a key partner of the uk as well— and a key partner of the uk as well as— and a key partner of the ukuite — but what the events highlight quite clearly _ but what the events highlight quite clearly is _ but what the events highlight quite clearly is that _ but what the events highlight quite clearly is that any- quite clearly is that any country _ quite clearly is that any country is _ quite clearly is that any country is vulnerable . quite clearly is that anyi country is vulnerable to quite clearly is that any- country is vulnerable to shocks and we — country is vulnerable to shocks and we see _ country is vulnerable to shocks and we see this _ country is vulnerable to shocks and we see this here _ country is vulnerable to shocks and we see this here in- country is vulnerable to shocks and we see this here in the - and we see this here in the case — and we see this here in the case of— and we see this here in the case of south _ and we see this here in the case of south korea. - and we see this here in the case of south korea. i- and we see this here in the. case of south korea. i wo

and partners worldwide. we have access agreements with more than 40 countries. we have logistics agreements with more than 120. and that helps us project power with our partners where we need to, when we need to, and how we need to. you know, our rivals and foes look at that with envy. they see our alliances and they want to wreck them. yes, autocrats may band together, but when putin turns to north korea for troops, it is not a sign of strength. it is an admission of weakness. autocrats resort to partnerships of convenience. but america leads partnerships of conviction. the department's national defense strategy rightly calls the u.s. network of allies and partners our greatest global strategic advantage. and that brings me to my second point. the profound progress we have made with our friends in the indo-pacific. we have heard decades of warnings about the rise of an increasingly aggressive and bullying prc. it is still the only country on earth with both the desire and increasingly the capability to resh

readiness and to equip a partner under attack. the men and women of our national security and defense communities are extraordinary and they can pull rabbits out of hats, but decades of underinvestment and consolidation had seriously eroded our defense industrial base and there was no way around it. in some respects, we had recognized this challenge from the moment we entered office and in fact we started taking steps to fix it in the president first budget request. russia's war against ukraine sharpened the stakes and clarified the scope of the challenge. it was a strategic warning. americas defense industrial base , the one we inherited was not up to the task that we face in a new age of strategic competition. including how we have to prepare for and deter future conflicts in europe, the middle east and indo pacific. we had to act and we did act. we did so thanks to the president's clear direction, the able leadership of secretary austin and deputy secretary hicks and strong bipartisan congressional support. by the time we leave

we cannot emphasize how grateful we are for interagency partners. major general braden count will provide opening remarks. major general braden camp is the commanding general of the joint task force national council region and u.s. army military district of washington. the floor is yours. >> thank you for being with us today. it is our distinct honor to be part of the 60th presidential inauguration. the department of defense has a long history of providing support for inaugural ceremonies dating back to april 30, 1879. we continue to provide support during the peaceful transition of authority, upon one of the bedrock principles upon which our nation is founded, democratic principles. it is great to be here with my teammates. we will have a great rehearsal drill today. hopefully, we will provide some background of challenges and the depth of work that goes into preparing for an inauguration. i have been in thismont and in . it has been truly amazing to watch the team form. and as we bring together about 700 people and staff and about 5000 for the ina

because first of all, you have to build a trust between the partners. without trust, you cannot have defense industry cooperation. but korea has become one of the indispensable allies of the united states. so i think to me, when so far so good. i have -- i have been ambassador to the united states for a year and a half, but i now already realize some difference and progress since my arrival last year. so we are working hard to build on our trust and alliance, and i think not only in ship building, but also we have many items and areas for future cooperation. including the items that i mentioned already, so i'm quite optimistic. as i said, cooperation always takes time, but i'm probably will be making some kind of tangible progress within a few weeks time frame. thank you. >> any other questions? sir, can you introduce yourself. [ inaudible ] >> i'm at the office of the austrian defense initiative. i was going to ask, with north korea sending significant amounts of troops to russia. does this in any way influence korea's decision making. >> yeah, that is

because first of all, you have to build a trust between the partners. without trust, you cannot have defense industry cooperation. korea has become one of the indisdefensible -- indispensable allies of the united states. so far so good. to me i have -- well, i've been ambassador to the united states for year and a half, but i now already realize some difference and progress since my arrival last year. so we are working hard to build on our trust and alliance and i think not only ship building, but also, we have many areas for future cooperation. including the items that i mentioned already. so, i'm quite optimistic. so, as i said, i'm this cooperation always takes time, but probably, i will make some kind of kind of progress within a few weeks' time frame. thank you. >> any last question? >> sir, can you introduce yourself. >> i'm at the office of the austrian defense attache and i was going to ask, south korea is sending significant amount of troops to russia, whether this in any way shape or form with decision making concerning north korea right now?

and european partners bring their own strengths and expertise to the table. for example, they are both leaders in aerospace, cyber defense and advanced autonomous weapon system technology. today's forum is an excellent opportunity to identify how we can each leverage our respective strengths to deepen our collaboration. by working together we can create a more resilient defense network, improve operational efficiency and achieve level of success that will be out of reach for any of us on our own. working together will also let us better pursue joint research and development project, especially in emerging technologies like ai integrated weapon system, unmanned arielle vehicles and under sea capabilities. collaboration ensures that we stay ahead of the competition and enhance our readiness for the challenges ahead. let me close with a brief refraction of the stash launch we all saw over the weekend. once it was thought that saving the booster from the rocket was impossible but we can take old inspiration from what we saw on sunday as the booster floated back d

america and our partners have an important stake — partners have an important stake in _ partners haveie _ stake in helping the syrian people chart this new path. we know_ people chart this new path. we know that what happens inside of syria — know that what happens inside of syria can have powerful consequences way beyond its borders, _ consequences way beyond its borders, for master statement, to terrorism. and we know that we cannot— to terrorism. and we know that we cannot underestimate the challenges of this moment and in the — challenges of this moment and in the weeks and months ahead. the syrian — in the weeks and months ahead. the syrian population is traumatised by decades of repression. throughout this rule — repression. throughout this rule the _ repression. throughout this rule the assad regime stoke tensions— rule the assad regime stoke tensions along ethnic and religious lines to divide the syrian _ religious lines to divide the syrian people. after more than a decade — syrian people. after more than a decade of conflict, and many decades— a decade of conflict, and many

readiness and to equip a partner under attack. the men and women of our national security and defense communities are extraordinary and they can pull rabbits out of hats, but decades of underinvestment and consolidation had seriously eroded our defense industrial base and there was no way around it. in some respects, we had recognized this challenge from the moment we entered office and in fact we started taking steps to fix it in the president first budget request. russia's war against ukraine sharpened the stakes and clarified the scope of the challenge. it was a strategic warning. americas defense industrial base , the one we inherited was not up to the task that we face in a new age of strategic competition. including how we have to prepare for and deter future conflicts in europe, the middle east and indo pacific. we had to act and we did act. we did so thanks to the president's clear direction, the able leadership of secretary austin and deputy secretary hicks and strong bipartisan congressional support. by the time we leave

as the -- interlinged with that of our partners. as we are in ankerra of strategic competition and interdependence it will be key to respond to our partners' needs answering when they tell us that they need support to build their own resilience, sovereignty, and self-sufficiency. thank you so much. i'm looking forward to the conversation. thank you. [applause] >> thank you for that very much. i should say this is part of our real econinitiative, our reimagining american economic relationship which focuses on trade, investment, development, and economic security. i think the administrator laid out how those issues are very much interrelated here as we think about our competition with china, around the world, and being supportive to our friends. let me start where you left off. really we have a new challenge over the last several years called the global south. i don't know how long back that term goes. it's not a term i particularly love. there certainly is a new dynamic out there that we are in this competition with china, but we als

and i feel so lucky to have been partners with them and i sure hope to continue to partner with them down the road. i have tried to be a loving critic of this institution. and i hope you will afind a way to play that role in our democracy as well. and steward the places and organizations that you care about. mr. speaker, i wrote my kids, i have learned we are incredibly fortunate to live in one of the most special places on the planet. a lot of the work i have done has been focused on being stewards of those places. i feel so grateful to have had amazing partners in that work. we are blessed to have the most store national park on werth places like the rainforest and hurricane ridge. we are fortunate to have folks who work for the park service as stewards of those treasures. we are fortunate to have the united states navy and we are fortunate for those who served our country and they bring their skills and community pride and pride as americans to our community and we must be stewards for them and make investments in our naval shipyards so we can ensure to keep our service members an

we're looking at imaaes and partners. we're looking at images of _ and partners.g at images of these massive - images of these massive protests over the past few days orso protests over the past few days or so and if you look in the crowds you see a lot of women, a of young people. these k—pop light sticks being used. what did you make of the protest movement itself in south korea that it ended up being successful? i that it ended up being successful?— that it ended up being successful? i was very encouraged _ successful? i was very encouraged from - successful? i was very encouraged from the i successful? i was very i encouraged from the first night, the fact that people in fact disregarded parts of the order that came down on december three. the journalist stood up to the rules and they filmed what was going on. the people stood up to the orders to stay away from the assembly and they went to the assembly. the lawmakers stood up to what they believe was wrong headed and turned —— a turn to the past that no—one wanted and they stood up to that. from that moment,

we've seen our partners in egypt have made progress. i'm happy to get specific language for you ensure the breakdown. that was a couple weeks ago. >> last question on syria, united europe, and european partners, it seems like removing some sanctions because of certain sectors, like reconstructing when is the usa going to consider certain sectors like healthcare for removing some sanctions that may be having or accelerate the idea of rebuilding, reconstructing syria, or that you're going to keep the sanctions in syria? >> so, i just don't have any news or policies to share. when you heard matt say when it comes to sanctions that may or may not remain in place, we are looking at and keeping an eye on's actions. actions we see the regime take. that is what we will continue to remain focused on. i'm not going to a pine any further be on that. >> just moving back to gaza for a second. the bbc reported yesterday that a palestinian source said israel stopped aaron drone operations over the gaza strip for six hours on december 7. to allow hamas

our partners have fewer resources to put in the game. but using feed the future and other avenues to push for economic growth, which are incredibly important, and if we have time, i could talk about a new agricultural initiative where we take our feed the future resources that have been spread thin across a lot of countries and make big bats on where bread baskets could actually be created in africa. we have a new initiative called the africa accelerator initiative to concentrate which can have outsize benefits will be on the countries that will get more resources but i think part of what's happening is, you know, the jobs for which people need to be trained now and the ways in which countries will balance their books and get back on the growth path are in services. they may be in digital. we worked together on this upscaling when you were at mastercard. we have to shift. the nature of the economies with which we are working are shifting. urbanization. the number of conversations i have had with young people who say i know there's agricu

we really appreciate it own this cold rainy day edward mentioned i'm the ceo for t n b c with my partner. >> we want to welcome you all to the grand opening of 120 this is a final celebration of the year but we had a really impactful year opposed the ferry building a few blocks away from here on the other side of market street we relocated three hundred and this unit with the earthquake to save the building in the community. we also had a groundbreaking for 90 units out in the sunset first off of sunset. so as another grand opening had a 200 and 3 howard i want to mention you'll hear more about that building and i'm going to turn it over to to skating any to introduce her. >> thank you. >> thank you, everyone for being here today all the achievements that has uplifted reflect the dedication of so many people the residents inspire us everyday and give us feedback of what works and our community partners and the incredible tjpa gladly to see you here with us today to all you have you, we expend our gratitude in partnership with the community development and the department of homelessness a

partners were working to make sure we don't see a resurrection of a caliphate. that remains vital and we have in syria terrorist fighters as well as fighters who are in camps and we have when working hard to see them repatrioted. but many remain. so we have an enduring interest here. we are looking at what we can do to shore up that interest but in the first instance, de-escalation, protect citizens and if assad has any sense for the future of the country, actually engaging in the political process to end the civil war. >> leon. >> thank you for doing this. i will only ask one question. >> is it going to be a good one. >> i'm simple minded but for me a crease fire is what it means no fire. there have been several incidents november 27 from both sides. do you consider that israel is or has violated the ceasefire that was concluded last week? and is the mechanism you had set up actually already set up? and then i wanted to ask you on your reaction and thoughts on the comment by the israeli defense minister who said -- threatened that israel would be ready to go de

that's what we partnered with s.d.f. on. appreciate the question, but i'm just not going to get into more details about that area. reporter: the other thing, in the same area that's controlled by the s.d.f. right now, there's a specific territory which is, according to dual agreements between the syrian and turkish government, is a turkish ground -- [indiscernible] -- in the area, the right eastern shore of the euphrates. so is there any talks about this? because turkiye took the remains of the historic commander from this area due to isis threats to the historic site. so now is there a way to go back to normal and do you follow anything about this? sabrina: trying to follow the thread of the question here. again, we're going to continue to engage with turkiye. we have our secretary of state traveling to the region. the general is in the region. these are ongoing conversations and of course we understand the threats that turkiye faces and our partners in the region. i'm just not going to shed more light than what i've said a

to make sure that we people are safe while shopping and having fun, i want to say based on the partnering with the union square alliance done great things closing down the streets to allow for holiday lanes where people have hot cocoa and move around a little bit more than easily and also joy the public streets and spaces in a way that invites in the holiday season already as a tree let's and thanks to macy's and starting to look beautiful in downtown last night a great restaurant for people shopping and eating and love the most is the fact that the holidays lights bring joy and see so, so many people skating we were still skating an the ice skating ring that has negligible rewant to invite the people to shop and we know there are a lot of great stores for people to shop and great places for folks to eat in what we usually do every holiday season we increase the public safety i know you see some of the ambassadors here those are the folks have been incredible as it relates to public safety and why in the central park of the city and county of san francisco under central station i know the

we have a lot the private, public partners in the room here. what would you do to make things easier for the fbi? >> this is very basic, but it comes down to resources. i think we're accomplishing a lot with the resources that we have. i think that the people in the fbi on their own amplified by partnerships with every sector that we talked about here, are doing a hell of a lot. and we are always asked to doo more and nothing comes off the table either. when i talk with the teams, do that every day across, you know, our headquarters here, i often visit the field office. i was just up in pittsburgh end of last week and they have a phenomenal, very effective cyber squad up there and you know, more resources are needed, both personnel, with the right skills and expertise, and then tools, which include, you know, technology, software, equipment and things like that. so that would be one aspect. the other thing, you know, we strove for every day, you know, getting out in public like this and you know, we're doing it, you know, across the country is

we have international partners as commanders. we do everything from humanitarian disaster relief to two live sinkexs in this last one. so i think what we need to do is continue what we've always been doing, which is really drill down on those capabilities in the interoperability with our partners all over the world because that's what we have to be able to do because in the end, that's peace through strength. that's what deters our adversaries, and i think that's really part of what we bring to the table every day as a joint force. oren: if i had a nickel for every time the secretary said allies and partners, i would retire before the end of this. sec. wilkie: well, and let me add to what the admiral said. i mean, we sometimes look at this situation as a one-off the united states and china. remember, china is surrounded and the chairman can speak to this at greater length than i can. memories of chinese -- china is surrounded by nations with thousand year memories of chinese aggression in my lifetime. they fought a war with vietn

translation: in method of finding a partner. translation:— method of finding a partner. matching agency isn't - translation: in a marriage matching agency isn't always viewed very positively. it can seem like people are being judged by their profiles and are getting married without love. it felt a bit embarrassing to tell friends and family that i signed up with an agency.— and family that i signed up with an agency. despite the increase popularity - with an agency. despite the increase popularity of- with an agency. despite the . increase popularity of marriage matchmaking, south korea is extremely low marriage and fertility rates. they have been falling steadily for the past decade. in fact the fertility rate here is the lowest in the world. and this is a huge challenge for the government who is committed to tackling this issue. they too are playing matchmaker by organising speed dating events. they say they are providing young singles with an opportunity to meet and mingle. translation:— opportunity to meet and mingle. translation: young people today lack of opportuni

and we must have a shared sense of urgency among all these partners. and i think we have that. as i said, the chinese government has announced their intention to land on 2030. it may be earlier. they are not planning to land humans on the vital portions that we're going to land, the lunar south pole, and it is vital for us to land on the south pole so that we do not see -- cede portions of that south lunar south pole to the chinese. we've made significant progress on the artemis campaign over the last four years, we created the moon to mars program. we've commissioned the two lunar landing systems, spacex starship and blue origins blue moon, to deliver our astronauts to the surface of the moon. we commission axiom space to develop the next generation of space suits. we simulated the international partnerships and agreements for key artemis elements, including with the uae for the gateway airlock module and with japan to provide a pressurized rover for the lunar surface. we flew artemis one around the moon. artemis one is the first time that we have sent a human capable spacecra

the partners have repeatedly informeded us that existing counter authorities are inadequate. since authority was granted in the fbi has adopted 69 operational missions using those authority provide unlimited support to 121 other events. we have the text of a 1000 uas violation of federal law during these missions. one example the boston marathon this pastli april, our team mitigated a uas threat which result in the capture prosecution of the subject. the fbi cannot alone protect the over 40000 special event assessment rating and events annually held in the u.s. along with countless other requests for counter you a support at mass gatherings for the use of counter uas to protect against these situations is crucial. it can all be fully addressed by expanding the capability to include our state and local partners. in closing, we remain committed to protect americans by countering malicious use of this technology reauthorization of long-term extension of this legislation it central to our mission combating the evolving threats. we look forward to working with you in establishing

we would love to partner with you.just came back from brazil over the weekend and so we are seeing this in real time. we did have a great discussion with the local government there about some of our opportunity so it's very well-timed whether it's brazil or mexico or throughout the caribbean or the mandarin mandarin countries in and the rest of south america. i think it's great and i just want to say thanks again for the panel and i appreciate particularly ambassador nickels for all of his leadership. >> i want to ask you the same question. what is one recommendation to cities adopting possible digital development and from your perspective to showcase her try to think about it in terms of the connectivity between the federal and the local government and that communication and accessibility >> e so i will say two things on a macro level now. there is one success story around the latin america uruguay has been doing for 15 years at least with all their work in open government in open everything digital i.d.. they are bui

the united states will work with our partners and stakeholders in syria to help them seize that opportunity to manage the risks. you know, for years, the main backers of assad have been around hezbollah and russia. but over the last week, their support collapsed, all three of them, because all three of them are far weaker today than they were when i took office. and let's remember why, after a mass attacked israel on october the seventh, 2023, when much of the world responded with horror. iran and its proxies chose to launch a multi-front war against israel. that was a historic mistake on iran's park today, iran's main territorial proxy, hezbollah, is also on its back. and only 12 days ago i spoke from the rose garden about the cease fire deal. lebanon, a deal that was only possible because hezbollah has been badly degraded. meanwhile, hamas has been dead badly degraded as well. iran's own military capabilities have been weakened. rand tried two times to attack israel and the united states and built a coalition of countries to directly defend israel to help defeat those attacks. all this ma

. >> multiple partners and u.s. agencies have already admonished or banned originating in the people's republic of china, and recognition of the threats they pose. just this past october, reported that cvc produced by cji. of president uyghur force implementation act. with we must work to protect u.s. communications equipment, while strengthening u.s. supply chains while ensuring it u.s. technology cannot operate in u.s. networks. the threats posed by uas continue to present challenges remember the u.s. border is one of the most significant vulnerabilities when it comes to this typed of threat. uas has already been used to circumvent boards, walls. and surveil cbp to ven evade detection. raised concerns that mexican narco gangs are doing this only a short distance from the border. and in many cases, operating inside the u.s. also poses a significant threat to critical infrastructure. including power grids, oil refineries, airports, water treatment plants and transportation systems. a single uaf could cause widesprea

our key partners and allies in, europe and in asia. and if you look at not only what we say as, our declaratory policy when it comes to china, but also look at what we're doing together in terms of de-risking, in terms of making sure we're dealing with problematic technology transfers, in terms of dealing with overcapacity and unfair trade practices, increasingly you have an aligned, unified approach. if you look at the china strategies that key partners have put out, we could be exchanging talking points, exchanging speeches. it's one almost one in the same. that's a source of incredible strength because. if we're trying to deal with something that we like the is doing. and it's just the united states alone where 20% of world gdp. if we're doing it in a way that's aligned with europeans and aligned with key asian partners, we're 40, 50, 60% of world gdp, a much heavier weight that china has to take account of. and it does. and maybe the best proof point of the success that we've had in aligning our policies with europe and with key pa

those are types of companies we will look to to partner with. we have those capabilities back in korea. that doesn't help us with the u.s. content element of being able to win here in the u.s. the partnership with a few other companies are similar. also look at assured pnt, those different pieces. we will be looking two-parter and the good news is we have those capabilities back home in korea which makes, which will make us smart partners when we move forward in the u.s. so stay tuned to what we are doing on the m&a side and the partnering side. it's going to be quite a sight. >> thank you, mike the first question here in the front row. [inaudible] >> perfect. please join me in thanking our panel and look forward to -- [applause] >> saved by the bell. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible