Good afternoon. Welcome to the center for strategic and international studies. My name is threat heather conley, and we could not be more more delighted to welcome secretary of state for defense Michael Fallon here to the u. S. I was explaining that the news cycle is so quiet, so slow the last few days, we were so glad he could come here and help elevate our discussion but, he comes at an incredibly important time. Certainly on the heels of several days of incredible news not only securityrelated issues, whether that was the north korean launch of an icbm but also as we watch unfold the historic meeting between President Trump and president putin today. Secretary fallon thankfully is a frequent visitor to csis. He was here two years ago in march and the topic of the discussion was in defense of a rulesbased order, how that transatlantic relationship can be used. And i think now in todays discussion, we will again look at the defense of the rulesbased order and he see where we go from here. Secretary fallon assumed secretary of defense, his position, on july 15th, 2014. Two days later, a Russian Missile shot down mh1. That was his first few days on the job. Three years later, two elections later, one referendum later, secretary fallon youve had a extraordinary tenure already in your three years. We are delighted that you are here with us. We have so much to discuss. We look forward to your comments. Colleagues please joining me, thanking and welcoming secretary fallon to csis. [applause] head they heather, thank u and good afternoon. Great to be back in the United States and speaking at this worldrenowned center whose ideas have influenced generations of defense thinkers on both sides of the pond. This is my first opportunity to visit the United States after our recent election and let me reassure you, that postelection the government remains strong and we remain committed to delivering stronger defense. Now there are some who have taken a look at britain in the past few month after an unpredictable election, im not sure there is another kind of election these days, have looked at the negotiations over brexit, have seen the series of appalling terrorist incidents in manchester and london, and wondered whether britain is getting distracted in anyway from our International Role . That wouldnt be the first time critics have been wrong. I remember that first visit as defense secretary back in 2015. That was before rather than after the general election of that year. Yet some of the concerns expressed were all too familiar. They said we werent committed to the 2 . They noted parliaments refusal to endorse strikes against assads chemical weapons. They said we wouldnt be committing to two aircraft carriers. Though said we wouldnt act in the face of trouble. It is worth reminding ourselves just what happened next. First, we did invest. Later that year in 2015 we conducted an ambitious strategic defense and security review committing to continue to meet natos 2 target. Since then, not only have we done what we said we would do, we also chosen to grow our Defense Budget year on year by at least 0. 5 ahead of inflation. Nato figures published last week confirmed we are spending, we are spending more than 2 and we are also meeting the target to spend 20 of that on new equipment. Were using that growing budget to purchase, to develop, and to build a raft of highend kit from p8 aircraft and drones to apache helicopters and armored vehicles. From fifth generation f35 fighters to two aircraft carriers, the most powerful ships ever built in britain. And we were delighted that two weeks ago to witness Queen Elizabeth embark for the first time on her sea trials. Our Carrier Strike plans, to your continuing support, we have over 120 air crew and pilots training here on 10 f35 aircraft, those Carrier Strike plans are already becoming a reality. Were building, following a successful vote in parliament, we are building new generation of Nuclear Ballistic submarines to maintain our ultimate nuclear deterrent. And we are adapting to an age of information warfare, investing in equipment, with a sensors and receptors to handle a superapabundance of information, transforming our military structures to cope with the virtual environment, bringing our signals and Intelligence Corps together under a shared command to collate, analyze, disseminate cyber information more efficiently and effectively and training up a new generation of Cyber Warriors to strengthen our networks and tackle our vulnerabilities. My second point today is that were doing more than investing. We are also acting. When i spoke here in march 2015, that was still under the shadow of that 2013 syria vote against taking military action to deal with the use of chemical weapons. Yet by the end of 15 the new parliament voted overwhelmingly to extend the airstrikes we were conducting in iraq to syria itself and today were performing a pivotal role in the 71member counter daesh coalition. Attacking daesh positions with our aircraft, training local forces. The we trained over 50,000 iraqi and peshmerga troops, using our offensive Cyber Capabilities to disrupt daesh activity in both iraq and in syria and overall contribution of airstrikes second only to that of the United States. It is striking to think when i took office just three years ago, daesh were closing in on the gates to baghdad. Today they are close to defeat in their last city of mosul. But the counterdaesh campaign is far from the United Kingdoms only operation. We have been going global. Were not just in the middle east. We continue in jeanpierre garnier where we committed to committed in garner garn committed to increasing troupe numbers. Improving resilience of Afghan Forces strengthening the african air force. Training the next generation of afghan officers. Were in africa too, training somalians to fight alshabaab. Were assisting sudan in midst of a appalling humanitarian crisis. In total, this afternoon, we have more than 10,000 british servicemen and women deployed or in bases involved in some 25 operations around the globe. Britain delivered, britain is delivering and we will continue to do so. But my third point is we will do so in partnership. We are stronger of course when we work together. And the fact is today that our nations are facing a wave of multiple, concurrent, diverse, Global Threats from islamist extremism, from north korea testing missiles as weve seen, firing off missiles. From russia more aggressive as weve seen in ukraine and syria. From iran sponsoring terror, from the insidious spread of misinformation and Cyber Attacks these are challenges that demand an international response. So as we deliver on our domestic vote to leave the european framework that is the European Union, we see brexit as an opportunity, not to step back from your european defense, but to step up, to strengthen euroatlantic security. In particular, we are strengthening our bonds within nato, the cornerstone of our defense. Continuing to deter in the light of russian aggression. We are leading natos enhanced forward presence in estonia with 800 british troops. We are working alongside the United States in our forward presence in poland this year, britain leads the alliances very high readiness, joint task force. This year i have dispatched raf typhoons to romania for Southern Area policing, to police the skies over the black sea. This month Royal Navy Ships take over for a year, half of natos Maritime Missions in the mediterranean, black sea and the the aguillen. Were in nato right behind the United States to call for all members to start paying their way. Your president was absolutely correct to say that european nationsed into to do more to shoulder need to do more to shoulder their burden. Since britain and United States stood together to demand action at the wales summit, 24 of the 29 member nations have now raised their game and the alliance has cumulatively increased its defense spending by around 46 billion. But money isnt the only nato issue. Forged in a monachrome world of the cold war, nato must transform itself into a far more agile situation. Secretary mattis are working together for faster decision making, better prioritization, and less bureaucracy in the way that nato works. We also want to see nato adopting a 360degree approach, producing a coherent force capable of meaningful action, with modern integrated approach to defense and to deterrents. Playing enhanced role in the fight against international terror. Now our global influence as a country doesnt just come from nato. It comes also from a wealth of bilateral alliances. Last week we took a significant step forward by expanding the ukled joint Expeditionary Force to include sweden and finland. That gives us a ninenation armed force of likeminded Northern European countries able to deploy a force of 10,000 personnel. Augmenting ability to respond to threats in the north sea and the north atlantic but also giving us the adaptability and agility to deploy very quickly to humanitarian tasks. To rescue citizens from crisis hot spots. To conduct more minor military missions. We recently used our purchase of your p8s to do more trilaterally with the United States and norway. Last week i signed an agreement with secretary mattis and our norwegian colleague to enable closer cooperation on the training and logistics an support of those p8s that need to address the changed security environment and increase Russian Submarine activity in the north atlantic. Flying in each others plans, training on each others ships, collaborating on everything from Nuclear Capabilities including sharing of common missile compartments and intelligence to autonomy. We have the prospect now of United States f35 fighters flying from the decks of our aircraft carriers at our planes in turn flying from yours. Back in 2015 the United States helped support our strategic defense review and today its your turn to your own National Defense strategy i would like to share just one conclusion drawn from that experience of working together on our defense review. And that is the need for a stronger modern deterrence. Last year saw the passing of the nobel prizewinning economist thomas schelling, a Great American who helped codify our current notions of deterrence. Were you with us today he would doubtless remind us that deterrence is about much more than the hydrogen bomb. Its about ensuring our adversaries always know that the cost of an attack will be far greater than any potential reward. In the cold war that met armies long the boards of the iron curtain whilst building up a nuclear arsenals. Yet in an age of gray zone conflict with proxy nonconventional threats sometimes anonymous, often in morpheus adding to the conventional and Nuclear Dangers threatening to undermine the rulesbased International Order of which our security depends, our deterrence must necessarily evolve. Agility will be critical. What demand constant Strategic Planning to prepare for a broader range of threats that will require perpetual persistence to continually countering cyber intrusion, to rebut the malicious misinformation of our adversaries with a faster truth. It will seek new innovations in disruptive capabilities whether big data or autonomous systems, to stay ahead of the curve. Above all it will be about the arms of persuasion. Last week i spoke at the Margaret Thatcher security conference in london. Its the wise whether or not we are witnessing the decline and fall of the west york whether our western values were up to overcoming these new and present dangers. I argued then that not only can we rise to this challenge, but that we must and that we will. Without being attacked by these adversaries, because he failed we are not because our values are redundant. On the contrary we are being attacked because we won, because we succeeded in spreading these values and beliefs across the world. And today where recovering our confidence in them. But in an age of contested interests and confrontation, always pray to doubters that our adversaries cq social media and cyber warfare and misinformation to rewrite the western narrative, to extend their influence to try to limit those freedoms that we championed. We have to learn how to remake those original arguments. Because in so doing that will make our societies far more resilient, far less susceptible to the sophistry of our failed. That requires Political Leadership and no two nations are better equipped to make the case for the west than the United States and the United Kingdom. We share the same values of democracy, of justice, of freedom, tolerance, values we fought for throughout the past century. But we didnt just fight. We also championed the cause of liberty, the free markets, the innovation that technology demands. We gave people ever greater opportunity to live wealthier, healthier, happier, for your lives. So if we get this right, if we present our case Strong Enough again, we will do more than simply build resilience in our countrys. We can reawaken the hopes of those still living under oppressive regimes. In the 1980s president reagan and Margaret Thatcher succeeded in shattering the shackles of communism. Not just because they railed against the cruel and desolate creeds that lurked behind the iron curtain but because they presented the curtain of a better life. I remember a few years back being struck by a description of what was called a beautiful moment when news of reagans evil empire speech reached siberia. The words he wrote, the brightest and most glorious of day finally a spade had been called a spade. Finally all the worlds newspeak was dead. President reagan had from that moment made it impossible for anyone in the west to continue closing their eyes to the real nature of the soviet union. So today its not enough just to speak out against the aggressive behavior of russia in ukraine or in syria. Or to urge our adversaries to act in accordance with international law. We must also give hope to people across the world of a better way of life. Secretary mattis, my friend, said in germany last week, marking the 70th anniversary of the marshall plan, he said we stand for freedom and we will Never Surrender the freedom of our people. Back in 1996 the iron lady delivered a speech in fulton missouri where of course churchill had coined the iron curtain phrase 50 years before. And she said and i quote, they are rare moments when history is open and its course changed by any means such as these. We may be just such a moment now. I suggest to you this afternoon that weve reached such a moment. Once more we look to the United States to recapture the spirit of fulton, to provide deterrence for a darker age, to remake the case for the west. And to follow the Mission Statement from this very center in sustaining american prominence and prosperity as a force for good in the world. And as you do that, i want you to rest assured that a boulder global britain, as in the great war, as in the second world war, as in the cold war, will continue standing by your side strengthening our transatlantic bonds and supporting anywhere the course of freedom. Thank you. [applause] secretary fallon, thank you. Sometimes we need a dose of inspiration, and we needed that. Thank you very, very much. In some ways i think the challenge right now in anything think is where to begin, wes subject do we jump into . I think im going to start with the subject of the day, and that is russia. President trump stated in his speech in warsaw on thursday about the bedrock nature of the article v commitment, something does not accomplish at a nato leaders meeting in brussels. You recent complete a successful nato defense ministerial. Help us understand how things are going with that one of the native italian. Nato has had a challenge of deployment, getting them forces quickly. Getting the preposition equipment. What has your experience been and the British Forces experience in estonia in preparation for the placement of the battalion defend estonia should that become necessary . We are seeing a of native Ripley Center revival of nato right back from the summit in wales in 2014. Weve seen as a set a number of nato members now begin to increase their defensemen again after years of decline and weve seen more and more of them start to commit to a date to reach the 2 target, and your president of rhetoric has been helpful in that. It has helped to encourage those other allies to be clear about the defense spending. But weve also sense that same summit seen a revival in natos streets is about deployment come exactly your point. We saw commitment then to the very heart Readiness Task force. That stood up last yupik we commanded this year. I was there on exercise with them in romania, exercise noble jump, and we saw several thousand troops from my country, your country but also from spain, from a whole series of some of the new members of nato, detachments deploying. And that is the major response for stimuli, the fire brigade of nato ready to deploy. We agreed in warsaw just a year ago on and arms forward presence. Within a year, this i think what a been unthinkable in the nato five or ten years ago, within a year we have seen all four ballot groups deployed in the three Baltic States and in poland. Weve seen a number of Member States come together in different detachment feeding alongside each other. We have a a Large Company of french troops alongside arbella groups and we put a company into your battle group in poland. Weve seen these different formations all of which is added to the collective sense of purpose in nato. It was an emotional moment standing there in estonia for the standup parade of the british and french troops, when the president of the stony said to me, this is the first time we have had foreign troops on estonian soil as friends. That was quite a moment. It shows you just how important these deployments are for the eastern flank of nato. But i find it encouraging for those of us who have always believed in nato, that nato has become to revise itself. We need to carry that through with a modernization reforms i mentioned that secretary mattis and i are championing which would lead to foster decisionmaking and a reduced bureaucracy. There can be no doubting now in moscow that nato is an organization that is ready to defend itself. We are watching very closely, russia will implement a very significant military exercise, the pod, every four years. This major exercise comes to the western military district. Some believe accommodation over 100,000 forces will be deployed from the Kola Peninsula along natos eastern flank. Any particular concern you have . Which are watching for as we watch this major exercise unfold . They keep it will be watching zapad extreme the close of these are much larger exercise or do anything that nato can carry out and in that sense they are more provocative than any nato deployment. Weve been absolutely transparent with russia about our deployments. The numbers involved, the armaments they carry, the purpose of these deployments which is absolutely defensive. They are aimed to reassure they are defensive deployments, and that is a rather different approach to what we see with zapad. But as moscow conducts at exercise with its troops and its troops from belorussia come there should be no doubt that nato has demonstrated through its enhanced forward presence and the very high Readiness Task force has demonstrated its willingness to back up its support and that the present reconfirm the United States commitment to article v yesterday was the icing on top. Want to turn a little bit closer to shore and im glad you mentioned about the cooperation both bilaterally and trilateral he with the Maritime Patrol aircraft. Theres a growing concern about russian at the simmering water active in the north atlantic specifically. Think tanks in washington are hoping tabletop exercises on agreement iceland uk gap come we havent done that in a very long time. Weve written report the said we need to beef up natos command structure. Theres much more uk leadership role in at the subway warfare. What are your thoughts on the . You have had some back and forth with Russian Defense mission officials about the status of aircraft carriers both theirs and Queen Elizabeth. You might want to reflect on that a bit please. We have seen a bit of carrier in the i think. That is to be expected i knew seek to 5000ton aircraft carrier. By the way we are building two of them. There are only three of the countries in the world building aircraft carriers at the moment. What weve seen in recent years is a significant increase in russian segment activity in the north sea. We need an alliance as well as ourselves. We need to respond to that to protect our nuclear deterrent, to protect our carriers but also to protect nato. Again i related to the need for nato to look, to take it 360degree of its security. Theres been an intense focus on the northeast flank of nato what allies like estonia feel particularly vulnerable. Theres been concern at the southeast quadrant, but also we look right aroun round nato, the work more closely together. The fact that norway, britain and the United States are operating the same aircraft to this huge potential for more collaboration in training, logistics and support. Already are aircrew are flying, training upon your p8 and we look for to the first deployment of the first arrival of our p8 towards the end of this decade. Im going to finish up the russia question by noting as you are doing your deployments in the black sea u. S. Vessels or aircraft have experienced some very unprofessional behavior by russian pilots coming within five feet of use aircraft, buzzing the uss donald cook in the black sea. Any special concerns you have as you increase your maritime present in the black sea and, of course, your air patrol role . Anything you are particularly concerned about russian behavior . We are concerned about russian longrange aviation where we are not far behind of flights to the edge of our air information region where russian aircraft dont respond when we send out our just to warn them off. That is provocative. It can be dangerous. It often involves the diversion of civilian flights that might happen to be in the area. Theres a capacity always for misunderstanding and miscalculation. We continue to talk to russia about that. We use our communication with russia specifically to ensure that were possible we can deconflict and where possible we can very readily deescalate any tension that arises. Moving towards the middle east, youre also a time mission in the military come mediterranee. The migration crisis, the report over the last several weeks weve seen an uptick in migrants attempting an incredibly dangerous crossing of Central Mediterranean. Whats the uk position on the migration crisis, your naval role for nato and the European Union . You are taking a leadership role. What is the Maritime Strategy . Where i get a strong uk role in that position. Its a good example of where britain remains and will remain involved in the security of what is our continent. It is the security of europe matters to us, as much to most of the European Union. Since the beginning of the European Union mission on the Central Mediterranean at the nato mission in nigeria come since the beginning of the European Union mission, the Central Mediterranean with federal navy ship there. We got her own and ship to save lives in the mediterranean. We are seeing a huge increase in the number of migrants who are tackling this journey and we do need to do something about this, not simply to control migration into your but, frankly, also to save lives. Far too many setting out on what is an incredibly dangerous journey. There are people making a lot of money out of this particular trade. So as well as saving lives we think an important to start to tackle the Business Model of the people to make sure they cannot profit any longer from this trade and that means working with the libyan authorities to build up their coast guard efforts, very slow work but necessary work. If they are to police their own territorial waters to stop migrant boats getting to the edge of those waters where it becomes even more dangerous to attempt a journey across the india, to work with libya and to work on a policy of returns for those who are clearly not refugees, who are clearly economic migrants who are attempting to cross illegally so that they can be returned promptly to where they came from. So turning more to syria were hearing some early reports from g20 conversations that syria looking at potential ceasefires. We talked a lot about ceasefires and what is your sense of where things are going in syria . Theres been some discussion about the safety zones, the military footprints are daunting, two major powers, the United States and rush are in very close proximity to each other. Give us your sense of syria right now, what is the future military picture look like . The recent history of the Syrian Civil War is littered with ceasefires and it would be nice when they do have a ceasefire. None of these have turned out to be ceasefires. They have been broken, persistently and broken either regime and, indeed, broken by russian activity itself. We welcome any ceasefire but lets see it and see the results on the ground. Where the safety zones are proposed, lets not have the civilian population misled. If they can be properly enforced in the authority can welcome at they can get in United Nations humanitarian aid that was promised. So far as the confliction is concerned, yes, we have to the coalition through the United States we have the deconfliction machinery that enables both the coalition and rush and the regime to avoid flying aircraft at the same time at exactly the same space. Its important to come we continue to work that machinery, but the battle space particularly north syria, to some extent that in the southwest, is getting incredibly complex. The capacity for miscalculation weve already seen sadly and will have to work even harder at that. Hypothetically, if the Syrian Regime would use chemical weapons, would the United Kingdom be prepared to assist militarily and and affect . We made it very clear last time, i made it clear to secretary mattis when we reviewed the various options that your administration was considering just prior to the last attack. I made it very clear that United Kingdom would support that attack. And we did support that attack publicly. The use of chemical weapons is illegal and its barbaric and innocent lives were lost. We are in no doubt that the source of the original chemical weapon attack was the regime. It was only the regime aircraft in the air at that particular time. Any effort to do with that or to forestall a for the chemical weapons attack will have United Kingdoms full support. Im going to keep spinning michael and i moved to afghanistan. Ten years from now as you explaining to children and grandchildren what the role of British Military forces were in afghanistan and what an accomplishment what would that story be . Our role was to falter it was first to reduce the threat of these transnational terror groups operating from afghanistan using it as a safe base to attack the west. It was to reduce, then to eliminate that particular threat. It was also to try and build a Better Future for the people of afghanistan like we now have, a democracy, a fragile democracy but a democracy nonetheless in which i think six or 7 Million People voted in the last election, which girls are able to be educated in school in which there has been an increase in the quality of life in large parts of afghanistan. So looking back, our objectives were noble, to reduce the Terror Threat and to try and build a better afghanistan for its own people. That campaign, that effort has been far longer than anyone originally foresaw. I can see that, and in the end of course it is a battle against insurgency that can only be one in the end by local forces that can come on the support of the local population. So i hope over the next few years we will continue to improve the resilience of those forces. That is why we are uplifting our commitment again, having uplifted can previously last year to strengthen the training of Afghan Forces, to improve the air force, to improve their counterterrorism efforts and future officer training. For many of us as we are watching the story unfold and in afghanistan compassing uptick in Russian Support to the taliban, additional regional powers playing a role, and so was last few years his like we lost ground. Secretary mattis has called and general nicholson have called for additional forces. Do you think nato would be of the substantial increase its contribution, or its trainers can is going to be a limited footprint . Sounds like we need additional there i say the word surge, but it just doesnt feel as if we want to make that commitment again. We are past the danger point of last summer when the Previous Administration here was considering reducing the commitment to afghan, and weve seen a number of allies now looking at how they, too, might uplifted their commitment. I think in the west we understand that these terror groups are still there. They are still a threat to the west from their operations in afghanistan. I think we also understand that if afghanistan were to start to collapse as a country it would be huge implications in terms of migration for the westwards which would eventually end up with us in western europe. So i hope we can continue to persuade our nato allies to increase their commitments again. On the basis of driving up reinforcing the resilience of Afghan Forces themselves. In the end of this is a battle they have to win. A bit of against it in the last two or three fighting seasons and we withdrew him combat operations but its important they do in the end. The last spin of microcontent of want to turn to the audience. Lets turn to the asiapacific region. You mentioned north korea. Before he cannot you were hypothetically saying the United States could ask what are the five commit if the north korean icbm attempted to reach u. S. Soil. With nato be able to respond in any meaningful way . Weve seen with the 16 countries are participating in exercise. The uk of course participate in that. Really europe does not have physical preference and the capability. Is there a solution set that our nato allies can support us in trying to deter north korean advances in the icbm capability . First of all we are a long way away from military, looking at military options. I think with recognize first of all this is not just a threat to the United States, nor should United States be expected to do with this entirely on its own. This is a threat to the International Community, to the region but to the commute as a whole and it is up to the International Community now to redouble its efforts to get to improved the cost to the regime of what it is doing. And that means looking at existing diplomatic efforts, the revolutions for minute been passed in United Nations, ensuring their being forced properly, adding were necessary new names, new organizations to the list where we have evidence that sanctions are being breached and working harder collectively to ensure that the International Community is one in do with this particular problem. Its a huge challenge. So now lets turn to our audience. I went to my questions. I know they have theirs. We have colleagues with microphones if you could please raise your hand can introduce yourself and ask your question very briefly. When going to collect a few questions and then have sector respond to them in the remaining time. I think we will start this way. Right here, please. Cabin with the navy league. Quick question on qatar. Did you discuss qatar and other influences u. S. Uk relations for the other arab countries having embargo on qatar . Acus much. We will keep moving across. Right there. A microphone is coming away. Thank you for your speech. Johnson ward, university of oxford. I wanted to ask if you could comment further on the scope of potential scope of u. S. Uk defense cooperation in asia, not just a north korea but as the whole region sort of changes. Also if you could comment uku. S. Defense cooperation. Speak into that. Aso and also potential in the indian ocean took also curious about if you could comment on uk India Defense cooperation at the potential for that Going Forward take in a time and air domains. Thank you. Thank you. I think will take to my questions have been a come back around for a second round. Right in the back. Thank you. Im tyler with at t. With the increase in cyber attack and with military presence across the world, can you for the discussed uk strategy how to increase Communication Networks . I want to make sure i understand. Strategy and the bridge strategy on cyber . Yes. Is there more specific on offensive capabilities . More defensive. Thank you. There is one more. The gentleman behind and a promise ill get to the next round. Im david smith. Secretary tillerson says in the meeting today between President Trump and putin that President Trump did press a couple of times, several times on the issue of russias interference pilasters election and president putin consistently denied it. Just your reaction to that and more generally whether you have confidence in this American Administration to take a tough line on vladimir putin. So i will just stop there for a moment. So the challenging issue between that gcc and qatar and india and cyber anything else you like to offer on the meeting. I do my best. Didnt quite get the details of the questions because i think it is the way the microphone. Qatar we want to see this dispute brought to an end. Secretary tillerson is working extremely hard to do that come to bring that about, kind of an honest broker. Hes working in close cooperation with our foreign secretary boris johnson, and i hope this dispute as all disputes, i hope we can bring it to a resolution. We have friends right across the gulf. This is this is a dispute in thy if you like in the gulf, and we want to see it brought to an end and where user all our contacts to try and explore various ways of doing that. But the lead is with secretary tillerson. On asia, we are committed to the South China Sea for example, for that we have already confirmed that we are now employing with the coalition against daesh in which i very recently confirmed we would be willing to put in the service of nato if those capabilities were required. On the meeting between putin and the president , i havent seen the readout that you think of already got from secretary tillerson. I havent seen it. I have drawn attention in my speech on russia. Its not as university, to undoubted russian interference in european elections in the referendum and another referendum and the french election, the attempted coup in montenegro. Im not going to comment, sadly, not going to comment on the interference in the United States election. I think we have a second round and we will take the cluster of three questions and then i will move back around. Thank you very much for speaking to us. Im retired from the state department, and my question is cyber. As the British Government made the decision on what would be the line that would trigger an article v Nato Response . Im not expecting you to say clearly yes this is the line, but maybe you could give us some examples of points below that line and maybe some point clearly abov about it so that wn get a better idea of what level of cyber attack would trigger article v. Thank you, sir. My question is regarding the uk efforts in mosul and iraq. After the push of isis out of the area what are the uks efforts in strengthening the Iraqi Government to prevent another power vacuum in the future . Thank you. Yes, with north and gromit. With so much going on between our two countries and in the world, is it an issue between, the subject of u. S. Uk defense trade that has come up to the table between yourself and your use counterpart . Thank you. Lets stop there and then take on cyber yes yes ive been ad this question before. First of all weve got nato to agree not as allies that a cyber attack can be construed as an attack under article five. Article v. I think thats important. That we recognize cyber as the divide alongside other domains. However, i dont think its useful to start specifying specific thresholds. I think the danger is if we did that we start to see Cyber Attacks just below the threshold that weve identified and would rather our adversaries will have to understand its out what the qualifying level of paint is if you like before article v would be triggered. On mosul, yes. I become we want to be sure the end of pushing daesh out of iraq, out of the remaining cities come if we can getting completely out of iraq we want to be very sure we dont have to go back in there and do this as a coalition all over again. 71 countries, and investment over three years, a Huge Investment for us raf strike power, of intelligence gathering and training. Over 50,000 iraqi troops trained. So which really important is its not simply we dont to syndicate the humanitarian aid as its gone into east mosul was the census of are being restored. Schools are being reopened. Markets are string open again. But there is sufficient stabilization that the sunni populations of these cities really feel they have a stake in the future of iraq pics of this requires stabilization and political reconciliation that we need to strengthen the governments determination to follow through the military campaign with that political work that should pinyon prevent us how to do this all over again. Uku. S. Relationship, there is Huge Investment as a result of it in american cant come if i can put as quickly as that. Also therefore expect to see our own companies further down the supply chain getting a sufficient share of that. We hav had signed an agreement recently with boeing which is seeing them invest more in the United Kingdom and opening up more opportunity for smes in particular, and we want this to be twoway traffic. We are buying a lot of highend american kit, f35s from you i think, attack helicopters, the United States aircraft and so on and we expect a fair return from that. We are also watching closely, theres no secret about that come into density towards protectionism that might discriminate against British Companies in particular, indeed British Companies involved in the United States the fence chain as well. These are issues that we discussed with the administration. Fantastic. I think we really a very short time for two quick questions. I will take that you write here and then we will close out. Bpc news turkey talked about military to military cooperation and the kit as you put it. But have you had the chance to do been here to express the uk government displeasure about the leaks of intelligence completely around the manchester bombing, the damage that could do trust between the communities here in london . Thank you. Rear admiral, germany attacee in washington. Mr. Secretary, very recently, chief of defense voiced his concern because of those high ticket items like carriers and nuclear component, that there might be a moment one might be forced to reduce the army, the british army from 80,000 up to 65000 or do you share this concern . Those two final questions, good to see you again. So far as the Intelligence Leaks is concerned, these were serious leaks at the beginning of a criminal investigation. We made that very clear to the United States. We received reassurance from those i think the particular agency confirmed that this information where it is shared with the properly protected in future and we have now regard the particular matter as closed. Its important that it is close off because ther theres a huge amount of intelligence sharing that is necessary when youre fighting terrorism. It was unfortunate but its been dealt with. So far as the remarks, hes a former head of the army. I can reassure you we have no plan to reduce the size of the army down to 65,000. On the contrary our manifesto commitment is to maintain the size of the armed forces including the ability of the army to fight at divisional level and, indeed, in a 2015 as the sr we are increasing the size of the royal navy and the Royal Air Force and were not about cutting the army. Secretary kerry, thank you much. This has been a rich discussion and it is a perfect reflection of the rich deep and abiding relationship that we have with the United Kingdom bilaterally and as well as multilaterally within nato. Thank you for putting sort of an endpoint to a very busy sometimes confusing week of International Affairs and cutting through it and helping us to understand that whats important and the british position on that. So with your warm applause please thank [applause] [inaudible conversations] sunday night on after words, syndicated columnist naomi klein on the book know is not enough. Shes interviewed by cofounder of code pink. I wonder if you could tell us a bit about how the stage was set for trial. Its a bipartisan process, the table that was set for trump and it isnt just about politics. Its about media, news coverage, the table set for him in so many ways the all need to do with yeshua because it was we were already treating elections like reality tv shows. We already had a media landscape that was much more interested in interpersonal drama between candidates that an indepth coverage of the issues. We already had democrat, a Democrat Using the tools of corporate branding themselves for president obama was a fantastic brain. He used incredible cutting edge marketing techniques at a lot of us felt there was, behind the claims that he was leading this deep change in transformation, that was enough change and that also helps set the table for trump