It did not conduct a dna test. An italian hostage, geovonna lo porto was killed in that same operation. President obama takes full responsibility for the drone strike that killed the two hostages and he expressed sympathy to their families. As a husband and as a father i cannot begin to imagine the anguish that the weinstein and lo porto families are enduring today. I realize there are no words that can ever equal their loss. I know that there is nothing that i can ever say or do to ease their heart ache. And today i simply want to say this. As president and as commander in chief, i take full responsibility for all our Counterterrorism Operations, including the one that ined a inadvertently took the lives of warren and giovanni. I regret what happened. On behalf of the United States government i offer our deepest apologies to the families. All right, we are currently the White House Briefing has just begun. Were monitoring that. Well bring that to you. We expect the press secretary will be talking about this. The administration has also revealed that an american al qaeda member was killed along with the two hostages. And then also american adam gadahn was killed in a separate strike later. I want to take you now to the white house where the briefing has just begun and josh earnest, no doubt, will be addressing this. To share as much information as possible with you and with the American People about what occurred. In pursuit of that effort i spent a decent portion of the last 24 hours talking with our National Security team talking with the attorneys on our interNational Security team to try to collect as much information as possible and to give you as much detail as possible so i could answer your questions on this matter. However, as you would expect in order to protect our availability to carry out Counterterrorism Operations there are some details, including some very basic details that i will not be in a position to discuss. For example, im not going to be in a position to talk with precision about where this operation occurred. And im not going to be able to talk in much detail at all on how this operation was carried out. That all said were not planning a background briefing here at the white house. Im here at the president s instruction to answer as many questions and as much detail as i can on the record and in public. And as the president mentioned, our country and our governments willingness to face up to mistakes and redouble our efforts to review protocols and proernlss to prevent them from happening again is one of the things that makes our country so unique and contribute significantly to our strength. In that spirit josh lets get start would some questions. Thanks josh. Lets start with just some of the facts of what happened so you can discuss them. How many other people were killed in these two strikes . Either local civilians or militants militants . Josh i wont be able to provide specific numbers on this. I can tell you that in the specific strike that resulted in the death of dr. Weinstein and mr. Lo porto, there was one other al qaeda leader who was among those who was killed. That is the ahmed farouq the american citizen al qaeda leader. This was a strike against an al qaeda compound. And the result was the death of at least one al qaeda leader. I can tell you that the assess assessment that we have right now does not raise questions about additional civilian loss of life. Again, the reason for that is that the standard that was in place and to the best of our knowledge, was closely followed by our counterterrorism professionals was to adhere to this near certainty standard. And that near certainty standard applied to two things. The first near certainty that this was an al qaeda compound that was used by Al Qaeda Leaders that turned out to be true. That assessment did turn out to be correct. The other near certainty assessment would be that no civilians would be harmed if this operation was carried out. Unfortunately, that was not correct. And the operation led to this tragic unintended consequence. And theres very little at this point that we know about the gadahn operation. Who was the target of that operation and were others killed in that strike . Josh i can tell you that mr. Gadahn was not specifically targeted. But, in a fashion that was similar to the operation that we are discussing that resulted in the death of dr. Weinstein and mr. Lo porto, the operation was against an al qaeda compound. Again, this was a scenario where u. S. Officials had determined with near certainty that an operation could be carried out against an al qaeda compound that was frequented or where at least one al qaeda leader was located. That operation did result in the death of mr. Gadahn. Are you saying basically, there was not specific individuals that were being targeted in that strike but more the u. S. Knew this was a place al qaeda guys went and, so the u. S. Struck there under the presumption that they would be likely to get out and take out some al qaeda operatives by striking that location . Yeah based on again, based on the intelligence assessment they could conclude with near certainty that this was an al qaeda compound that was frequented by Al Qaeda Leaders or at least an al qaeda leader. There is one other element of the near certainty standard that applied to the first operation. The one that resulted in the death of ahmed furouq and that is there were hundreds of hours of surveillance against that particular al qaeda compound. And this surveillance included near continuous surveillance in the days leading up to the operation. And that is what led to the near certain assessment that it was an al qaeda compound frequented by an al qaeda leader and did not include or that civilians would not be included in an operation against the compound. Obviously, the latter assessment was incorrect. We know the strikes took place in january, but you said in your statement this morning that the u. S. Recently confirmed what had happened and that these individuals had died. Can you tell us when exactly was that . Are we talking days weeks, months ago . And how long did you wait after coming to those conclusions before informing the families of these hostages . Josh this is a good question. And let me try to explain how this process works. When counterterrorism operation is carried out, it is followed by a Battle Damage assessment where our intelligence professionals evaluate the region or the area where the operation was carried out. To determine the results of the operation and whether or not, if any, civilian casualties occurred. And in the process of carrying out that Battle Damage assessment that draws on multiple sources of intel, there was some indication that dr. Weinstein had been killed. This was not in the early stages linked directly to the u. S. Government operation. So as intelligence was collected that indicated or at least raised questions about whether or not dr. Weinstein was still alive, the Intelligence Community that had been devoting significant resources to trying to find and rescue him began to explore more completely whether, in fact dr. Weinstein was dead and to try to circumstances of his death. Only in the last several days did the Intelligence Community reach a, an assessment with high with a high degree of confidence. That dr. Weinstein had been killed in a u. S. Government counterterrorism operation. The president was briefed by his National Security team very soon after that high confidence assessment was completed. Upon receiving that assessment the president directed his team as i made reference to to declassify as much information as possible about this specific operation. For two reasons. One is to provide details to the families. And, two, is to be candid with the American Public and with the world about what had happened. The president mentioned in his statement that he believes the United States derives important strength from having the confidence and courage to face up to mistakes when they are made. Even when they are as serious as this. I guess he would say, particularly when theyre as serious as this. Let me say one other thing about our communication with the weinstein family. And that is that there was an open line of communication with the weinstein family. The weinstein family was very aware as they indicated in their statement today. The government was working diligently to try to find dr. Weinstein. And when there was intelligence indicating the possible death of dr. Weinstein, that information oz alsowas also share would the family. But only after the highconfidence assessment was completed in the last several days was the family informed that the Intelligence Community does assess that dr. Weinstein was killed in a u. S. Government counterterrorism operation. And i know many of us have been reflecting as im sure you have on the 2013 speech that the president gave at National Defense university laying out his kind of strategy and, in that speech the president was pretty firm about laying out this standard of near certainty that no civilians would be killed or injured in a strike. Today, from this podium we heard, you know quite a different type of rhetoric. We heard the president talking about the fog of war and the cruel truth that deadly mistakes can often happen when youre fighting terrorists. Im wondering, has the president lived up to the principles that he set out for himself when he gave that speech . The president has absolutely lived up to the principles that were laid out in that speech. Prior to giving that speech there was not a lot of clear guidance. There was not clear or at least the protocols were not as clear as they were today about how these kind of Counterterrorism Operations should be carried out. And because of the diligent work of the president and his National Security team and our National Security professionals, there is much greater clarity about how the, our counterterrorism officials can both use our significant capabilities to protect the American People while also living up to the very high standards and values that are that the president expects. And, so that is what that is what the goal of those protocols and those reforms that the president laid out in the speech. Whats also clear and what i would also readily admit to you is that in the aftermath of a situation like this it raises legitimate questions about whether additional changes need to be made to those protocols. Again, to put it more bluntly, we have National Security professionals who diligently follow those protocols based on everything we know so far. They follow those protocols and yet it still resulted in this unintended but very tragic consequence. Thats why the president has directed his team to conduct a review of this particular operation. To see if there are Lessons Learned and reforms we can implement to this process. What i can also let you know is that there is an ongoing Inspector General review of this matter. So, that there will have an opportunity for someone to take an independent look at this particular operation and also offer up recommendations for changes that could be made that could do more to prevent these kinds of again, tragic unintended consequences from occurring in the future. Lastly on this issue of reviewing what happened. Theres been a flurry of statements this morning from members of congress you know not only joining the president and offering condolences, but promising rigorous oversight from some of the relevant congressional committees. Does the white house feel that congress has a role to play in figuring out what went wrong here and how to possibly prevent it from happening again . Well, josh i can tell you that the president believes that congress does have a very important oversight rule over these kinds of programs. Thats why in the president s National DefenseUniversity Speech that he delivered a couple of years ago, he made clear that when these kinds of Counterterrorism Operations are carried out the relative members of congress are briefed about each operation. That is an indication of the seriousness with which the administration pursues cooperating with legitimate congressional oversight. And i can tell you that as these intelligence assessments about the death of dr. Weinstein and the ultimate high confidence assessment assessment that information was also shared with relevant members of congress. Okay. All right. Jeff . Josh will the u. S. Government provide compensation to the families of the two hostages that were killed . Yes. Can you give any details about that or not much . Im not aware of what the details of that compensation is. But i can tell you that compensation will be provided to both families. To both dr. Weinstein and the family of mr. Lo porto. How will this incident affect specifically the u. S. Policy government policy on usage of drones . Well jeff there are certain aspects of the specific operation that im not going to be able to discuss, including how the specific operation was carried out. But i can say a couple things as a general matter. The first is the president and i had an opportunity to talk about this with him today, believes that his top priority is keeping the American People safe. And in this particular incident it is particularly painful and tragic that in the course of carrying out an operation that was aimed at trying to protect the American Public that american citizen, innocent american citizen lost his life. And it highlights the challenge that our counterterrorism professionals confront every day in terms of balancing the need to use our significant capabilities to protect the American People with the need to carry out these operations consistent with the values that we hold dear in this country. Can you address the issue of drones in any way . I take it you dont want to confirm that that is what was used on this particular strike . Im not in the position to talk about how the operation was carried out. Can you talk to them about the future review of drone strategy more generally . What i can say is that these Counterterrorism Operations that are critical to the National Security of the United States and critical to the safety of the American People continue. At the same time there is an ongoing review both by our National Security infustructure and by Inspector General to review what occurred in this particular operation. And to make recommendations about some reforms to the protocols and policies that are in place that would make it less likely that an unintended consequence like this would crop up, again. And, that is not, these kinds of reviews are not unusual. The Security Professionals after every operation try to ereview what had occurred even when its successful. Particularly when its successful to derive Lessons Learned and look for other ways or changes that could be put in place to strengthen our protocols, both in terms of their capabilities and ensuring that theyre living up to the values that are so important to our country. Mr. Weinstein said today she hoped her husband death would prompt the u. S. Government to take its responsibility seriously and establish a coordinated and consistent approach to supporting hostages and their families. Do you hear that criticism and can or should the United States government be doing more to support hostages and their families . Well jeff i probably should have said this earlier, but its the president had the opportunity to do that this morning. But let me use this opportunity to convey our condolences to the weinstein family for the death of dr. Weinstein. And the weinstein family right now is enduring something thats unthinkable. To contemplate the loss of their loved one in this particular manner. And our thoughts and prayers of everybody here at the white house is with the weinstein family. So an expression, given those circumstances an expression along the lines of what you just read from her statement is of course understandable. And what she also noted in her statement is her appreciation for u. S. Counterterrorism and National Security professionals that had gone through Great Lengths to try to rescue her husband and to do their best to keep the family informed. But we have heard from other families who have been in this terrible situation about the need for improved communication with the federal government. When theyre in the midst of these circumstances. And the president has ordered a review of the way in which the government and our National Security apparatus communicates with families that are in this terrible position. And, so the president is familiar with that frustration that is understandable and is articulated in her statement. And the goal of the op going review is to try to address those frustrations. I dont have any announcements to make in terms of the timing for that review but i would anticipate that that review would be done relatively soon. Mike . Thanks josh. Two things. Following up on what jeff asked, is there, can you say that the use of Counterterrorism Operations like the one that was used in this incident have been reduced because of the review thats op going . In other words, are things happening less often . Are th