Thank you. Thank you for the most spectacular security government i have been to. One name after another, just like hammer blows. Ending with you, jake. Thank you for being here. Let me get straight to it. Bill burns, one of the nicknames big names we had here yesterday. He discussed the failed coup attempt. Putins response to this, not acting on that implied word, trader. He said the emperor has no clothes or if the emperor does have clothes, he is taking a long time to get dressed. I think that is a very memorable way of putting it. Of course, it was about the exposed fragility of putin. My question to you is how can we exist assist this fragility along . Is that a goal . What happened inside russia is for the elements of Russian Society and russian politics to work out. It is not for us to sit around and plot how to change the regime in moscow. We made clear that is not where our efforts lie. Our efforts lie in supporting ukraine so they can be as successful on the battlefield as possible. Success for ukraine on the battlefield reverberates inside russia. Why did he do what he did . It was because he was so unhappy with the course of the war effort in ukraine. If putin had been succeeding in ukraine, you would not have seen perversion seen him doing that. We need to provide tools for ukraine for it to continue to be successful as a joke to element every element of Russian Society that prudent adventure in ukraine was a misadventure putins adventure in ukraine was a misadventure. That has to be the prime directive for us to focus on. Talking about the adventure in ukraine. One of the nastiest aspects has been the wagner group. Is it out of play . Is it out of commission . To be clear, i dont think anybody knows whether wagner, the Russian Ministry of defense, any particular commander, this is all so unsettled. What happened with the mutiny have yet to play out. We will see it play out over the next weeks and months. This is what is preoccupying put an end to around him. They are actively trying to work through all of that. I cannot give you a clear answer about whether the future of wagner lies he or there. Other elements are looking heavily to go further afield. The less most of wagner the loss of wagner persist. Some of the modest progress that russia made during his last counteroffensive is on the board. That will come at some cost to russia overall. It is hard to predict next month, let alone a few months down the road as to whether in fact what we see today which is wagner out of commission from the point of view of ukraine remains the case. You heard prigozhin say they are not engaged in ukraine right now but also mused about whether they may be engaged in ukraine in the future. I dont think he knows, i dont think putin knows so we need to plan for any contingency. There has been talk at this conference about the slow progress of this counteroffensive. The president of ukraine was on the screen. They both reiterated that we need f16s. There is some controversy about whether they actually need it but they are the ones on the ground and they are the ones asking for these important pieces of military equipment that theres a will help them finish the job. What do you say to them when they reiterate this demand . On f16s, i said on cnn that we are moving rapidly to try to help ukraine get the ability to operate those f16s and put them to use. That means working with our allies to train Ukrainian Pilots and then also how to sustain and actually service and f16 squadron were multiple squadrons in a fight. That work is underway and we are going to push as fast as possible to be able to deliver that capability ukraine. To ukraine. I would point out the following, russia has 800 or 900 fourth or fifth Generation Fighters and have not played a significant role in russias counteroffensive or russias defensive effort in the south and east. That is because air defense is such a significant element to both sides capabilities that ukraine can hold russian fourth and fifth Generation Fighters at risk and russia can hold them as well. The view of our military commanders is the notion of f16s would play a decisive role in this counteroffensive given that fundamental reality which is played out in the battlefield over the course of the past year , they have a different view of what you have heard from some ukrainian voices. I would say some of those fighter jets are important for the longterm defensive adherent defensive deterrent capabilities of ukraine. We are not just building for the counteroffensive today but for the force of ukraine tomorrow. That is what a significant amount of this work is about with respect to attacking, the british and french have provided longrange strike capability that is integrated into the ukrainian fight. It is good to see that they have an additional capability they are using in the context of this counteroffensive and have over the course of many weeks and months to go with all the things the United States has provided which is more than the rest of the world combined. Whether or not we ultimately given attack give attack weapons is for the president to discuss with zelensky. Let me press you on that. If you go with ukrainian narrative, we were more cautious earlier in the war about what we gave them. Whoever was drawing that redline for putin is running out of red ink because the redline keeps retreating. It is perfectly reasonable for them to push for something seeing as how you push the redline you push putins redline back gradually. Isnt the prigozhin attempt at mutiny and putins inability to be the apostle of payback doesnt that cause us to further reappraise where putins red lines are . We have to be a learning organism. We do something more, russia response, we respond. Russia responds, we respond. If you think about the course of this conflict so far, what we have tried to do is provide ukraine with the capabilities it needs for the beginning phase of war. In the early phase of the work, the defensive he was about antitank and antiair. That is what stopped the advance in its tracks. The second phase of the war was about artillery, opacity to be able to halt to the russian advance in the donbas. In this stage of the work, it is a need for mobility, you need tax, combined arms operations, money clearing equipment, breaching equipment. We have given that to the ukrainians in droves. From our perspective, we have not just looked at the question of what capability to provide ukraine. We have looked at what is necessary for a given part of the conflict, how you train and equip the iranians to be able to execute the conflict as effectively as possible. Finally, i would just make the point that there are two caricatures that i think are just wrong. One caricature is that the Biden Administration is sitting around , unwilling to provide things because we are worried about the russians. I think that is a lie by the sheer breadth of things we have provided. We will continue to take risks and be prepared to take risks to provide support to ukraine. On the other hand, there is a caricature that says dont worry at all, do not even ask the question about what russia might do because that is just weakness. Why would you even consider that . It is responsible for every member of nato and for the United States to think about the russian reaction when we choose to do something because that matters for our security and it matters for global security. Consider it and then make decisions accordingly. That is the clear and systematic way we have approached this in ukraine. We are proud of the type, quantity and capacity of the material, the intelligence and other forms of support we have provided ukraine. We will continue to give them what they need because the ultimate as that in this or above all others is the courage and reverie of the ukrainian fighters on the front lines and the people bravery of the ukrainian fighters on the front lines and the people standing up there. Having what they need recently included cluster bombs. Could you explain what the military value to them would be . What would they use them for . I would divide the question about cluster bombs into two categories. One is what do cluster bombs do that rounds of 155 ammunition dont. The second is what do cluster bombs do as opposed to having nothing . The reason i raised the second point is because we have today provided an overwhelming amount of 155 ammunition to ukraine collectively from around the world from u. S. Stocks, partner stocks, more than 1. 5 one million rounds of ammunition. The total amount in our stockpiles has come down. The monthly production of 155 is not sufficient to meet ukraines need for offense and defense. We recognize that several months ago recognized that several months ago. We up to the production of 155 dramatically so we could meet all the needs necessary for ukraine, us, everybody, all of our allies and partners. It takes time. I think a lot of us think about the world war ii concept, rosie the riveter, rolling tanks and planes off the production lines that were converted from being car factories. We did that in a matter of months. The severe sheer sophistication of these rounds, the time it takes to get from x thousand rounds today to more is a matter of months. We will not leave ukraine defenseless. That is why the president decided to bridge that gap, we would provide cluster munitions because the alternative was that not having enough bullets. The single biggest military value is that it sustains their artillery capacity in a war that is fundamentally an artillery fight. In addition to that, cluster munitions do provide a better capacity to defend an onslaught from the russians. We are not just focused on a counteroffensive, we are focused on ensuring the russians cannot attack and overrun you positions along the front line. Of course, it creates more opportunities in the counteroffensive. Spread the fire more broadly. For that set of reasons, the president ultimately determined that this was something we were going to provide ukraine and we have delivered them and they are now using them. One of the explanations for why the screening counteroffensive hasnt i will get to china in a moment. One of the expeditions is they have not put a majority of their combat brigade into action yet. They might lack ammunition. It gives them more ammunition to blast through those very thick minefields and fortification that russia has laid out last winter. Is it your understanding that the counteroffensive has yet to come . I cannot say yes to that question because the real counteroffensive began the day the First Ukrainian hit the line and put their life on the line and there have already been significant amounts of casualties and death of ukrainian fighters in this counteroffensive. It is well underway and it is hard knowing hard going. We said it would be hard going. There are other obstacles for the ukrainians to work through but it is also the case that ukraine has a substantial amount of combat power it has not yet committed to the fight and it is trying to choose its moment to commit that combat power to the fight when he will have a maximum impact on the battlefield. We are in close consultation with ukrainians on the conditions for that. Ultimately, that is a decision they will make. It is at that moment when they make that commitment that we will see what the likely result of this counteroffensive will be. Track to is track 2 is one way to do it. They have been doing it in lavrov. Is it possible to achieve a credible peace . Credible peace that ukrainians would accept while putin is the head of russia . Is hard to say what would be acceptable to the russians. From our perspective, incredible peace requires the basic principles of the u. N. Charter be honored. It says that sovereignty and territorial integrity are sacrosanct. It says you cant take your neighbors territory by force. From our perspective, that has to be a fundamental paintable of the peace between russia and ukraine. Can put in ever except that at the bargaining table . I cant answer that question. He is clearly not preparing to accept that proposition today. From the u. S. Perspective, we will continue to stand behind that principle alongside our partners. Also, alongside ukraine. Ukraine will choose when it was to negotiate and we will support them in that. In the meantime, it is about putting them in the best possible position on the battlefield so they are in the best possible position when they choose to go there. They are in an existential fight. We are in support of their fight but they are seeing the whites of russian eyeballs. One of the things, nord stream two, it seems that ukrainians did sabotage that. Is it time to concede that is what happened for very understandable reasons . As you know, there is an Ongoing Investigation in multiple countries in europe and the last thing i am going to do to our allies in europe is front run an investigation that they are conducting. We will let that play out the results of that investigation and i will not prejudge. Lets move on to china. It has been a pretty rocky, topsyturvy year. The chinese spy balloon, etc. The carryover from pelosi visiting taiwan wiping out whatever progress President Biden and president xi made. That seemed to come to an end when you met with the chinese for an official in vienna for an official foreign official in vienna. This isnt the first time that you talk to. This tends to lower the tensions. What passes through that seems to allude other actors . It was a lot of hours. 12 to 46 hours. I do think there is some value in a channel that is relatively lowkey. Where there is not press. We did not even do a camera spray. It allows for a frank and candid interchange of ideas where we dont have to go out and intermediate what we said to each other through media and score points. I think that matters. That is point number one. Point number two, i think there was a gap in that time between perception and reality on both sides about what our intentions were toward one another and toward the relationship. Actually being able to sit down and say this is what we are about and this is not what we are about in a way had a brush clearing quality to it that paved the way for secretary blinken to sit with president xi and other chinese leaders. Also, for secretary yelling to go yellen to go. Also, henry kissinger. Former secretary kissinger former secretary kissinger was going for himself and not resenting the u. S. Government. Part of it is about representing the u. S. Government. Part of it was being straightforward. I had the opportunity to say here is why we have taken the actions we have taken. Here is why we will take other actions and how you should perceive them. Here is how we can manage the relationship effectively and here are ways that the u. S. And p. R. C. Can work on common interests. I think being clear, straightforward and setting the emotions, the rhetoric and some of these larger philosophical framings and getting down to the core practicalities i think there is a genuine possibility for a stable relationship even though that relationship is inherently competitive and will involve us doing things that beijing doesnt like and involve beijing doing things that we dont like. It is about being able to manage that set of structural factors and that is what we are engaged in right now. Capitation paired with diplomacy to produce an outcome where the competition does not fear into conflict. One of the ways of stabilizing what is an inherently terrifying prospect is having the cold war style guardrails that were put in place after the cuban missile crisis. We got secretary rice here. She was in your job. She had that moment of tension where u. S. Pilots were forced down and held hostage. Even then, in the pre9 11 era, that was a moment of great tension. Today, given the traffic across the street and the south china sea, and the freedom of navigation patrols, you heard of that happening and we still dont have any guardrails. What will it take to persuade the chinese, what does he say when he says we need guardrails . One of the things that the prc likes to point out is to say the equivalent i dont want to read out his conversation. Just to be careful that i am not violating what we do inside the room, this is just my characterization on the overall chinese attitude on this. He seems to be something along the lines of the following if you wear a seatbelt in a car, you will be incentive to drive faster and more crazy and you are more likely to have a crash. The concern about guardrails is guardrails means you can act the United States can take on more risk because there is some safety net under the high wire you are walking along or whatever other analogies i can mix while i am out here. You understand that is the basic logic of it. What we have tried to explain is actually the seatbelt is a great analogy because where is he does has dramatically lowered the consequences of Car Accidents and is an inherently good thing. Fundamentally, the United States stands prepared to engage at every level of military communication to avoid the escalation and frankly, the prc does not. You heard from them at this conference yesterday. A realworld example of where he has tried to engage his p. R. C. Counterparts, he has been unable to do so. From our perspective, this is about basic responsibility. We are prepared to step up to our responsibility. We believe the prc should do the same. The fact that they havent is something i think you need to answer for. The chinese say that you sanction to their defense minister. That is the reason for him not meeting secretary austin. Would it be pragmatic to say under our law, we sanctioned you. We will lift the sanctions because we dont want there to be any reason for you to not have military to military guardrails, hardlines. A couple of responses to that. At many other levels of the military minister of defense have many others that are not talking to their counterparts. It raises some questions about the extent to which this is the actual reason. Secondly, many of us in the u. S. Government are sanctioned by the russian government. My colleagues across the National Security, cabinet officials that sit on the National Security council. We think a similar proposition should apply with respect to the pla. They have chosen to take a different course. We regard the basic proposition of highlevel communication between our military officials. To be as close as they will to a nobrainer in geopolitics. That is something that beijing needs to speak to. Early in the Biden Administration, he had one of his cause with president xi. You gave the rita that in future talks, we would cover strategic stability. That is code for nuclear wea