This operation was the culmination of multiyear interagency effort to find him and capture or kill him. Baghdadi and the thugs who followed him are responsible for some of the more brutal atrocities of our time. His death marks devastating blow for isis who are deprived of their inspirational leader, falling to the destruction of original caliphate this year. I want to thank our brave senior members to took part in this raid. Theres no guarantee of success in an operation with this level of difficulty. President trump knew this when he made the Bold Decision to order the raid confident in the expertise of our forces. Our Service Members conducted themselves with incredible skill and professionalism. They executed the raids brilliantly. Not a single United StatesService Member was killed in this high risk operation. Despite baghdadis death, the security situation in syria remains complex. Multiple state and nonstate actors continue to vie for control of territory and resources within the country. As we have learned from our recent history in the middle east, it is very easy to get drawn into continued conflict if our objectives are not clear. Acting as a police force is not our mission. Our mission in syria today remains the same as it was when we first began operations in 2014. To enable the defeat of isis. Our recent repositioning of forces within the country is intended to continue this mission and give the president options while returning the balance back home to the United States. Those who remain will continue to execute Counterterrorism Operations while staying in close contact with the Syrian Democratic forces who fought alongside us. Additionally, the United States will retain control of oil fields in northeast syria. At the height of baghdadis reign, these oil fields provided isis with Financial Resources use to fund its terror. U. S. Troops will remain positioned in this area to deny isis access to those vital resources. We will respond with overwhelming military force against any group that threatens the safety of our forces there. These oil fields provide a krill source of funding to the sbf. To secure isis prison camps and conduct operations against isis among other things. Last week, i was in brussels for the nato defense ministerial. I spoke to our allies about the situation in syria. Our commitment to the defeat of isis and called on other nations who have much at stake for their support to help mitigate the ongoing security crises. Turkey continues to bear responsibility for the consequences of unwanted incursion. A number of allies have expressed their desire to help with the implementation of a safe zone along the syriaturkey border. The United States remains focused on our core mission and continue owork closely with the defeat Isis Coalition as we implement the next phase of the campaign. Bagbaghdadis death will not end the war on terror and. It will send a message who questions america resolve and provide a warning to terrorist who think they can hide. The United States more than any other nation in the world possesses the power and the will to hunt to the ends of the earth, those who wish to bring harm upon the american people. Saturdays operation was just one example of the incredible determination and great skill of the United States military. I will ask general milley to provide you with details on the operation. Thank you. Good afternoon everyone. As secretary esper stated, United States special Operations Forces under the command control of center command, general Frank Mckenzie conducted counterterrorism of operation that conducted in the death of leader of Isis Abu Bakr baghdadi. Identified the target location approximately four miles from the turkish border. In order to reduce the risk u. S. Forces, and prevent missed calculation and escalation and action consistent with operations in the past, we coordinated with appropriate militaries and other organizations in the region to established deconfliction mechanisms. During the mission u. S. Forces were assisted by helicopter and secured the target compound. The threats were quickly eliminated. Our forces isolated the compound and protected all the noncombatants. U. S. Forced discovered al baghdadi hiding in a tunnel. Baghdadis remains transport to a secure facility to confirm his identity with forensic dna testing. Dispose sal of his remains has been done and it is complete and handled appropriately. The success of this operation is testament to the professionalism of men and women and the courage and bravery. They put themselves in harms way time and time again to protect our great country. Secretary and i will take your questions. Mr. Secretary you mentioned the oil fields and securing the oil fields in the eastern syria. Has the deployment of reinforcement that you announced begun and could you describe more fully what you intend to do . We have begun deploy additional assets. As i said, it includes mechanized forces. That will continue until we believe we have sufficient capability to ensure isis and other destabilizing actors are denied access to that oil facility. Quick followup. Have you any indications any challenges to your presence there . Not at this time. Do you have video of baghdadis final moments and also are you partnering with the kurds again on the ground . Can you explain difficult this operation would have been if you didnt have troops or bases on the ground in syria and in iraq . We do have video, photos. Were not prepared at this time to release those. They are going through declassification process. What youll see here, well set up some operational briefings by Central Command and youll be provided video and photos of that. [indiscernible] from an operational standpoint the United States military can strike any target, anywhere, any time. I was going to say, we have incredible reach. We can strike anybody, any time, anywhere. The terrorists should be aware of that. They should have seen that now. With regard to your question regarding the sbf, we stay in continuous contact with them. First, what was used to destroy the compound. You mentioned that you had video. Do you have video from inside the tunnel itself and if show you were you able to get that . That canine was wearing video . The name of the canine please. Multiple types of ordinance used to include the gbus as well as small armed fire etcetera. We used variety of ammunitions. Your second question about the video, im not going to classify the video. What we do have and dont have at this time. I seen a lot and ill wait until everything is appropriately declassified. Well make sure that are provided that. Were not releasing the name of the dog now. The dog is the military working dog performed a Tremendous Service as they all do and variety of situations. Slightly wounded and fully recovering. But the dog is still in theater return to duty. Were not going to release photos or names of dogs. Protecting the dogs identity. Baghdadi his remains was disposed appropriately. [inaudible] baghdadis headquarters compound, was he just passing through . There was material taken away away. We always desensitize any objective anywhere. As to headquarters, it was an area in which he was staying on a consistent basis. What about prisoners . You took some and whos custody are they in now . They are in our custody in a secured facility can you tell us how many . There were two adult males taken off the objective alive. Theyre in our custody. Thank you for your time today. I wanted to look at whats next. The president alluded to materials being collected from the cite itself. Can you elaborate on whats being looked through now . It will be best not to. That information needs to be exploited properly. Well continue the mission. The mission is to ensure the defeat of isis in the region. Thats our mission. Weve seen reporting that it was launched, can you clarify where it came from . We will not discuss the location problem which the raid took place. It took place somewhere in the region. Can you take back to the question on the oil field and the military role in the oil field mission. You will protect them again and keep control and give isis another potential. Does it include the possibility in your view, that u. S. Troops prepared to deny access to oil fields to either russian and syrian forces. Is that part of your mission to specifically deny them access . My follow on to that, how do you know when what do you need to see need to see to know youre done with the oil field mission. Presumably youre not keeping troops there forever. How do you know when youre done done . The question youre asking is about purpose and instate and then the ways will be the military question. Im going to im going to punt over to the secretary, specifically for that. The military task that weve been given is to secure, continue to secure etent and secure the conoco oil fields. The fundamental purpose of securing those oil fields is deny those oil fields access to isis to prevent isis from fromresurgence. Ill let the secretary talk about that. Is that within what you want to do in the oil fields. Does that include deny access preventing russian or syrian forces, which now changed the battlefield. The short answer yes it yes it does. In order to guard the prisons, in order to arm their own troops. In order to assist us with the defeat isis mission. Thats our mission is to secure the oil fields. General milley, President Trump described yesterday baghdadi was screaming and crying before he died. Can you elaborate or confirm . Secretary was asked same question yesterday. I know the president had planned to talk down to the unit and unit members. I dont know what the source of that was. I assume it was talking directly to the members. You havent talk to members that described that to you . I have not talk to unit members. I talked to commanders and others but not down to that level. Last question. Thank you for doing this. The commander said there was a member that was part of this raid. Hes talking about the intelligence. Can you confirm all this on your end. In the oil fields, can you talk about overall picture in syria now after the last couple of weeks, putting more people in protecting oil fields. Are there going to be more troops in syria than there were before . As i said, were reinforcing our position in that area. We were given the the early directive to retain forces. At the end of the day, we will be sending troops home. The president made it clear to do that. In the meantime, were going to reinforce and make some other moves to ensure that we can accomplish that mission, securing the oil fields in order to deny them access to isis. More going on than going out . No, at the end of the day, my expectation is to reinforce and that it will be fewer what we had before. Theyll be going home. First question was about the commander. This was a u. S. Only operation for personnel that were on the objective. I know who referring to. There was a comment reported in the media that the sbf sold as troops on the objective with our forces. Im not going to comment on what may or may not have happened with the sdf on the objective. The actions on the objective, the aircraft coming in and the soldier the conducting assault was u. S. Only operation. Thanks guys. Operation. Heres a look whats live tuesday on the cspan network. On cspan, the house is back at 10 00 a. M. Eastern for general speeches with legislative business at noon. On the agenda is a bill that would impose sanctions on turkey for incursion into syria and other actions. On cspan 2, the Senate Returns to continue work on a 2020 spending bill that covers several agencies including agriculture, transportation and housing. On cspan 3, the head of boeing is on capitol hill at 10 00 a. M. Eastern to testify about safety concerns related to the boeing 737 max aircraft which saw entire fleet grounded this year. Later, a house judiciary subcommittee looks at how current immigration policies are affecting veterans and their families. Thinking about participating in cspan student cam 2020 competition but youve nerd made a documentary film before . No problem. We have resources on our website to help you get started. Check out Getting Started and download pages for producing information and video links to footage in the cspan library. Teachers will find resources on the teachers materials page. You need to find the topic that youre truly passionate about. Were asking middle and High School Students to create a Short Documentary on the issue that you would like the president ial candidates to address during the campaign. Cspan will award 100,000 in total cash prizes plus a 5000 grand prize. Go get a camera and microphone and go start filming. Produce the best videos that you can produce. Visit studentcam. Org for more