All right , good afternoon , everyone .
Just a couple of things at the top and
we'll get right to your questions . Uh
First up Secretary Austin currently
remains hospitalized at Walter Reed
National Military Medical Center and is
in good condition . Uh , for the
statements we released yesterday .
Secretary Austin was transported by a
security detail at approximately 220 pm
eastern time yesterday to Walter Reed
National Military Medical Center to be
seen for symptoms , suggesting an
emergent bladder issue at approximately
4:55 p.m. The same day , the secretary
transferred the functions and duties of
the office of the Secretary of Defense
to Deputy Secretary of Defense ,
Kathleen Hicks . Deputy Secretary Hicks
continues to retain the functions and
duties of the Secretary of Defense at
this time . According to Secretary
Austin's doctors , after a series of
tests and evaluations , he was admitted
yesterday evening into the critical
care unit at Walter Reed for supportive
care and close monitoring . Now ,
shortly before today's briefing , we
released an update from the secretary's
doctors at Walter Reed regarding his
status and to ensure everyone here
today and those watching have the same
information . Uh I will re read that
full statement This is a statement from
Doctor John Maddox Trauma , medical
Director and Doctor Gregory Chestnut
Center for prostate disease Research of
the Murtha Center director at Walter
Reed National Military uh Medical
Center in Bethesda Maryland . Uh
beginning the statement , quote ,
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J Austin the
third underwent non surgical procedures
under general anesthesia to address his
bladder issue . We anticipate a
successful recovery and we'll closely
monitor him overnight . A prolonged
hospital stay is not anticipated . We
anticipate the secretary will be able
to resume his normal duties tomorrow .
The current bladder issue is not
expected to change his anticipated full
recovery . His cancer prognosis remains
excellent . End quote . Moving forward ,
we will continue to provide updates as
new information becomes available
regarding Secretary Austin's status and
we'll certainly , uh we all certainly
wish him a speedy recovery . In the
meantime , Secretary Austin will no
longer travel to Brussels this week as
originally scheduled . However ,
Wednesday's Ukraine Defense contact
group will continue it albeit virtually
while Secretary Austin currently
intends to participate in the virtual U
DC G , he will remain flexible
depending on his health care status .
Assistant Secretary of Defense for
International Security Affairs , Doctor
Celeste Wallander , who will be in
Brussels this week is prepared to
represent the secretary as required .
And the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff General CQ Brown Junior will also
be participating in the U DC G
virtually from Washington DC .
Ministers of defense and senior
military officials from nearly 50
nations will convene virtually to
discuss the ongoing crisis in Ukraine
and the continued support from the
international community to provide the
Ukrainian people with the means
necessary to defend their sovereign
territory . Separately . Us , permanent
representative to NATO Ambassador Julie
Smith will represent Secretary Austin
at the NATO defense Ministerial
scheduled for Thursday . We will be
sure to keep you updated on outcomes
for from both of these important
meetings . Switching gears . This month
marks the two year anniversary since
the White House released its Indo
Pacific strategy . In the last two
years , the Department of Defense has
done more than ever to advance a shared
vision for a free and open Indo Pacific
region . We've made historic
advancements in alliances and
partnerships with the Republic of Korea ,
Japan , Australia , Philippines , India
and others across the region and even
as we confront challenges elsewhere ,
the United States will continue to
prioritize our efforts in this critical
region in support of international
security , stability and prosperity .
For more information , please see our
fact sheet on the dod website and
finally , our prayers are with the
people of the Philippines as our long
standing ally faces severe flooding and
landslides . Landslides from a series
of storms . Us , marines from the third
Marine expeditionary force have
assisted with two C one thirties to
help the Philippine government and USA
ID in delivering 15,000 food packs to
affected families . For more
information , please contact Marine
Corps Public Affairs and Would that be
happy to take your questions ? We'll go
to Associated Press ta Thanks General
Rider . Um , I wanna get a sense of how
serious this is . This is Secretary
Austin's second , uh , trip to the
intensive care unit at Walter Reed
since his surgery . Um , he , he's
canceled his trip . Can you give us a
sense of where he's at in his recovery ?
And is this latest hospitalization part
of ongoing cancer treatments ? Um What
can you give us as a status on his
prostate cancer ? Yeah , thanks Tara .
Uh I'd , I'd point you back to the ,
the statement there uh that I just read ,
you know , in , in terms of the
secretary's condition , uh as
highlighted he's in good condition
according to his doctors , um he will
remain in the uh IC U ward for the
duration of his stay in order to
provide appropriate privacy , uh and
will continue to receive critical care
support in order to closely monitor his
progress for now . Um And , and as I
highlighted in the statement from his
doctors , uh his current bladder issue
is not expected to uh change his
anticipated full recovery from cancer .
Uh And his prognosis for cancer remains
excellent . Is the bladder issue a
complication from his surgery to treat
prostate cancer or is it part , you
know , is it related to his prostate
cancer ? Uh , Tara , I don't have
anything to provide at this point
beyond what I've shared with you . But
certainly again , as we have more
information , we'll be sure to pass it
along . Um you know , since his
hospitalization in an effort to be more
transparent , can you give us a sense
of what stage his prostate cancer was ?
How early was this detected ? Is this
something that you know , hospital ,
you're expecting future
hospitalizations because of this
ongoing fight ? Yeah , I think a as
you've heard us say before , uh his
cancer was detected very early . Uh And
so uh as his doctors have previously
highlighted , uh he is expected to make
a full recovery from uh his cancer
diagnosis , uh there is no further
treatment associated with his cancer
expected other than uh the physical
therapy uh that he's been undergoing uh
to deal with some lingering leg pains
which again , he highlighted during his
press briefing . So a as you highlight
uh we will continue to keep you updated
with as much information as possible
regarding the secretary and his health
status and , and be as transparent as
we can warn . Uh Has Secretary Austin
spoken to the president since his most
recent hospitalization since yesterday
afternoon ? Has he expressed any
reservations about his , his own
ability to serve to the president or to
anyone else in the administration ? And
then when he is released , is he
expected to work from home or we'll be
straight back to the Pentagon ? Yeah ,
thanks . Or uh he has not spoken to the
president to my knowledge . Uh again ,
he went into the hospital yesterday to
get checked out . And , and again , I'd
refer you back to our , our statements
and , and what I just read out , uh , I
can assure you the secretary uh , is
continue or continues to , uh , be
eager to perform his duties . Uh And ,
and I have no doubt of that . Uh But in
terms of uh what's next regarding his
health care , again , we'll keep you
updated . Jennifer European allies have
expressed a great deal of consternation
in recent days uh due to the ongoing
debate in Congress about whether the US
will continue to fund Ukraine . Uh
recent comments by former President
Trump over the weekend about uh what he
would do to NATO and , and messaging to
Putin and Russia , what he would allow
them to do to NATO . Why isn't Deputy
Defense Secretary Kath Hicks or
somebody of a senior stature going to
Brussels and participating in these
meetings ? Yeah . Again , first of all ,
uh our , our support for Ukraine
continues to be uh ironclad as you
heard , you know , me highlight ,
you're gonna have uh nearly 50
countries come together as they have on
almost a monthly basis to talk about
how we support Ukraine . Uh And , and
as I also highlighted is the
secretary's intent uh to participate in
the virtual U DC G . Again , we'll keep
you updated on that front . Uh And
Doctor Wallander , as you know , has
been at the , at the center of uh
working for the Department of Defense
to represent the United States uh and
our support for the U DC G . Uh So she
is uh well experienced , well equipped
uh to represent the secretary . Should
she need to do that ? Uh And she , as I
mentioned , will also be in Brussels uh
to support there both virtually but
also support the ambassador as she
represents the Secretary at the NATO
Defense Minister . You just just follow
up on that . Uh Obviously , the , the ,
the Celeste and and Julie Smith are
well qualified . But um deputy
Secretary Hicks would be a
representation of how seriously uh the
administration takes Ukraine and its
needs . So just secretary not have
confidence in his deputy to send her
while she's performing his duties .
Yeah , I reject that notion . The
secretary of course , has full
confidence in the Deputy Secretary of
Defense . He has transferred his
functions and duties to her uh as
evidence of that . And , and again ,
anyone who questions our commitment to
Ukraine uh just needs to look at the
facts in terms of the amount of support
and the amount of assistance we have
provided and continue to provide
Ukraine and will continue to provide
going forward . Um How long was the
secretary unconscious or under general
anesthesia for since yesterday ? Is it
throughout , is it a couple of hours
here and there give a sense of that at
this time ? I don't have anything to
provide beyond what I relate to you but
again , we'll continue to keep you
updated as new information comes in
David . So when in that sequence from
220 being taken to the hospital ,
455 turning over his
responsibilities , did he inform the
White House ? Um , the White House was
informed that he was being taken to the
hospital . So that happened before he
actually departed to go to the hospital .
Um And uh in addition , uh in that
period , congressional notifications
were made as well . The statement says ,
uh , we'll be able to resume his normal
duties tomorrow , but you just told us
that he's canceled a planned trip . How
do you square those two ? Um , David A
again , uh , we'll keep you updated on
his status . Uh This is a statement
from his doctors explaining that they
expect that he'll be able to resume his
normal duties . Uh Again , we'll keep
you updated on whether that includes
from the hospital or if that is from
home . Uh But again , uh , all
indications based on the , on the
doctor's statements is that , uh , you
know , he's gonna recover . Well , he's
in good condition and we'll keep you
updated . Yeah , secretary has , uh ,
the secretary received any radiation
treatment and what caused him ? What
symptoms did he have before going into
the hospital ? Was he , um , in a lot
of pain , was he bleeding ? And then
can you say exactly the procedure that
was done when he got there ? And again ,
I'd point you back to the statement
from his doctors . Uh as we get more
information , we'll certainly share
that with you again , as I understand
it , this was related to a emergent
bladder issue . It was not related to
his cancer treatment . Uh again , and
as the statement that I just read out
to you highlights his prognosis for
that is good and , and the bladder
issue should not affect his recovery
from that . And you can't say whether
or not he's gotten radiation therapy .
Uh , to my knowledge he is not . Uh ,
again , I'd point you back to the
statement , uh , in terms of the , the
treatment that he's received related to
his cancer treatment . This is a
complication of the surgery . Correct ?
Again , I'm , I'm not a doctor . I'm
not going to try to uh speak , medical ,
speak . I was just gonna point you back
to the statement and as we get more
information to provide , we certainly
will have I told you this is a or
anybody on his staff that this is a
complication . He was admitted , he
went to the hospital yesterday for an
emergent bladder issue . His doctors
have said previously that he is
expected to make a full recovery from
his cancer diagnosis , uh which is what
I just highlighted in the , the top of
the statement . So again , as we have
more information to provide , we'll
certainly do that , Courtney . It's my
question too . So just to be clear ,
you're , you're , you're leaving open
the possibility . This is a totally
separate issue from his complication
from his , his prostate cancer surgery
in December . What I'm saying is what
is in the statement that the current
bladder issue is not expected to change
his anticipated full recovery . His
cancer prognosis remains excellent . So
again , as we get more information from
his doctors to provide , we'll be sure
to share that if it's possible to get
the question of , of , of I think
there's an assumption that that this is
that this , this emergent bladder issue
is related to the complications that he
had on New Year's Day . So if that's
not the case and this is something
completely separate , I'll take the
question . Thank you . Two questions on ,
on Rafa yesterday , the Israelis
attempted like a rescue mission . It
seems and up until now information uh
still being updated , but it seems like
uh maybe up to 100 Palestinians were
killed in , in that operation . The US
have assets in terms of uh UAV uh
doing some work to help the Israelis
recover . Some of the captives was the
US involved in involved in that
operation . Um And do you have any
comments about the civilian death toll
from , from that uh the aftermath of it ?
So Fadi when it , when it comes to
Israeli operations , I'll refer you to
them in terms of talking about that .
Uh And when it comes to civilian
casualties , as you've heard me say ,
many times , uh we do not want to see
civilian casualties or innocent
civilians killed , whether they be
Palestinian or Israeli . Uh , and , and
that will continue to be our view going
forward . And , uh , but did the US
play any role in that operation ? Uh ,
Fadi I'm not aware of any role in the
United States . Uh , yeah . And , um ,
as you probably heard from , uh ,
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu seems
like he's , uh , planning to invade
ground invasion of , of Rafah where
more than 1 million people uh are
taking refuge . Amnesty International
is warning of an imminent risk of
genocide . Um Does the Pentagon support
an Israeli ground invasion of , of
Rafah at this moment ? Uh Again , you
know , I'm going to refer you to the
Israelis to talk about their operations .
I think Mr Kirby has addressed this in
his press briefings . You know , we
certainly do not want to see any more
suffering , human suffering among those
in Gaza , which is why again , we
continue to communicate actively with
our Israeli partners on the importance
of taking civilians into account and
planning and conducting their
operations . So who is communicating
that ? Who you said we , we are
communicating with them ? Who who can
you give us a sense ? I know there was
a point where General Glenn was there
and we kind of got a little bit of
fidelity on that . Well , yeah , I mean ,
I think , I think all echelons Courtney ,
I mean , you've had the president speak
to his counterpart , you've had
Secretary Austin speak to his
counterpart . You've got us central
command speaking to their counterparts .
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs speaks
to his counterpart . So there's ongoing
discussions as it relates to Israel's
defense of its nation , as well as the
support we're providing and the
importance of ensuring that
humanitarian assistance gets through .
Mrs question about Rafa though , I mean ,
is there , is there a level of , are
there , are there people in the
military right now or the defense
department or wherever it is who are
providing like technical , I'm not
aware , I'm not aware of us .
Understand their plan . Again . What
he's talking about is public comments
by the Prime Minister saying what
they're going to do . And again ,
that's something that they need to talk
about . Let me OK . And then let me
move over to the side room . Did , did
the Israelis share any planning with
the Pentagon about this uh uh
ground invasion again , f I'm not gonna
have anything to provide beyond what
I've talked about already . And I'd
refer you back to Mr Kirby's comments ,
Joseph . Um Can I just ask , do you
have any updates to provide on
yesterday's H MC ? Um The Iraqis .
Um what I would tell you is that um you
know , yesterday's meeting marks
another important step along the path
of transition as military technical
talks as you highlight were held in
Baghdad . Uh As I understand it , they
discussed three areas of assessment ,
uh the threat of ISIS the operating
environment and Iraqi security forces
capabilities . Uh And so , uh you know ,
we'll continue to keep you updated as
appropriate , but these talks are
important again as we look to discuss
the transition of the coalition
military mission to the longer term us ,
Iraq bilateral security relationship .
Do you have any updates on the tower 22
investigation ? I do not . I'd refer
you to s for any updates on that .
Missy , just to follow up on justice
question . The Iraqi military spokesman
said that giving a readout of that of
those talks yesterday said that based
on the discussion yesterday , a
timetable will be set for the gradual
reduction of international coalition
advisor and an end of the coalition
mission . Is that correct ? That there
was that the outcome was an agreement
that there would be a timeline set for
that ? And then separately , could you
give us an update on um the review ,
the internal review about Austin's
hospitalization . Did you have a chance
to review that yet ? And could you
update us on the publication of that ?
Yeah , on your first question , Missy ,
I I don't have any information on that ,
so I'll take that question uh As far as
the review , uh no changes from what I
provided on Thursday . Uh The secretary
does have that review . Uh He will
continue to take a look at it again .
Our commitment is to try to provide as
much information about the review uh to
you , uh , when we can . So certainly
we'll continue to endeavor to do that .
Laura . Um First of all , is Cic's
acting se now and at what point does
she become acting se can you just clear
up what her role title is right now ?
Yes , she has uh uh assumed the duties
and functions of the secretary of
Defense . So , in that sense , she is
acting as the Secretary of Defense and
I still don't understand why they
couldn't have had the Ukraine contact
group meeting without Secretary Austin .
I mean , what was , what was the reason
for making it virtual ? I'm not sure I
understand your question . So why , I ,
I guess what was the reason for making
the contact group meeting virtual ? Was
it solely because the secretary
couldn't attend because there's many
other people that attend that meeting ?
Right . You know , Laura , I think , uh
the , as I highlighted , the secretary
intends to participate , um and again ,
uh given the , um , the importance as
we've already discussed about , uh , we
want to ensure that this continues . Uh
And , you know , as we've done in the
past , we're going to be uh flexible in
terms of the format . And so , yeah ,
we have attended , I'm not gonna get
into hypotheticals are , I'm not gonna
get in for that . Well , I've read to
you what we're doing and there you go .
All right , let's go to the phone here ,
Jeff Shog Task . And purpose . Thank
you . Uh On what day did Secretary
Austin undergo this procedure on when
he was under general anesthesia ? And
uh Secretary Austin is sixth in
presidential line of succession . Does
that mean that secretary hicks is
temporarily until the , the secretary
resumes duties that she is now sixth in
line in succession ? Yeah , thanks ,
Jeff . Uh , on your , on your latter
question there , I'll , I'll take that ,
uh , and we'll come back to you in
terms of , uh my understanding is uh
that that procedure would have been
today . Um So just leave it there . Ok .
Thank you . Follow up question about
the secretary's health . So I wonder if
uh it is difficult for the secretary to
travel to the in the Pacific for a
while because uh in general , the
traveling to the region takes longer
than any other region . Uh You , are
you asking me why he hasn't traveled to
because of the secretary's , you know ,
health program ? I wonder if it is
difficult for the secretary to travel
to the region to the in the Pacific
region for a while ? Yeah , thanks Ro .
So at this point , you know , clearly ,
uh the secretary is focused on getting
better . Uh as I highlighted , he's not
traveling to Brussels . Um but I
certainly expect uh that he will travel
to the Asia Pacific region in the
future uh When he is able to , we don't
have any travel to announce . Uh And so
again , he continues to , I'm sure uh
remain eager to perform his duties to
include travel uh when , when he's able
to do that . So , thank you , time for
one more . Yes , sir . Uh Thank you uh
regarding H MC combat like uh
discussions , if you know how long the
discussions will continue . And just
Iraqi Prime Minister has said that we
are ahead of ending the mission of
allied forces like even the United
States Forces in Iraq . Uh So I don't
have a timeline um to my knowledge that
that hasn't necessarily been bounded .
Of course , that will be a decision
between um the , you know , within the
H MC to include in consultation with
the government of Iraq . Um And then as
far as us presence in Iraq again , I'd ,
I'd point you back to what I said
earlier . The H MC will , will discuss
uh the uh transition from a
military coalition mission to the um
what the US presence will look like as
it relates to a , a bilateral US Iraq
relationship . Our forces continue to
be there at the invitation of the
government of Iraq . I'm not aware of
any specific official request at this
point in time for us forces to leave
and we'll continue to keep you updated .
So , all right , thanks very much .
Everybody . Appreciate it to hear from
the Deputy Defense Secretary . Now ,
acting Defense Secretary Kath Hicks ,
we've never had a chance to question
her at the podium or hear from her Ok .
Thank you , Jennifer . Appreciate it
just to get an update on his status . I
will . Thank you very much . Thank you .