John Kirby

Spokesperson

Daily Press Briefing

Washington, DC

July 22, 2015

MR KIRBY: Don’t really have a topper today, but I do want to welcome a group of fellows that we have in the back there – the Pickering Fellows. Thanks for coming, everybody. It’s good to have you there, including Oriana -- where are you?

QUESTION: (Laughter.)

MR KIRBY: There you are – who works for us. The Pickering Fellowship funded by the Department of State and administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation is designed to attract outstanding individuals from all ethnic, racial, and social backgrounds who have an interest in pursuing a Foreign Service career. Upon successful completion of this two-year graduate school program, the fellows will make a commitment to a minimum of five years of service and an appointment as a Foreign Service officer. So congratulations to all of you. We’re glad to have you here. Looking at your backgrounds – just briefly – it was pretty clear to me that I would never have qualified for this program, so it’s good to have you here. (Laughter.)

And with that, we’ll go to questions. David?

QUESTION: Yeah. Thank you. I wondered if I could just start with the OPM issue – report in the paper this morning was saying the Administration has decided not to publicly apportion blame for this attack. Is that correct?

MR KIRBY: Well, I’ve seen the press report. It wouldn’t be for the State Department to speak on that matter one way or the other. Where our focus is on – Secretary Kerry’s focus is on making sure that the State Department systems are as secure and as protected as they can be in cyberspace. But again, this is all principally a law enforcement matter and I would refer you to – that question to the Department of Justice.

QUESTION: Just to follow-up, if a decision were made not to identify the perpetrator, is it still possible that action could be taken against the perpetrator?

MR KIRBY: Well, I’m not going to speculate about actions that may or may not be taken here. What I can tell you is that in terms of actions, we’re always looking for ways to improve our cybersecurity, and obviously a breach of this magnitude naturally forces you to take a look at that and to try to do that. So we will, but as I think you can also understand we don’t talk about too much of the details when it comes to cybersecurity and the actions that we will or won’t take.

QUESTION: Just a follow-up on that. Can you talk about whether you guys are looking at this and considering actions in a very different manner because this was an attack on a government institution? That was one of the points raised in the report. I mean, we talked a lot about the five PLA operatives who were named and indicted however long ago it was now, but that was a very pointed response. So I mean, is that – and that was economic espionage. So are you treating this case differently as a whole of administration response?

MR KIRBY: Well, that’s really a – the outcomes here – the investigation and the outcomes are really more for the Justice Department to speak to, and I just won’t – it wouldn’t be prudent, wouldn’t be appropriate for me to speculate now one way or the other what, if any, actions would result here from this.

QUESTION: But the State Department does play a role in responses to – in cyber --

MR KIRBY: Sure, we play a role but this is really for the Justice Department to speak to.

QUESTION: All right.

MR KIRBY: Yeah, Pam.

QUESTION: Iran nuclear.

MR KIRBY: Yeah.

QUESTION: Do you have any additional information concerning these reports, and also concerns raised by some lawmakers that there are some secret side deals from the Iran nuclear agreement – one dealing with inspections at Parchin and the other one dealing with how information is shared concerning possible military dimensions.

MR KIRBY: Yeah, sure. I think I addressed a little bit of this yesterday, but Congress has what we have, and what’s being asked for here are IAEA documents or material that is not in our possession. There’s no side deals; there’s no secret deals, between Iran and the IAEA, that the P5+1 has not been briefed on in detail. These kinds of technical arrangements with the IAEA are a matter of standard practice, that they’re not released publicly or to other states. But our experts are familiar and comfortable with the contents, which we would be happy to discuss with Congress in a classified setting.

Yes.

QUESTION: Has there been any outreach to the lawmakers who raised these concerns initially with the additional information that you just provided?

MR KIRBY: Well, I think the concerns were raised in a press release that was put out last night by Senator Cotton. As you know, Secretary Kerry, Secretary Moniz, Secretary Lew will be briefing members of Congress today in closed briefings – both the House and the Senate side – and there will be ample opportunity there to talk about this issue. But as it – as I said, it’s primarily these are issues between Iran and the IAEA. These technical agreements are never shared outside the state in question in the IAEA, but we have been briefed on them and are more than comfortable in a classified setting discussing that. And should that be of interest today, I’m absolutely certain that Secretary Kerry would be willing to talk about it, as well as Secretary Moniz.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Yes, please. Just to clarify, you mentioned that the Congress has what we have. And in the same time you mentioned yesterday and today in a TV appearance that you transferred to the Congress all the documents that you have regarding this issue. Can you describe it? I mean, what is it? I mean, it’s like it is detailed or it’s just – I assume it’s not --

MR KIRBY: It’s the entire set of documents that go along with the deal to include the annexes and a verification assessment.

QUESTION: It’s all the technical, the financial part and everything?

MR KIRBY: It’s – everything that we have about this deal has been provided to Congress. And I would point out that much of it is already available to all of you online.

QUESTION: It’s not the 158 pages, right? It’s more than that, right?

MR KIRBY: There is some additional information provided there, yeah, but a lot of it’s already been made publicly available. But yes, everything is up there. It got there on Sunday.

Yes.

QUESTION: On Nigeria?

MR KIRBY: Nigeria.

QUESTION: The Nigerian president this morning was at the U.S. Institute of Peace and he gave a talk, and his country’s LGBT rights record was not something that was discussed. So I’m curious to know if the Secretary raised that issue with his meeting with President Buhari, which I think was today, if I’m correct, right? Or was it yesterday?

MR KIRBY: The meeting was yesterday.

QUESTION: Yesterday, I’m sorry.

MR KIRBY: It was a lunch specifically with the Secretary, but there were other discussions here at the State Department. And I can tell you that this issue, the same-sex marriage prohibition in Nigeria, was raised with members of the delegation yesterday. We made clear then, as we have made clear publicly, our concerns about this legislation and the degree to which it criminalizes in particular homosexuality. We’ve been very clear that human rights are gay rights, and gay rights are human rights. And again, we’ll continue to raise this issue going forward.

QUESTION: And as a quick follow-up to that question, how much aid does Nigeria receive from the U.S. each year? Do you have an exact figure on that? Foreign aid.

MR KIRBY: I don’t have an exact figure. Let me take that for you. I don’t have that available to me. But this is – aside from the dollar figure, and I talked about this yesterday after the lunch, that we want to do what we can to help President Buhari as he begins to form his government and set the priorities and goals for his administration. The discussion yesterday also included economic support, energy sector support, certainly security support with respect to counterterrorism, particularly Boko Haram. He has already taken some steps, particularly in the security sector, to try to improve their ability to go after a group like that. You know he basically hired all new chiefs of staff for his military services.

So there’s a lot of work to do, and he was very frank yesterday that he knows he has a lot of work to do. And he does want the support and help – again, I just – I can get you the dollar figure later. But I suspect that that support will change too over time as the needs in Nigeria are better defined going forward under his leadership.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR KIRBY: Yeah. Yes.

QUESTION: The Japanese Government recently released photos that in the East China Sea China has been developing a natural gas field. Does the U.S. government have any comment on that?

MR KIRBY: A natural gas field.

QUESTION: Yes.

MR KIRBY: I haven’t seen that particular report, so I would defer comment on this. What we have made clear is that we want all the destabilizing activities there to cease, and we’re not going to take a position on the claims but we want competing claims to be worked out peacefully and diplomatically.

QUESTION: In 2008, Japan and China created a bilateral agreement agreeing not to – agreeing to jointly develop gas fields. Does the U.S. Government have any comment on the breach of that bilateral agreement?

MR KIRBY: Well, the question presupposes there’s been a breach. I haven’t seen the report that you’re referring to, so I’m not in a position to answer that specific question. As I said, we want competing claims, whatever they may be, to be worked out between the parties and to be done so peacefully. We’re not going to take a position on competing claims, and I don’t suspect that we would do in this case either.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR KIRBY: Yes, Pam.

QUESTION: Ethiopia. There are reports out of Ethiopia today of mass arrests of an opposition party group, Ethiopian Unity Party. And this is presumably in advance of President Obama’s visit to ensure that the demonstrators do not make an attempt to disrupt his visit. I wanted to find out first of all if State was aware of the arrests, and if so, if there had been any contact between embassy officials in Ethiopia and the government about it.

MR KIRBY: I think beyond press reporting, we’re certainly aware. I’m not sure that there’s been any specific outreach about this. I mean, obviously, our position on proper regard and respect and treatment for opposition members anywhere is longstanding and consistent, that we value pluralism, we value the right of opposition members and civil society citizens to be able to speak their minds and represent their views in an inclusive, representative political process. And so we obviously take a dim view – excuse me – when those rights are being violated. But I don’t have anything more specific on that case.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Did you see the one on Cambodia about the jailing of 11 opposition party members for insurrections?

MR KIRBY: Did you just get that on your Twitter feed?

QUESTION: No, no, I saw it earlier, but --

MR KIRBY: I haven’t seen the report.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR KIRBY: I haven’t seen the report.

Yes, Samir.

QUESTION: An update on the situation in Yemen: There’s a report today that the forces loyal to President Hadi took over the city of Aden.

MR KIRBY: Yeah. Well, I mean, I think what I’d say, Samir, is the same we’ve been saying. It’s a fluid situation there, and I’m not in a position to confirm whether – the degree to which Aden has been retaken or not. We do understand that anti-Houthi resistance fighters have certainly taken over some parts of Aden. I’m not prepared to give you a battlefield assessment about what percentage that might be. It’s a very, very fluid situation.

We did note, I think, and welcomed the report yesterday that a World Food Program ship was able to dock in Aden. That’s a helpful thing. Now it’s really important that everybody, all parties, make sure that that aid gets to where it needs to go.

So we’re watching it real closely, and again, just too soon to tell exactly where this is going to go. What we really want to see – and we’ve said this from the outset – is a political process led by the UN that gets all parties to the table and achieves a political solution to the violence there.

QUESTION: Sir?

MR KIRBY: Yeah.

QUESTION: I’m trying to figure out, I mean, between what you want to see and what is done regarding political process. Is there anything done, any steps in the last few weeks or few days? Or we just – we are waiting till the battle is settled and somehow the new reality is there?

MR KIRBY: No, I mean, we talked about this earlier, that the first UN-led meeting was an important first step. But we --

QUESTION: But it failed, I think.

MR KIRBY: Well, it didn’t resolve the – all the issues. I have to tell you that I’m not sure that not everybody expected that it would. This is a complicated issue. What we were glad to see was that the meeting was held, and we encourage there to be more such meetings. That requires the necessary people coming together and sitting at the table, all the parties, and working it out.

So I still think we want to see that process continue. As for what you’re talking about in Aden, again, it’s very fluid right now, and we’re just not in a position right now to be able to judge in which way this is going to go.

QUESTION: Are you – I mean, a while ago, Under Secretary Patterson met people from Houthis in Muscat, I think. Are you still in touch with them, or are you trying to be in touch with them, or it’s like that was the deal for to get one of the hostages?

MR KIRBY: I can’t rule out that there won’t be additional such meetings. I don’t have any to read out to you, any additional contact to read out today. And again, I won’t – I wouldn’t rule it out going forward. What we really want to do in everything that we’re doing is make sure that we’re in support of the UN process, and that’s really – that’s the vehicle that we believe is best suited to deal with political progress there in Yemen.

Yes.

QUESTION: It’s been reported that North Korea has upgraded some of its missile towers and that there will be a possible launch in October. Do you have any comment on that?

MR KIRBY: I haven’t seen those reports. Nothing has changed about our call for what North Korea’s commitments ought to be and should be, and we continue to stress that destabilizing activities, whether they’re shows of force or otherwise, are unhelpful to peace and security on the peninsula.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Yes, please, regarding Iraq.

MR KIRBY: Yeah.

QUESTION: I mean, I don’t know if you say anything about the F-16. They received a set, a new set of F-16 --

MR KIRBY: Four of them, yeah.

QUESTION: Yeah. I mean, do you have anything to say about that?

MR KIRBY: Well, I mean, I can acknowledge. I think they had arrival – they had an arrival ceremony for these four F-16s.

QUESTION: And the ambassador was there, I think.

MR KIRBY: Yeah. We talked about this before, that they were on the way to Iraq, that they’re – it’s Iraqi property. And I’ll leave it to the Iraqi Government to speak to when and if these aircraft might be flying combat sorties, but they’re there for the defense of sovereign Iraqi territory. Our role was, of course, meeting the procurement need but also doing some of the training in Arizona.

QUESTION: So the other question regarding the news report today in Washington Post front page that Haditha than any other city can be one of the having the highest dam, and hydroelectric project may fall to the ISIL. Do you have anything? Do you have any assessment of --

MR KIRBY: Well, I’m reticent to get into battlefield assessments here from this particular podium. I would refer you to DOD to speak to conditions on the ground and threats and challenges in that regard. That wouldn’t be appropriate for me to speak to here.

Okay. Well, this will be the shortest briefing in history. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: Just one quick question following on his question in terms of the F-16s in Iraq. Is there any agreement that stipulates that – or limits their use in different parts of Iraq, i.e. the Kurdish region or other regions that are – people concerned about their use?

MR KIRBY: I mean, there’s restrictions that are placed on these kinds of sales in terms of how it could be used, but I’m not aware of any restrictions in terms of geographically where it can be used. They are – they belong to the Iraqi Government right now and they’re designed to help the Iraqi Government defend itself and its sovereignty. And what exactly mission parameters that are put on that would be up to the Iraqi Government to pursue. They’re not to be used for sectarian purposes. They’re to be used for the defense of Iraqi territory. And Prime Minister Abadi certainly knows that and will observe that. We’re not worried about that. As for geographic limitations, I’m not aware of any.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Can I ask a question on Turkey?

MR KIRBY: Sure.

QUESTION: Two Turkish police officers today killed by pro-Kurdish PKK militants in retaliation to latest ISIS bombings in Turkey. Do you have any comments on that?

MR KIRBY: You guys are seeing reports I haven’t seen. If it’s true, obviously, that’s very, very troubling, and our thoughts and prayers will go out to the victims and the families. Turkey is, again, a stalwart ally in this fight against ISIL; been very, very supportive, very cooperative. We’re always looking for ways to deepen that cooperation. I don’t have any specific details on this, but obviously, if it’s true, it’s heartbreaking for those families, for one, and certainly concerning with respect to ISIL and the threat that it continues to pose.

Thanks, everybody.