The was ceremony at the pentagon for those who lost their lives there. Defense secretary Ashton Carter and joint chief of staff as well spoke. Ladies and gentlemen, please direct your attention tho the flag on the pentagon building hanging in honor of patriot day and in honor of the 184 lives lost. The National Anthem sang by the National Army cortets. The United States navy chief of chaplain margaret gib lin. If you would pray for me. God, our creator, words cannot express the emotions present in the gathering. You can give grace to our thoughts and hear our prayers. Hear our prayers of intercession for those who this day only serves to open deep wounds of grief and loss. Bless this day those who still mourn the events of that day. Continue to strengthen, comfort and console them and allow their resilience to be a source of inspiration and healing to the nation. Hear our prayers of gratitude for those who gave the full measure of devotion. The first responders, the unsung host of civilians and those in uniform who perished serving within these walls or whose sacrificed their lives in the years that followed in defense of this country. Hear our prayers for guidance as we seek to uphold the memory of those we honor. Strengthen this country with unity and resolve as we still face threats to our libbertlibe. May our desire for peace not be an excuse to abuse our power and our need for justice not be jaded with hate. May we who remain live to serve you carefully and faithfully and preserve the freedom and future of the United States. We lift up these prayers to call upon your will to transform this ceremony to service. Our grief to grace and our fellowship to a future framed with hope. That those who so valiantly died that day will be honored in our prayers and by our lives. From the strength of your name we pray. Amen. Ladies and gentlemen, 14 years ago at 9 37 a. M. The pentagon was attacked. Please join us in observing a moment of silence to remember those who perished. [having a moment of silence] ladies and gentlemen, the vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general paul selva. Mr. Secretary, distinguished guest, friends and family of the survivors and the fallen, thank you for being here for this mornings ceremony. My wife and i offer a very special welcome to each and everyone of the survivors, and the families and friends of whose who lost their lives on these grounds 14 years ago today. We know these memorial ceremonies and you have been through many are tough emotionally filled moments for you and we thank you for being here with us. It takes a great deal of occcoue to come back on a day like this that can bring back that first raw moment when everything changed. Your grief, your solace so personal to you is shared with all of us in this nation. Today your nation joins you to reflect and to remember that 184 lives that ended here at the pentagon and those who perished in new york city and sommerset county. We are hear to celebrate the memories of relatives and the people that blossomed into great families and fine young men and women we should be proud of it. They are out there making their mark on our world. I see the resolve of defending freedom and liberty wherever it is challenged. An entire generation of american men and women put their lives on the lined for the concepts of freedom and liberty that we hold dear. Today offers us an opportunity to rededicate our lives to those causes, to the things that make this nation great. Rickey and i appreciate all of you being here to share this day with us, to allow us to share this day with you. It is now my privilege to introduce to you our secretary of defense, the honorary Ashton Carter. [applause] general selva, distinguished guest, ladies and gentlemen, to the families of those who lost their lives here at the pentagon let me begin by offering on behalf of the department of defense my deepest sympathy for the loss you suffered and the burden you continue to carry. We cannot fully appreciate how much your lives changed or how much you lost on this morning 14 years ago. We cannot understand how this felt when every day citizens longed for their laugh, to see their smile or to feel their embrace. We cannot understand the weight of their answers. But for me, and foresee many others at the pentagon, the wait of their memory and our duty to honor it, is something we do carry with us every day. For all of us, their memory is an everpresent reminder to cherish each day with those who love us, to stay vigilant against those who would harm us, and remain guided by the values that have always made us great. At times we depend upon something other than what why hold in our heads and heart to remember. Maybe it is a poem taped to your mirror. Maybe it is coming to the ceremony every year. For me, it is a piece of the pentagon that sits on my desk, collected from the rubble and passed by down by each of my predecessors who served since that horrific day. Beneath this piece of Indiana Limestone reads an inscription to honer the 184 people whose lives were lost, their families, and all those who sacrificed that we may live in freedom. We will never forget. We can never know how you feel on this day. We know what the lives of your loved ones mean to this community and nation. I hope you know by returning here to the pentagon each year you set on example of strength and resilience for all of us. Terrorist who hope to intimidate us will find no satisfaction and success in threatening the United States because not only do we come back, but by living in honor of those weve lost, we come back stronger than every before. After 14 years, and forever more, terrorist who threaten us will learn this simple yet unbending truth, no matter how long it takes, no matter where they may hide they will not escape the long arm of justice. The threat from terrorism may evolve but our threat to hold them accountable is constant. As americans we have the will to see justice is done. As a military we have the capability to see justice is done. Because of the men and women in uniform, because we can rely on the finest fighting force the world has over known, we know that justice will be done. When terrorist attack the pentagon they tore a hole in the building. They tore at places in your heart that may never heal. As you know better than anyone, they did not and could not take from us what defines us. As americans, we are defined by our resilience and readiness to stand up for values and honor the pass as we begin anew. With your example, you have umbodied those ideals and shown us how to persevere, move forward and memorialize those that we lost. Today and all days we honor your loved ones because of the examples you have set for each of us, for our American Family you have our deepest admiration. We will never forget within this community. We will always remember, we will continue to honor the memory of those you have lost with the work you accomplish together. sm ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the observeance and you are invited to go inside and attend the memorial events until 11 a. M. Thank you. Our guest on news makers is jim jordan, chair of the House Freedom caucus and he talks about several issues including the funding for planned parenthood and the investigation into benghazi. Watch it sunday at 10 p. M. Eastern on cspan. He was a nazi. He was a concentration camp confident and responsible for the murder of thousands of jews. On q and a this sunday night, jennif jennif Jennifer Tegan on her experience of discovering her grandfather was a cruel nazi person. He was a person who was cruel and a person who was he was capable of he had two dogs and trained them to tear humans apart. He was a person who there was a pleasure he felt when he killed people. And this is something when you are normal when you dont have this aspect in your personalities it is very difficult to grasp personality president obama participated in a town hall event with Service Members at ford mead maryland and talks about his memories of 9 11 and ongoing efforts to prevent similar attacks and discussed several National Security issues around the globe including the situation in iraq and afghanistan. Siisil this is an hour and ten minutes. Thank you, mr. President for joining us. It is exciting to have you for a face to face conversation with u. S. Service members. We are pleased to have you. Nathan, thank you for your participation and thank everybody who is here. I want to acknowledge colonel brian foley. I just road over with him. He is in charge of a lot of stuff. With everything going on out of this incredible facility. We cannot succeed in our missions what a strong support from congress and we have a congressman here who works hard on behalf of our military and intelligence. Congressman dutch, where were you . Thank you so much. I want to be brief because i want to mainly take questions from folks not just here but all around the world. Today is a solumn d solomn da. I started by day remembering the People Killed on 9 11. I have had a chance to meet with survivors and family members of those killed and on this day we are constantly reminded of their loss. We want to let them know we do not forget those who were fallen. We are inspired by the survivors. Many of whom still have the scars unscene seen and seen of that terrible day. It is important to remember the people that served since 9 11 in order to keep america safe and free. We have veterans from every state in the union who have served often times multiple tours in iraq and afghanistan. We have made strides in degrading the core alqaeda including bin laden himself why we are well aware of the threats existing out there. Here at forte meade we do some of the most important work to bring together all elements of American Power against those who do us harm in the homeland or overseas and threaten our allies. Despite the progress we made in afghanistan it is still important we have thousands of trainers and advisors who are supporting the afghan effort. Our combat role is complete but we have to make sure they are getting the help and assistance they need. The emergance of isil means we have to be present skwb pound them every day. Our airman are doing extraordinary work with support of other branches and we are providing raining and assistance and support training to the Iraqi Security forces on the ground as they continue to push back isil from territory they have taken. But both in iraq, and in syria, and afghanistan, and in north africa, what we are very clear about is we still have significant threats coming from terrorist organizations and terrorist ideas. We also have the traditional threats that our military has to be prepared for. From a new region where we have under written the prosperity of a region that came back after world wor two and we have alliances to europe and our role as the cornerstone of nato. We will work at every level to make our men and women have the training, equipment and things they need. That is not just a matter of tanks and rifles. Cybersecurity is opening up a new era where we have to watch out. On 9 11, i thought it was particular appropriate for me to be able to address you directly. When i look out in this audience and think about all of the all of the Armed Services members who served this represents america. People of every race, religion, faith, our military is a lynch pen in the ability to project our values alongside our diplomatic effort and economy and the peoplepeople relations that help the spread of those core beliefs that all of you are willing to sacrifice for. I want to say thank you to you and especially to those serving overse overseas. I dont have a greater honor than serving as your commander and chief and every single day i see the extraordinary work you do and i benefit from it as well. With that, lets start taking questions. You mentioned we have family members and Service Members worldwide watching this worldwide troop talk through American Forces network and armed ships at sea. The first question we want to be represented from one of the many Service Members we have here. The first question we will go out to the audience if someone has one ready. We have the microphone coming down here. Good morning, i happen sergeant Briana Harvey from texas. My question is what made you initiate on the 27th of february of 2014 and will you create something similar for females . And what will you miss the most once you are no longer president. What part of texas are you from . Parker heights, texas. Tell everybody back home i said hi. But for Service Members who are not aware, what we are referring to when we talk about mbk is what we call my brothers keeper. One of the most important principles i think of america is no matter who you are or what you look like if you work hard you can get ahead. There are pockets of poverty in places where people dont have an opportunity and that is true among union meningitis who are too often ending up in prison n instead of going to school. We want to make sure these men are aware of how they can break the cycle and do right by themselves and ultimately do right by families. One of the young men next to me was interested in enrolling in the marines but heard a rumor you cannot serve with tattoos and i said i dont think that is going to be a problem. Some dont know where to go and are out of loop and dont know how to apply themselves in ways that will allow them to succeed. We are watching on that with ourselves, businesses and our military leaders are helping out on this issue. We have a whole another set of white House Counsel on women and girl. Generally the young women are doing better than the young men. That is because you are a little smarter but they need opportunities as well. In terms of what i am going to miss, i meant what i said, the greatest privilege have is serving as your commander and chief. It is not fighting usually. It is helping train other companies to secure themselves. Helping on engineer projects or Development Projects or helping people after a natural ambassadors. You spread good will around the world every day at enormous cost to yourself. I will miss that. The plane is nice, too. I am hoping i will not have to take off my shoes again and go through security. What i will not miss is the fact that i live in what is called the bubble. They dont let me go anywhere. So i just want to go take a walk and i have helicopters and boats and all of that stuff. Even when i cross the potomic they have everyone in position. On saturday morning i cannot just go down to starbucks and not shave. Sounds good to me. Those are some of the things i will be doing when i get out of here. And i probably wont wear a tie for at least a month. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for that question. I promised we would go world wide and we are. Your first question from overseas is place you are particular with. You travelled there a few times and i am sure Service Member are well. We go down range first. Mr. President , we have your first live satellite question from afghanistan. We have Sergeant Aaron geese. If you can hear me, nod. You are on the line with the president. Go ahead with your question. Good afternoon, mr. President. First i want to thank you for the opportunity to speak with me today. Thank you. My question is due to the russian activity in syria and the possibility of future activity how will that affect your current military strategy within the region . Thank you for your service and please tell everybody in your unit. As i indicated in my opening remarks we have done a great job going after and dismantling the core Alqaeda Network operating in the fata region between afghanistan and pakistan. They still pose a threat but it is much diminished. What happened with this radical violent extremism is that it is metastasizing and spreading to other areas. And right now, ground zero for those activities is in syria with isil. Our strategy has consistently been that we will use our air power to support effort by forces on the ground and moderate opposition in syria to push back on isil and put pressure on them to go after their financing, go after their networks, their supplies. A lot of their operations were fund by oil sales going after the infrastructure they built up. That strategy will continue. The challenge in syria is the president there, has been so destructive toward his own people, dropping bombs and creating a seck sectarian conf. It has become a magnet for jihadist throughout the region. The good news is russia shares with us a concern about countering violent extremist and shares the view they are dangerous. Despite the conflict in areas like ukraine this area is potentially of converging interest. Russia continues to believe that assad is somebody that is worthy of continuing support. It has been my view as long as assad is there he al aliented so much and you will continue to have a vacuum filled by extremist. Russia has provided Financial Support and arms to assad. I remember a conversation i had with mr. Putin was that was a mistake and would make things worse. We did not take my warnings and an a consequence things have gotten worse. It appears now that assad is bringing in russia equipment. That will not change our core strategy which is to continue to push pressure on isil in iraq and syria. We are engaging in russia to let them know that you cannot continue to double down on a strategy that is continue to fail. If they work with us and the 60 Nation Coalition then there is the possibility and new coalition of moderate secular and inclusive forces could come together to restore order in the country. That is our goal. This is going to be a long discussion we will be having with the russians but it will not prevent us from continuing to go after isil very hard. It could prevent us from arriving at the political settlement that is needed to bring peace back to syria. And you know, this is where our military efforts have to be combined with effective diplomatic efforts. One thing i said to all of our men and women in uniform is that you should not be fighting for our security and our freedom alone. You have to have the support of