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US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PRESS ONFERENCE: DECEMBER 5TH, 2025 Defense Now: Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Major General Briefs Media (Dec. 5, 2024.) PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess
Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Major General Briefs Media (Dec. 5, 2024.) Defense Now 105K subscribers ... 19,032 views ... 293 likes December 6th 2024 ... Premiered Defense.gov \| Pentagon Press Secretary Drops Major Announcement \| US Senate Armed Services Committee Join us for the latest updates in defense and national security as Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder addresses the media in this informative briefing. In this session, Maj. Gen. Ryder covers key topics, including recent military operations, strategic initiatives, and upcoming defense policies. Whether you're a defense analyst, military enthusiast, or simply interested in national security issues, this briefing provides valuable insights into the workings of the Pentagon and the U.S. Armed Forces. Stay informed and engaged with the latest developments from the heart of America's defense establishment. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell for more updates on defense news! Join this channel to get access to perks: / @defensenow Defense Now \| December - 2024. • DN Dec. 2024 Members-only videos • Members-only videos Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder briefs the news media at the Pentagon, Dec. 5, 2024. Film Credits: Defense.gov Explore the podcast 322 episodes Defense.gov \| Pentagon Press Secretary Drops Major Announcement \| US Senate Armed Services Committee Transcript 0:01 all right well good afternoon everyone just a few things here at the top we'll get right to your questions uh first as you may have seen secretary Austin was at the United States Military Academy at West Point yesterday where he delivered a speech to the core of cadets reflecting on his own time as a West Point Cadet his Public Service career and his experience on the battlefield the secretary shared thoughts and advice stemming from his 45 years serving as a soldier and as the Secretary of defense for the cadets as they prepare to become Future Leaders in the United States Army transcript of the speech as well as a video are posted on the dod website at defense.gov shifting gears earlier today secretary Austin hosted The Armenian Minister of Defense at the Pentagon for a bilateral meeting the first such meeting in two decades the leaders reaffirmed the Strategic partnership between our two countries and also reaffirmed our shared objective of an enduring peace in the South caucuses the two leaders also discussed 1:00 ongoing and future security cooperation efforts such as military education and professionalization institutional capacity building and training full readout will be available on defense.gov later today looking ahead secretary Austin will depart tomorrow for SEI Valley California to attend the 2024 Reagan National Defense Forum this marks the secretary's fourth year attending the Forum and on Saturday December 7 he'll deliver the keynote address which will be live streamed additionally alongside Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell secretary Austin will also be the recipient of the Ronald Reagan peace peace through strength award from the Ronald Reagan presidential foundation and Institute following the Reagan National Defense Forum secretary Austin will travel to Tokyo Japan for a multi-day visit this trip marks his 13th visit to the indopacific as Secretary of Defense and comes as the department continues its historic efforts to bolster our Partnerships and alliances and Advance a shared vision of PE security and prosperity in the region we'll have much 2:02 more to share on the secretary's engagements in Japan soon separately on Tuesday I highlighted us self-defense strikes in the vicinity of MSS Euphrates in Syria when US forces faced an imminent danger due to several threats to include rockets and mortars fired in the direction of US forces in the area us Central Command has advised that three US service members are being evaluated for possible TBI as you know those numbers can fluctuate and I'm not aware of any other injuries at this time again we not hesitate to take appropriate action to protect our forces if they are threatened and finally throughout his tenure secretary Austin has prioritized the development and Rapid Fielding of capabilities to counter the Urgent and growing threat posed by unmanned systems this week the secretary signed a classified strategy for countering unmanned systems to unify the Department's approach to countering these systems that looks across domains characteristics and time frames unmanned 3:03 systems more commonly known as drones have the potential to pose both an urgent and enduring threat to us Personnel facilities and assets overseas and increasingly in the US Homeland as you know the threats presented by these systems are changing how Wars are fought with this singular strategy for countering unmanned systems in conjunction with other other major DOD initiatives like the joint counter small uas office and replicator 2 the dod is orienting around a common understanding of the challenge and a comprehensive approach to addressing it and with that I'm happy to take your questions we'll start with ap Lita thank you Pat um a quick question on transition has there been can you just update us has there been any steps or any movement at all for any transition meetings or anything here in the Pentagon um Lita what I would tell you is uh no uh contact at this stage I do understand that um that the uh transition team has signed the uh 4:05 doj doj mou but we're waiting awaiting word from the federal transition coordinator uh and the Trump transition team regarding the next steps uh of course we here at the dod uh are prepared to support a Comm orderly uh transition uh and ensure that the landing team uh has all the necessary information uh consistent with governing documents and agreements to ensure that they're prepared to uh perform their function duties and duties on day one and then uh just a quick second question you talked about this uh new classified strategy um and you talked before about that there were some incursions particularly down in Virginia over military facilities and there's been others um is there anything in the strategy that's more um tactical that allows commanders to do anything or is this just a broad statement of policy of course it's got all kinds of good information but it's classified so I can't talk about it no um so so really Lita um again recognizing that the the 5:07 strategy is classified we will have an unclassified fact sheet uh that we'll be providing soon um really just kind of uh looking at how we'll approach this uh one is ensuring that the department is prepared to conduct uh counter unmanned system operations counter uas operations uh two is looking uh at how we respond to incidents uh that do occur by pulling together subject matter experts and resources uh and then third is uh tracking uh equipment and counter uas equipment you know uas uh one aspect of drones uh so so really again broad brush uh it's uh kind of looking at this comp in a comprehensive and cohesive way uh again I'm not going to go into the specific tactics uh techniques procedures at this point um but it enables the the department to to approach this uh in a way again that's 6:05 comprehensive uh cohesive and holistic thanks Carla um thanks going back to Syria you mentioned the three service members being evaluated for tbii who was responsible for that attack who did the US military Target on Tuesday yeah again as I highlighted on Tuesday I mean that's something that we're still assessing um you know it's again important to to highlight that that region uh has been the uh so first of all we know uh that Iranian back militia groups operate in that area um we also know that uh Syrian military Syrian regime forces operate in that area um but this location uh has been used in the past by groups like Iranian back militias to Target US forces at MSS Euphrates uh but again in terms of who is operating those vehicles or who was firing those rockets and mortars uh that is something that as I understand it 7:01 sycom is still assessing true but you did mention a t64 tank last time isn't that normally something that's used by the syrians or the Russians not Iranian militia groups uh entirely possible Carl again as I just highlighted I mean we do know that there are Syrian regime forces in that area but in terms of at that moment and who is doing what that's something that again as I understand it's sycom still looking at so okay and then one last one on Ukraine uh is the Pentagon still committed to using up all of the funds um that Congress approved to send to Ukraine I think we're at 6 billion uh PDA left and two billion roughly in usai uh right 2.21 billion in usai and 6.8 billion in PDA and again the the to be clear you know the direction that we've been re that we've received from the White House is to uh make every effort uh to continue to rush security assistance to Ukraine uh and employ the authorities that we have uh and we're doing exactly that I mean the the thing that hasn't 8:04 changed is the sense of urgency within the department in terms of supporting Ukraine understanding that the fight that they're in uh and we've been doing that for you know upwards of three years almost three years now uh and we we'll continue to do that um and continue to ensure that we're speaking with them and our allies and partners to enable Ukraine to defend its freedom and its sovereignty Constantine thanks Pat um moving to South Korea could you give us an update on the status of US forces in South Korea and specifically can you speak to whether troops there are still under any restrictions um so first of all to my knowledge uh Constantine uh no change in force posture um and you know we're obviously um ensuring doing due diligence in terms of accountability and things like that but I'm not aware of any significant impact operationally physically safety wise on any US forces in in South Korea um of course um you 9:04 know we are uh in contact with our R uh counterparts the ministry of Defense uh but yeah bottom line is I'm not aware of any impact uh in that regard and just to be clear troops are free to go off base uh as they choose to my knowledge that's the case of course you know certainly I'd recommend you reach out to usfk but I'm not aware of any uh any changes in that regard thank you very much Brandy thank you Pat um on the new counter unband strategy how long was that um in the making and was it prompted by the sort of recent increasing reports of incursions over US military bases both abroad and in the states thanks Brandy I I don't have a specific time frame to give you other than to say uh that this has been uh I I'm confident that this has been uh work that's been going on for some time I mean you know if you go it you've been following this very 10:00 closely you know uh the impact that drones have had on the battlefield uh this is not necessarily a new thing but what we're seeing is the way that Dr drones are being applied the impact of how they're uh being used um is something that again we we can't just deal with ad hoc we need to do this in a comprehensive cohesive Manner and so that's really what this strategy does is it uh uh essentially enables the artment the department to look uh across the entire department and our inter agency partners how we can best work together to address this so uh to answer your question no this is not a response to recent events this is work that's been going on for some time uh and obviously very important work and do you have any um new information about progress that's been made between the US and UK militaries uh getting to the bottom of those previous incursions and have their anymore yeah I don't I don't have any updates to pass along from the podium 11:02 here Brandy i' I'd recommend you call uh us uh air forces in Europe or uh the UK Ministry of Defense thanks body thank you General so the concerning those three US soldiers who are being evaluated for the potential TBI uh where were they when that impact happened that raised the concern of potential yeah again this is all you know uh in the vicinity uh of MSS Euphrates in that that region down there inside the wire or outside the wire that's his detail is I'm going to on Tuesday I asked you whether the US provided support for SDF forces attack on the seven Villages where the SAA uh is is located they have positions there and you referred me to the SDF I'm asking you as a spokes per spokesperson for the Pentagon did your forces provide any support for the SDF in that operation look our forces are in Syria to conduct a counter Isis operation right the enduring defeat of Isis they have partnered with the SDF on those missions certainly they Comm communicate with the SDF on a frequent basis as partners do uh but our forces 12:04 in that region were threatened uh we took action to mitigate that threat uh and we'll do so again uh and so again you know they're communicating with one another we're aware of what the SDF is doing I'm not going to talk about SDF operations I'll let them talk about their operations but let me just be crystal clear our forces are in Syria to uh conduct the enduring defeat of Isis Mission uh we're doing that in part parip with the SDF and I'm just going to leave it there with all due respect general I'm not asking about SDF operations I'm asking about your operations that the US forces Provide support for SDF offensive on SAA positions in those seven Villages is if you're asking were US forces you know participating in Combined arms maneuver with the SDF the answer is no all right that's not my question did you provide answered the question our forces are in Syria I'm not getting yes or no from you I mean for Trans no that's no right John what do you got 13:02 thank you thank you General uh about Syria after aleo it looks like the opposition forces are moving Southward toward other important cities uh in City uh in Syria uh like homus and Hama and uh is your position is changing because the thing is evaluating to something or evolving to something bigger it seems um do do you have any communication at this phase with the opposition forces or through your Turkish allies uh on the developments in Syria I mean we're certainly monitoring the situation closely again the US has no role uh in what's happening right now in terms of Northwestern Syria and and the HTS and their operations and and the Syrian regime I mean again as you know the the Syrian Civil War has been going on for a while this is a new development in that War uh but you know again we're monitoring mostly uh very aware of the 14:00 destabilizing effect as we've said earlier we call on all parties to deescalate uh to ensure the protection of minorities uh groups in the region um you know we don't want to see more death and destruction in that regard um but again we're no involvement uh by the US thanks Matt thanks Matt um on Syria an SDF spokesperson said that Isis is claiming to have control over significant portions of the arms and deer regions does that match your ment is Isis gaining ground and can you give us any update on the success uh that American counterterror forces are having or or not having in the area um you know to my knowledge I'm I'm not aware of Isis taking uh any type of you know taking significant territory um we do know that Isis uh does maintain a capability for obvious reasons which is why we're there um you know we do see them continuing to plan and conduct attacks which again is why we're there uh working with the SDF uh which is also 15:02 supporting counter Isis operations um so um it's a threat we obviously have to take seriously um because what we don't want to see is a Resurgence you know back to what we saw a decade ago uh so I'll just leave it there thanks Charlie thank you General have you well have your colleagues have any any more uh deconfliction conversations with the Russians in Syria I I don't have anything to read out on that front y okay but then a few days ago you said that an A10 had been used in in close combat or or at least close protection that came out a few days later do do we have any more information about an A10 being used in the ground operations that are being conducted by the SDF because so I know I answered this question on Tuesday which is why I'm looking confused so an A10 conducted a self-defense strike near MSS Euphrates when some individuals were establishing a rocket rail the a10s went in took it 16:02 out period dot self-defense not in support of any kind of you know operations by any other groups that are going on this is defending our forces right that simple but but I was asking since then no I'm not aware of anything thanks Janie thank you General two questions on South Korea and the issues related to South Korea and the United States foration how do you assess the fact that South Korea's martial law Declaration was inevitably lifted without armed conflict under the president's authorities to protect the liberal Democrats and prevent National Security threats I mean that's really a question that you need to ask the r government about I'm I'm not going to comment on their domestic opinion no I'm 17:00 not going to get into discussing uh Allied Nations domestic politics or or management okay second question the United States South Korea nuclear conservative group NCG meeting the last meeting of the Biden Administration was scheduled to be held in Washington DC this week but was cancelled can you tell us why it was cancelled or will you resume on a different day uh you know I I don't have any updates to provide in terms of uh rescheduling again just given the events in R it was uh deemed a prudent measure um and we'll keep you updated in terms of a a new date when that's rescheduled thank you Oren uh two questions in the Middle East one serial one Lebanon uh what steps is the US military Tak taken in Syria in light of the security situation and and to prepare for what looks like the 18:03 possible collapse of the Assad regime um so I'm not going to speculate about the the future of the Assad regime or and again um our forces are in Syria to support the enduring defeat of Isis um we're obviously going to take appropriate measures to ensure that those forces are protected um but you know we're and as it relates to uh the going Syrian Civil War and what you see uh in terms of the groups various groups fighting one another I mean that's something that we're going to continue to monitor uh as we've highlighted we we would call on all parties to deescalate um but from a US military stpoint our Focus continues to be on the defeat Isis Mission and then can you update us on the effort of of General Jasper Jeffers as part of the ceasefire monitoring mechanism has that advanced to a point where where where it is fully functional or what can you say to that uh I don't have any uh more detailed updates to 19:03 provide from what I gave out on Tuesday uh General Jeffers is in Beirut working out of the embassy um but again we'll keep you updated as we have new uh information to provide let me go back to Waffa yep thank you General uh in light of the quick uh advances the opposition in Syria is making um if you can explain a little bit how the Pentagon will address the new circumstances on the ground in Syria is the Pentagon ready to engage with elements of this opposition and also is uh are these circum circumstances will have impact on the US forces posture in Syria so let me make sure just to clarify are are you asking will the US reach out to HTS elements of this opposition which I mean it it is a terrorist group um so no no plans to do that uh and again as I mentioned the US has nothing to do with with that offensive um and as 20:06 far as it as far as it relates to us Personnel in Syria um I'll say it again the whole reason our forces are there and have been there is to support the enduring defeat of Isis Mission we'll continue to work with Partners like the SDF uh toward that end um that that is our mission so uh do you have any concerns that this situation in Syria can spill up into Iraq well I mean that's what you saw 10 years ago right is essentially the security vacuum that was created U by the repressive uh measures of the Assad regime uh instigated the rise of Isis which did spill over into Iraq which is why US forces have been working very closely with an International Coalition uh for a decade now to prevent the Resurgence of Isis so that that can be contained um again as it relates to 21:01 what's going on in Northwestern Syria uh we're obviously all watching uh we want to see a deescalation we understand um the the potential ramifications regionally uh but right now from a US military standpoint our Focus continues to be on preventing an Isis Resurgence uh there are some reports about the Russia withdrawing withdrawing uh Naval assets from Syria do you have anything on this I not have refer to the Russian mod let me go to the phone real quick Jeff shogul task and purpose hi I know this has been covered but uh Al monitor is reporting that when the US troops on Tuesday were attacked they were uh supporting um a militia possibly part of the SDF uh that was fighting the Assad regime and I was just wondering if there's any information about this I know you may say Jeff you need to talk to the Assad regime but I think they're looking at the flight tickets and hotels at the moment yeah thanks Jeff um I mean very similar 22:02 question to uh What uh your colleague FY just asked and so um I'll try again so we have US forces uh that are operating uh at mssu frees they're uh obviously in partnership with the SDF when it comes to the uh enduring defeat of Isis Mission um we do communicate with the SDF we are aware uh in many cases of their operations uh to ensure uh that that our forces know who's doing what um in this particular case I'm not going to talk about SDF operations I'm not an SDF spokesperson uh and so I'm I'm just not going to do that US forces are in that region uh are they communicating with the SDF of course were US forces threatened when uh the elements that I highlighted earlier started threatening uh our forces um we took appropriate action to mitigate that threat protect our forces um again our 23:01 mission in Syria has not changed it's the enduring defeat of Isis uh and again I'll leave it there let me go to uh Jeff defense news all right Howard uh from the war zone hey thanks in a completely different vein I wanted to ask you about um inad and can you tell me why the um the program was putted over to the Trump Administration and also are there any other big programs on The Chopping Block like maybe Sentinel or replicator I'm sorry which which program was was were you saying was punted to the Trump Administration program or or replicator well Howard you know I'm not going to talk uh or speculate about the future uh I mean as you as you know the Department of Defense uh it's our mission is to defend the country and and that doesn't necessarily mean that we're putting time limits uh on the things that we do uh and so you know uh uh 24:04 unmanned systems drones are going to be something uh again that we will need to take a holistic comprehensive approach to addressing for again for all the reasons that you know as you see playing out in places like Ukraine uh and other areas of the world so um the Department of Defense uh is is you know administra Administration agnos in that regard and that our focus is on defending the country again I won't speculate on on what future administrations may do um but I can be very confident in saying that we'll do everything we need to do to defend this country thank you take a couple more here and go to Noah and then we'll go to Jared uh just to start out with a couple cleanup questions you said soon on a fact sheet releasing about the new strategy when is soon uh hopefully today um and on the conversations with the counterparts in the r can you tell us what level those are and when they've occurred um I'm 25:02 assuming not at the secretary's level uh yeah I don't have anything to read out in terms of uh or you know announce in terms of the secretary uh speaking to the um R Minister of Defense certainly we'll keep you updated in that regard um we have been uh in contact with the r Ministry of Defense at at multiple levels uh to include from here in DOD um but I I don't have any dates to pass along in that regard and just a quick quick last one there was a call reported uh and acknowledged later between the chairman and general gasimov of Russia that happened last week um and the call was not immediately read out afterward given that there was secrecy concerns between the two of them I was wondering if we can have a commitment from you sitting at the top of the briefing room here to read out in the future such calls given that the details that are provided are not exactly comprehensive in all of them yeah look I mean I you know as far as uh joint staff goes I I'd refer you to Joint staff you know certainly I know uh just like uh we do 26:00 they Endeavor to do all they can to be as transparent as possible uh about these kinds of things uh and so certainly um you know we'll continue to work toward that end Noah Jared and then we'll get you a question as long as it's related to current news of the day yes sir than sir I think we've covered this pretty well but I just wanted to make sure we cover every base here um you mentioned there that what transpired in deror there was no us combined arms maneuver with the SDF but that the US is often aware of their operations um were US forces in and around in the vicinity of MSS eup frees were they in communication with and Advising SDF elements either conducting their operation or overseeing it I mean I'm asking about the role of us J I appreciate the questions but I'm just not going to have any more uh to provide beyond what I've already provided okay and could just can you confirm whether US forces did or did not kinetically engage in that area before coming under Fire are forces engaged in self defense period dot okay thanks I'll say it again they engaged in self-defense because our 27:05 forces were threatened and our forces are in Syria to support the enduring defeat of Isis all right last question two please as long as it's news of the day sir yes sir it is on the news of the day uh Mr uh Anthony Chanel's uh senior intelligence officer before he committed suicide in Arlington he had published uh he his articles published with me about the Russian bounties to the Taliban for uh killing US soldiers in this scenario that we are facing right now or there is about to start do you see such things happening again third party playing their roles and affecting the US interests um I'm not sure I fully understand your question but if you're saying uh are we concerned about third parties threatening the United States I 28:00 mean again look especially the Russians and the Iranians well you know look if you look at the national defense strategy it makes very clear uh what we highlight as threats against United States national security interest to include uh Russia as an acute threat and to include malign activity uh by countries like Iran through their proxy groups and so this Department of Defense works with our allies and partners around the world on a daily basis to protect N US national interests uh as well as uh protecting our citizens and our service members who are serving around the world so regardless of what those threats are it's something we take very seriously uh and we'll continue to do so but but as it relates to any you know specific things like that I I don't have anything to provide just one last one J has the Pakistan military at all uh shared with you about the recent uh surge that I feel especially from the 29:00 Afghans that the US Military and the state department has resided in Pakistan that they are working towards this like separatist movement in this one state of Pakistan which is just right next to Afghanistan talking about bistan uh no with Afghanistan the pashun area where which I for last 40 years have the paper in um have they had all shared concerns like this these concerns from a journalist point of view that comes all the way to Washington DC to some of like the journalists working in the PTO radio they they seem to be all pushing the Afghans sitting over there and a couple of people here for this complete separatist movement of the pashon region and the pashon bill and that's where you have all the TTP guys so are you at looking at the scenario keenly or not look I I again I don't have anything to provide from the podium in terms of Pakistani military strategy I mean as we've discussed before the US of course values p Pakistan as a partner when it comes to uh areas like 30:02 counterterrorism uh and so we'll continue to have those conversations but I'd refer you to the Pakistani uh military to discuss uh their operations and their counterterrorism efforts all right go last question man bring us home my question is as far as Chinese hacking how this building has been affected in any way because in the past also Chinese have been stealing or thieves Us Secret in many ways including businesses Industries and also defense yeah um as I appreciate the question as a matter of policy we're not going to discuss uh you know potential threats hacks Etc uh I can assure you this is something we take very seriously every single day you as you highlighted uh it is a significant uh threat uh globally uh and so again we'll continue to do due diligence and ensure that our networks and our Personnel are able to operate safely effectively around in the world thanks very much everybody appreciate it and remember we're in Syria for the defeat Isis Mission all right

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