ground incursion?

Well, I’m delivering to you the facts as I know them from multiple means, which I won’t necessarily go into from the podium here. So what we do see is that Israel on the ground across the Lebanon border is conducting a limited operation to root out and remove attack infrastructure.

(27:35)
Big picture, to kind of get to your question here, is both from a micro and a macro standpoint, from a US standpoint, we obviously have, the United States has interest in the region, and one of our interests right now is on preventing a wider regional conflict from happening. That entails engagement, not only with Israel, but with partners throughout the region and allies and partners throughout the world. We also have a national security interest in our security relationship with Israel. So as you know, we have a longstanding security cooperation relationship. We have a ironclad commitment to support the defense of Israel. So that entails having frequent conversations in terms of what they’re doing to defend themselves, the role that United States plays in that, but also as it relates to the thing I talked about earlier, which is preventing a wider regional conflict. So working all those aspects, again in support of security and stability throughout the broader region, but also the national security interests of the United States and our allies and partners.

So you’re still looking for clarity about their long-range plans for Lebanon?

What I’m saying is that we are continuing to have conversations with them, for all the reasons I highlighted, how best to support the defense of Israel, protect US forces that are in the region while, at the same time, working to understand how they’re going to do things so that, A, we can best support them from a defense standpoint, but also help to set the conditions for eventually getting back to a ceasefire and resolving these issues through diplomatic means.

Thank you. And the hurricane question goes back to Liz’s initial questions at the top of the briefing. Can you tell us when Secretary Austin approved the use of active-duty forces for North Carolina?

I’ll have to take the question, Lou. I don’t have the date right in front of me. Again, as I highlighted to Liz, when the DOD was asked by the president to provide active-duty forces, we obviously moved out very quickly, but I’ll take your question. Thanks.

(29:43)
All right. Thanks very much everybody.

Can you also take the question, not just about when it was approved, because I think that might be in the statement, I could be wrong about that, Louie, but can you also take the question of when FEMA requested it so we know was it… there’s some discrepancy about whether it was the September 30th or October 1st that the request actually came in?

Sure.

Thank you.

Take that question. All right. Thanks very much everybody.