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Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III Off-Camera, On-the-Record Remarks to Traveling Press in Subic Bay, Philippines

July 31, 2024

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LLOYD AUSTIN: Well, again, thanks for joining us everybody. It's been a great trip. It's great to be here at Subic Bay. And we had the opportunity while here to visit the Philippine — the headquarters of the Philippine Naval Fleet. This is a really transformative time for our relationship, our alliance here. We've seen us announce a number of key initiatives. Yesterday, you heard us talk about the $500 million FMF (Foreign Military Financing) opportunity here that we're going to provide to the Philippines, and we're excited about that. That's going to help them modernize their military a bit further.

Today, we saw some of our industrial base companies out here working together to create additional capability, and that's also very, very exciting. So again, we've come a long way in three and a half years and our relationship with the Philippines, I think, it's been fascinating to be a part of this and we look to do a lot more going forward. And with that, I'll take your questions.

STAFF: Great. Liz, can you start us off?

Q: Secretary Austin, thank you so much for doing this and being here today. Can you confirm Israel is behind the strike that killed the senior Hamas leader in Tehran? And did you get any warning that this was going to happen?

MR. AUSTIN: I don't have anything for you on that. And we'll — we certainly have heard the reporting, but I don't have any additional information for that.

STAFF: Ellie.

Q: Attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria have begun again. Do you see that connected to the rising tensions between Hezbollah and Israel? And what risk is there to those troops if things escalate further?

MR. AUSTIN: Do I see the attack — the recent attacks connected to — well, I think it's all connected, but I think, quite frankly, I don't see a return to where we were several months ago, not yet. And certainly, we'll keep our eye on this. The safety and protection of our troops is really, really important to me. That's why, you know, you saw us take some measures to protect ourselves here most recently as we took out some UAVs, which are about to be launched. We have the right to do that, and we will continue to do that in order to protect our troops.

STAFF: Patrick.

Q: Thanks. Yesterday in Manila, you were asked about Israel and its part of military — operations in the Middle East. You said we would like to see things resolved in a diplomatic fashion. Does the most recent events over the last 24 hours suggest to you that Israel is adhering to that? And what are you doing to de-escalate the situation now?

MR. AUSTIN: Yeah, you know, I said I don't think war is inevitable. I maintain that. I think there's always a room and opportunities for diplomacy, and I'd like to see the parties pursue those opportunities. And certainly, what we've seen along the border, over the border with Israel over time, that's you know, that's been a concern of ours. Again, we're going to do everything we can to make sure that we keep things from turning into a broader conflict throughout the region. So I remain in touch with Mr. Gallant, my counterpart, as well as with the key leaders throughout the region.

Q: Have you been in touch with them today?

MR. AUSTIN: I've not talked to them today. You've been with me all day, so I've not had the opportunity to talk to them today. But as you know, I talk to him every week, and so I look forward to talking to him again soon.

STAFF: Noah .

Q: How would you describe Russia's advances in Ukraine right now? Would you still call their progress incremental with the loss of two villages that occurred over the last 24 hours or so?

MR. AUSTIN: Yeah. So if you keep the big picture in mind, these are incremental gains. And what I see from the Ukrainians is an effort to continue to bolster their defenses. I think they've been pretty effective. We remain concerned about any advance on the part of Russia. But I applaud what the Ukrainians continue to do to make sure that they can hold their own.

I think you'll continue to see some give and take back and forth between the Russians and Ukrainians. It's been that way from the very beginning, but the Ukrainians are a very determined people. They've demonstrated that, you know, from the very, very start of this conflict and I expect that again they will get a bit stronger as time goes along. We'll continue to provide security assistance in the way that you've seen us do here recently, that tempo would — will increase. So — and we're also seeing the Ukrainians doing more things to recruit more people to fill their ranks. So I remain encouraged by that.

STAFF: Anton.

Q: You said the war in — wider war in the Middle East is not inevitable. Nevertheless, it is becoming more — the risk is becoming more acute. If it does break out, what assistance would the United States bring to Israel, if there was a wider war? And how much does that would detract from the work you're trying to do in the Indo-Pacific?

MR. AUSTIN: Yeah, so what you heard me say yesterday is that, if Israel is attacked, we certainly will help. And Israel, you see, you saw us do that in April. You can expect to see us do that again. But we don't want to see any of that happen. We're going to work hard to make sure that, you know, we're doing things to help take temperature down and address issues through diplomatic means.

STAFF: Great. And Ryo, last question.

Q: On the constitution of US and Japan Japan, they're concerned that the change might result in Japan falling under US command. So how would you address these concerns and why will it be commanded by ?

MR. AUSTIN: Well, we're at the very beginning of this evolution, and we'll work with our Japanese counterparts to see — to evolve things as things that we go forward. The three-star command that we're standing up is focused on the command and control of US forces. And the three-star command in the JJOC will be focused on Japanese forces. Now, the fact that we're working together is — will give us a lot greater agility and a lot more capability, quite frankly.

So we continue to see Japan increased its spending on defense, seen them invest in some key capabilities. And I think — I think all of that is very, very encouraging. I look forward to continuing to work with my counterparts to move this along.

STAFF: Thank you, everyone —

Q: — Secretary Austin, have you spoken to your Israeli counterpart —

Q: — In the last two days —

Q: Israeli media is reporting that he requested a call.

MR. AUSTIN: I've not spoken to Minister Gallant either today or yesterday, but we request calls from each other on a routine basis, so — and that's — again, I talk to him every week.

STAFF: — Thank you, everyone.

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