Daily Press Briefing, Spokesman Sean McCormack, FULL STREAMING VIDEO file is windows media format, running time is 19:38, PODCAST of Briefing mp3 format for download. Washington, DC, August 14, 2007, 12:30 p.m. EST.
| MR. MCCORMACK: Good afternoon, everybody. We can jump right into your questions, whoever wants to start off. QUESTION: I've forgotten what I was going to -- (laughter). |
QUESTION: Can you update us on Under Secretary Burns' travel plans, Assistant Secretary Welch's travels plans and, you know, all the questions we asked you this morning?
MR. MCCORMACK: Right.
QUESTION: And then is there anything to -- are there any additional meetings planned between either Assistant Secretary Hill and the North Koreans or some other U.S. team and the North Koreans other than the working group talks that we know about this week?
MR. MCCORMACK: All right.
QUESTION: That was my question. (Laughter.)
MR. MCCORMACK: Nick is going to be traveling, I think -- I don't know exactly when he's going to be leaving, but the 15th through the 17th he's going to travel to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. He's going to be talking to the Israelis about the proposed $30 billion agreement that we have, talk about the terms of that. I'm sure he's also going to discuss some other strategic issues in the bilateral relationship as well as to talk about issues in the neighborhood.
David's travel -- David Welch's travel -- I don't have an update for you.
Who else were you asking for an update?
QUESTION: Hill.
MR. MCCORMACK: Hill? He is currently -- he's currently in Beijing. He had more bilateral discussions with the Chinese concerning the six-party talks. I think he's going to be traveling to Shenyang for the denuclearization talks. Let me get the dates here -- 16th -- August 16th through 17th. So he'll be up in Shenyang. I think it might take a -- take him a day to get there, so probably tomorrow will be a travel day for him.
Then what else were -- what else were we talking about?
QUESTION: Any --
QUESTION: Boucher?
QUESTION: Any -- well, actually, let's just finish up with -- any other U.S.-North Korean talks planned?
MR. MCCORMACK: Not outside the six-party talks. So in Shenyang it's going to be a denuclearization working group with, I assume, the North Korean representatives there. Chris had previously met -- I think it was yesterday -- met with Kim Gye Gwan, his six-party talk counterpart, in Beijing. I don't think Kim Gye Gwan is going to be in Shenyang. I think they're going to have somebody else there.
He plans from the Shenyang meeting to come back here to the United States, no onward --
QUESTION: He will not go to North Korea on this trip?
MR. MCCORMACK: No, no onward travel plans. Come right back here.
And then, Charlie, you have Richard?
QUESTION: Boucher?
MR. MCCORMACK: Richard -- Richard is heading for the region. I don't have a schedule for you, but he should be in his area of responsibility over the next couple of days.
QUESTION: His area of responsibility is huge, obviously, so can you --
MR. MCCORMACK: We'll try to make --
QUESTION: -- can you try to make an inquiry if it's South Asia or Central Asia, whether it's --
QUESTION: Google Earth.
MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, we'll try to -- that's right. Yeah, we'll try to refine that for you. Yeah.
QUESTION: Can you talk about Nick's onward travel from Tel Aviv?
MR. MCCORMACK: No, he's just going to come back here.
QUESTION: When the Chris met with Kim Gye Gwan, North Korean delegation, yesterday in (inaudible), does the -- is there any particular issue, such as like peace treaty issue, he raised?
MR. MCCORMACK: I think he -- well, you know -- you know what I know from reading the transcripts. I haven't spoken with him. But if you look -- if you take a look at his public comments about his meetings with Kim Gye Gwan, they talked about the next phase of the agreement, which involves a full declaration by North Korea of all their nuclear programs as well as disablement of the Yongbyon facility. So that is really the focus of their discussions. I'm not sure what the North Korean side brought up. I'm sure that they brought up some issues, as well. But the focus really is on that next phase: disablement and full declaration.
QUESTION: Thanks.
MR. MCCORMACK: Yep.
QUESTION: North Korea?
MR. MCCORMACK: We'll get back to you. Yeah, mm-hmm.
Go ahead, Param.
QUESTION: Kim Jong Il invited the New York Philharmonic to play in Pyongyang, and basically they are mulling this invitation. And where do you see this leading? They can go to Pyongyang?
MR. MCCORMACK: I don't know. I don't know if there are any particular restrictions on the Philharmonic’s travel there. It's a technical question. I'd have to look into it. I think it'd be fully up to them whether or not they accept such an invitation. As for the details of being able to go there and whether there's any compensation, that sort of thing, those are probably technical details that I'd have to get you an answer on if you're interested in it.
QUESTION: But do you believe this could help strengthen ties?
MR. MCCORMACK: No -- I'm not sure, Param. (Laughter.) Look, you know, the focus -- you know, the focus of our efforts are really on the six-party talks. I'm not sure either -- whether or not your average North Korean gets an invitation if the New York Philharmonic's in Pyongyang. I have my doubts about that. So I think, you know, it's really up to the Philharmonic whether or not they accept such an invitation.
QUESTION: Have they talked to you about it? I know -- could you check? I can't imagine that they would --
MR. MCCORMACK: Oh, I'll check, yeah.
QUESTION: Why don't you check? I can't imagine that they would even consider it without first talking to the State Department to --
MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, I'll be happy to check.
QUESTION: Could you also check to see if the -- you might have any suggested pieces that they would play? (Laughter.) 1812 Overture or that kind of thing?
MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, yeah.
QUESTION: Are there many devotees of classical music in Pyongyang?
MR. MCCORMACK: You know, I don't know. Don't know; didn't hear much of the -- much classical music when I was there.
QUESTION: First of all, the North Korean Government continue to say denuclearization issue is only, you know, reserved with the U.S. and North Korea issues. How did you think about that?
MR. MCCORMACK: I'm not sure I get the point. You're talking about the Trading with the Enemy Act and all of that?
QUESTION: Yes.
MR. MCCORMACK: What we have said about that is, that's part of the discussion in the U.S.-North Korea bilateral working group, and we will work on those issues in their own right, on their own merits. Certainly, our actions and our movement on those issues, which I know are of interest to North Korea, will be informed about how overall progress is going in the six-party talks. So I don't think you can neatly separate those things out inasmuch as they -- those discussions are taking place within the context of the six-party talks.
Yep, Elise.
QUESTION: Sean, also on North Korea.
MR. MCCORMACK: Mm-hmm.
QUESTION: Have you reached out to the North Korean Government, or have they reached out to you, through the New York channel or any other channels about the floods and what the U.S. could or would be prepared --
MR. MCCORMACK: Right.
QUESTION: -- to do to help out?
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, I know that they have contacted the UN, and there have been some reports of severe flooding in North Korea, and a number of North Koreans have lost their houses or are in dire humanitarian straits. We'll take a look at what we might do with respect to humanitarian assistance through UN channels. I don't know that our folks have yet been in contact with the UN about that. But we'll certainly take a look at it as a humanitarian gesture. I don't know if there's a need for anything that we might be able to provide, but we'll take a look.
Yeah, Matt.
QUESTION: Did you -- were you able to look into the Lebanon question, the question of the military assistance?
MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah. Did we -- Gonz, did we get an answer?
MR. GALLEGOS: Not yet.
MR. MCCORMACK: We didn't get an answer?
QUESTION: Hmm.
MR. MCCORMACK: We will endeavor to post an answer for you.
Go ahead.
QUESTION: Did you get an answer on the rough numbers of U.S. Foreign Service officers in Baghdad and Kabul?
MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, Baghdad, it's about 200; and Kabul, it's about 100. Right around there, give or take.
Yeah.
QUESTION: Turkey's ruling party has re-nominated Foreign Minister Gul as presidential candidate. Any comments?
MR. MCCORMACK: A matter for their internal domestic politics, for -- I guess, at this point, the Turkish parliament to decide upon who will be the next Turkish president. We have full faith in Turkey's secular democracy, but it's going to be a decision for them to take.
QUESTION: Just for clarification, going back to the Baghdad-Kabul question. The 200, and I believe you said Kabul was 100 --
MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah.
QUESTION: -- is specifically related to -- what's the exact question?
MR. MCCORMACK: Oh, okay. We can go through it -- we can go through all this again. There was a -- there was a story that I think came out yesterday about a internal State Department study that looked at the effects of unaccompanied tours on our Foreign Service officers as well as their families. And this is done in the context of whether or not we have employees that are in need of any additional counseling or help or support who have done these unaccompanied tours. That's not exclusively to Iraq and Afghanistan. There are a number of other posts and I don't have the complete list here, where people serve unaccompanied.
So the idea is, it's the second part to a study that the State Department has undertaken. The first part was done by our Family Liaison Office, trying to take a look at what are the effects on families, spouses as well as children, of having loved ones serve and serve abroad alone for a year or more.
This took a look at the employee side of it. And the survey was done over the course of several weeks back in June. And the findings were that roughly about 2 percent of the people who had served at accompanied posts have suffered from what our medical folks would describe as post-traumatic stress disorder, and possibly an additional 15 percent might. So you have a universe there of potentially about 17 percent of the people that served in these unaccompanied tours suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Now, we're trying to tease out of all that data the statistics for individual posts and we've hired some statisticians to do that, to take a look at the methodology and make sure that it is -- the methodology is rigorous and that we have an accurate picture of our folks serving overseas and what kind of stresses are involved in serving in these unaccompanied posts.
The Secretary's bottom line is if our people need additional help or support or counseling as a result of serving in these kind of very difficult posts, then they're going to get it. And that has been -- and that has -- we have taken a number of different steps in terms of our counseling employees, both prior to going out to these posts as well as coming back. We have now a mandatory outbrief with people that have served at these unaccompanied posts and talking to them, talking to them about the services, counseling services that are available, the support group services that are available to them.
This is something, by the way, that has been available to folks since, I think, about 2004, is -- it is out there for them to take advantage of, if they wanted to. Now it's mandatory. And we are also taking a look at how we might find a more formal program that involves counseling, support, support groups, advice to folks and families that are both outgoing and inbound from these posts.
Now I know that -- I know and I've seen the reports that there have been some from AFSA. The American Foreign Service Association have cited a number of 40 percent of people in -- I believe it was Iraq that are suffering from PTSD. You know, I can't confirm those numbers. I mean, what we want to do is make sure that we have a rigorous methodology in making sure that we are sure of our numbers. Certainly, you know, I don't -- I have no idea what their methodology was and what -- on what basis they came up with that figure. I know that was sworn testimony, so you might ask them where they got those numbers, but we're going to make sure that -- and they may or may not be right. I don't know. But we really want to make sure that we get accurate numbers.
QUESTION: Sean, do you --
QUESTION: So, coming full circle, the 200 in Baghdad were the number that participated in the survey.
MR. MCCORMACK: I don't have the numbers of people that have participated in the survey. I can't tell you. Baghdad and Kabul were a subset --
QUESTION: Right.
MR. MCCORMACK: -- of the overall survey of people that served at unaccompanied posts.
QUESTION: Sean, do you --
MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah.
QUESTION: -- attribute -- I know these are unaccompanied posts, but these are also posts where -- you know, obviously, there's a larger level of violence and trauma on the ground, so are you attributing the post-traumatic stress disorder to the fact that they're unaccompanied and not living with their families for a long time or the fact that they're seeing a lot more of violence and -- you know, their colleagues being killed or things like that --
MR. MCCORMACK: Well --
QUESTION: -- on the ground?
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, you know, first of all, I'm not a medical professional. I can't tell you -- I can't tell you the various sources of stresses. And again, we have to understand what, in each of the posts, the kinds of stress at each of the posts and what the results are. You know, I can't tell you. I can't tell you, Elise.
I can tell you that Secretary Rice expects that this Foreign Service and this State Department, under her leadership, is going to be more expeditionary. And I think we've seen that. We've seen people get out from -- get out from behind their desk in embassies more and more. Not to say that folks writing cables or reports aren't doing valuable work; they are. But she also wants to make sure that people are out beyond the wire, that they're out doing, not just writing about what others are doing. And along with that sometimes will come additional needs in terms of supporting those people.
And she has also made the commitment that Department resources are going to be placed in support of those people. And if -- and there are a lot of people who serve in these very difficult positions who don't need counseling, don't need to go to support groups afterwards. Some do. And if they need to and if that's what they want, then that's what they're going to get.
Yeah.
QUESTION: Mr. McCormack, on Kosovo, despite the fact that yesterday, you made a lot of statements, I was wondering, how do you respond to bunch of Albanian reports that somehow, U.S., Serbia, and Kosovars agreed on partition of Kosovo?
MR. MCCORMACK: I can't account for it. I don't know. I can tell you what our position is. You know, I would steer you away from that being the takeaway from the troika meeting.
QUESTION: So in other words, you are insisting on the Ahtisaari plan?
MR. MCCORMACK: Our position continues to be independence for Kosovo based on the Ahtisaari plan.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. MCCORMACK: All right. Param.
QUESTION: The Iranian President is in Afghanistan again rejecting U.S. claims that they have been supplying arms to the Taliban and --
MR. MCCORMACK: Right.
QUESTION: -- contrary to what the Pentagon had said, the President had said.
MR. MCCORMACK: Right. Also -- he also seemed to be a bit confused. He didn't seem to be aware of what was going on in his own government. I don't know if that's good or bad. But our folks who have done the analysis, the folks in the military, are pretty sure -- they are sure of their facts and they wouldn't have come out and said the things they did without being sure of their facts. So if he doesn't know what's going on in his government, he might want to check out to see what is going on in his government. And if he's just dissembling in public, well, not much I can say about that.
Yeah.
QUESTION: It's a bit late in the day for this question, I apologize, but the Obama comments on speaking to the leaders of --
MR. MCCORMACK: Right.
QUESTION: -- rogue states, can I have --
MR. MCCORMACK: Right.
QUESTION: -- a reaction to that?
MR. MCCORMACK: In speaking to the leaders --
QUESTION: To the leaders of rogue nations without precondition.
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, that's all taken place in the context of a presidential campaign. I am not going to, at this point or any later date, dive into presidential politics. In terms of engaging states around the world, you know our policies. We can go through one by one.
With respect to Iran, we've made an offer. We'll see if they meet the conditions that have been laid out not only by us, but by others. With respect to North Korea, which is another state that often comes up in this context, we are engaged in a multilateral discussion with North Korea. You can go down the list. We have diplomatic relations with Syria. We have diplomatic relations with Venezuela. We'd like to have good -- better relations with those states, merely moving beyond the formality of having diplomatic relations. And we've made it clear to them that we want to do that, but you also have to have an overlap in interests as well as an overlap in action. I think we have gone quite a ways in engaging many of these states, including Syria, in the interest of furthering our foreign policy goals. In many cases, we just haven't seen an answer either in words or action from these states.
QUESTION: What about the comments on Pakistan? Do you --
MR. MCCORMACK: This is --
QUESTION: -- think those kind of comments are dangerous, you know, that the U.S. would act if Musharraf --
MR. MCCORMACK: You know, again, that's -- you know, that's presidential politics. I can tell you how we view the situation. We view the situation as one in which if there is actionable intelligence on high-value targets, wherever they may be, that we are going to do everything that we can to act on that information. And we are confident that we will be able to do that in such a way that we don't harm our relations with any states that may be in question, whether that's Pakistan, Afghanistan or some other state.
QUESTION: But do you think, in general, these kind of comments are ill-advised by any presidential candidates who think -- they're out there --
MR. MCCORMACK: Like I said -- like I said before on this question, there's a thing called free speech in presidential campaigns in the United States. There's also a thing called the Executive Branch and we have responsibility for the foreign policy of the United States, and I don't think anybody's going to confuse those two things.
Yeah.
QUESTION: I was wondering if you have anything to say on the Secretary being named the most powerful person in Washington on GQ's list? Has she seen it? Any comments about it?
MR. MCCORMACK: (Laughter.) I guess -- you know, I guess GQ feels as though she can sell a few magazines. I don't have any. These lists come out all the time. I would note, however, that the State Department, out of the top 50, had three people placed on that list: Gamal Helal, Nick Burns, and Secretary Rice.
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: Gamal was on there?
QUESTION: Gollust.
QUESTION: Human Rights Watch this week accused --
MR. MCCORMACK: Maybe we should have taken that. (Laughter.)
QUESTION: Okay. Human Rights Watch this week accused Ethiopia and the interim authorities in Somalia of severe human rights abuses in the conflict there, and I'm wondering whether this is something that's on the U.S. agenda with either or both of them.
MR. MCCORMACK: I haven't seen the report, Dave. I'm happy to track down an answer for you.
Yeah, all right.
(The briefing was concluded at 12:50 p.m.)
DPB # 144
Released on August 14, 2007
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