announcer: secretary mattis is on a five-year -- five day trip. he briefed reporters on his upcoming meetings and took questions on russia and syria. this is 20 minutes. >> thank you for covering our guys and gals. are you ok there? we're on our way right now to go to oman. we will have one refueling. i thought it would be more than that. we must have a good tailwind. you have been to this so many times. i go out to do a lot of

listening, a lot of answering questions, responding to what is on their mind, that certain thing. we are going to be visiting to partner nations out there that we have long relations with. a journalisti had tell me i used the word allies 124 times. only you people would have such a boring life that you count the number of times i use a word. i guess you have your computer do the counting. to second line of effort is build stronger harder ships and allies. two.is effort number it is a steady, consistent line of effort. to make anycritical

stability in the region. as you know, the unity has been strained, to put it mildly. i am also wanting to hear what saysalt on size -- sultan can be done about that situation, as well as the situation on his border in yemen with the various factions and the civil war. he has for a long time endorsed trying to get the violence turned off. he is a very strategic leader. he recognizes the advantage of the violent extremists, al qaeda , isis, the advantage they gain with that sort of disarray inside yemen. so we will also be looking at

ways to further strengthen our relationship. we have a very good professional relationship. it goes back a long time. stop.s where our first we will be going into iran and i will meet -- we will be going into bahrain and i will be meeting with the king. carriedfor decades has way above its weight in terms of providing support to the u.s. and many nations that try to maintain stability in the gulf. i think you are aware that the -- is headquartered there. our relationship with bahrain goes back decades, it started with the missionaries american

hospital which brought the first real medical care to the island. it is a very strong defense relationship. it is essential for our access and u.s. military operations in the middle east. they have been an excellent post for the u.s. navy's fifth fleet. i will get to hear from the sailors and marines stationed there. i like staying in touch with them and hearing their views about what is going on. that kind of frames where we are going on this trip. i would like to make a few comments on the record about russia. this is interesting to you? ok. i looked at vladimir putin speech and like many of us i

focused on the last third of it. the first two thirds clearly were about domestic issues, but also opportunities. i try to forget i knew what the last third was about. you would actually see opportunities there to reduce the tensions between the nato countries, the western countries, the nations who want to live by international law, and maintain sovereignty and integrity, and the russian federation. then i got to the last third of it. was what i would call disappointing but unsurprising right now. we can dismiss some of it as election rhetoric on the eve of an election, that sort of thing. and lookwent through

videos, i getthe paid to make strategic assessments. i will tell you that i saw no change to the russian military capability. each of these systems he is ,alking about, still years away i do not see them changing their military balance. they did not impact any need on our side for change in our deterrent posture, which would .e an indication i do hope the russian military does not embrace the campaign hearing, and ire

would just say that canceling the strategic security talks, i would just say that this shows that russia is not acting in its own best interest. separately, what is going on in , it seems familiar, doesn't it? they seem to bomb indiscriminately, and at worst, targeting hospitals. they't know which it is, i incompetent or committing illegal acts, or both. now, we areright getting reports, i do not have evidence i can show you, but i s. aware of report

the bombings we are seeing now, it is almost a sickening replay of what we have seen before, in aleppo for example. thessador haley worked with un security council to get the cease-fire and russia's partner immediately commenced violating it. it is what it is right now. we are working through diplomatic means, continuing to work. we do not give up. is going on -- what there i think is being well covered by the press who are brave enough to be in the area, but it is not enough to get the full story. questions.e of i have my various policy people in here.

for women, two guys, and a partridge in a pear tree of policy people. so i can probably answer your questions. i would like to ask you about north korea. what is your take? sec. mattis: that is a very valid question. that is a diplomatically led effort. you can see it in action right now, for those who question me about if it is diplomatically led, i now rest my case with exhibit a. i do not want to talk about korea at all, i will leave it to the nss and the state department, they are leading the effort. it is that delicate. when you get into a position like this, the potential for misunderstanding remains very

high. so i want those actually engaging in the discussions to be the ones to answer all media questions about this. thank you for asking. korea, theear on military aspect. sec. mattis: again, if i was sitting on your side of this cabin, i would be doing the same thing. when i understand right now is that every word is going to be nuanced and parcel part for cultures at different times of the day, and in different contexts. very straightnt a line from those actually

responsible, not from those of us in a supporting or background role. that is why, even on the military support, you know the alliance does that daily, we are , i do nott alliance even want to go into those things right now. and the department of state the white house will keep you informed. >> you set a number of interesting things about russia. you say you did not see anything there that indicated new capabilities, they are many years away? sec. mattis: how many years away they are, have much money they

want to put into this arms race they created for themselves. at the end of the day, they can sink all of the money and, it does not change my calculations. i just assume it will happen at great expense to the russian people. they could hit one of our port cities with a robotic took you know. -- torpedo. ok. they say they can get any city by getting through defenses. we have never said that we have a missile defense system against russia. we are only against rogue nations. north korea and iran. the russian officers are professional enough and technically skilled enough, they know what their politicians are

saying is wrong. they are not designed for us. so what i am saying is, they have the capability to do right now what he was touting. so it does not change anything, except on much money they want to spend on something that does not change the strategic talents. strategic balance. >> the intelligence officer who was attacked by the chlorine gas . that has not happened before. can you elaborate on that? sec. mattis: i am not going to

strictly define it. we have made it very clear that it would be very unwise to use gas against people, civilians, on any auto field. -- battlefield. russia is either incompetent or .n cahoots with a sod -- assad there are a lot of reports about chlorine gas used, or about symptoms that could be resulted from chlorine gas. i do not have evidence right now of it. i just want to reiterate it would be very unwise for them to

use weaponize gas, and i think president trump made that very clear early in his administration. i would ask other western nations to say the same thing, and why russia would work to disband this. suspicious.very that is as much as i want to say on it. >> have you heard any

indications that the russians had killed civilians in syria? sec. mattis: right now i prefer not to answer that question. assaad could not be in power right now absent russia's the no --veto. they are partners. whether the airplane dropping a bomb is a russian airplane or a syrian airplane, i prepare -- i prefer not to say right now. you said president trump made it clear. [indiscernible] i prefer not to

define that further. there are other western nations who have been in contact with us you are watching this very closely and you are completely aligned with us. it would be very unwise for someone to use gas. going into him on -- oman, which have been looking the other way or allowing weapons to cross the border, can you give us your assessment on what role they are playing and what role the u.s. is playing in mitigating sec. mattis: they have been on the record that they want to see this civil war

stopped for many reasons. they had been and a norm is help -- they have been and enormous help. they have security concerns that .e share what is their assessment on any trafficking, at all, that is going on, that sort of thing. aware that the french, australian, and u.s. navy have long intercepted arms shipments that have been on the high seas. ships at sea bringing the weapons and. -- weapons in. sultan has 18 role in this keense he has a -- has a

role with this because they have a border. i need to go in and listen and assess what is going on. do you have anything specific that you want to add? to firstis: i want make sure i am current. it is a lot better to sit together in a room and talk our way through and look at a map and talk details with officers in a room. so i want to make sure we start with that. listen first.

we have very small numbers of u.s. forces in yemen. they are working with the yemen counterterrorism organization. al qaeda and isis are the targets and have been the targets. held by hqap for a year and the united arab emirates with some american intelligence help had gone in, organized the local tribes to take it away and the port fell

in 36 hours after being held for a year. we are here to help that sort of effort. we're not there with troops on the ground in the civil war. i think in some cases, it is .eople who were there some of these groups change their names often. if you look at the overall numbers, you would have to take into account all of the groups and see where they are in order to make an authoritative statement. q&a with: next, francisco cancer talking about

his book, the line becomes a river. and theresa may takes questions from members of the house of commons. after that, discussion on proposed u.s. north korea ♪ >> this week on q&a former u.s. patrol -- border patrol agent francisco cantu discusses his memoir "the line becomes a river . cantu, authorco ," "the line becomes a river when did you first think about becoming a writer? mr. cantu: i first thought about writing of my expenses as the border patrol agent six months, a year after leaving, i think.