DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY SABRINA SINGH: Hello. Good afternoon, everyone. I do have quite a few items at the top, so if you'll just bear with me, and then I'd be happy to jump in and start taking your questions.
So earlier this week, as you may have seen, Secretary Austin gave opening remarks yesterday at the Ukraine Defense Industrial Base Conference held here in Washington, D.C. The conference connected relevant U.S. and Ukrainian industry and government representatives to discuss initiatives that could enhance Ukraine's defense industrial base and and build on momentum generated by a successful event Ukraine hosted in Kyiv in September, 2023, all of which signals strong U.S. support for enhanced industry partnership.
As part of the conference, Dr. Bill LaPlante, Under Secretary for Acquisition and Sustainment, convened the eighth meeting of the National Armament Directors under the auspices of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group today. The meeting is being held here at the Pentagon, the first time the forum has convened here in the United States. This meeting brings together more than 40 nations, NATO and the European Union to engage on industrial base and sustainment challenges in support of Ukraine both for their immediate requirements, while also supporting Ukraine's long-term defense and national security needs.
Later in the day, Secretary Austin hosted Ukrainian Minister of Defense Umerov for a bilateral meeting. Secretary Austin highlighted the department's ongoing activities to meet Ukraine's urgent requirements, including the announcement of the 52nd tranche of security assistance from DOD inventories for Ukraine. The package included additional air defense capabilities, artillery ammunition, antitank weapons and other equipment to help Ukraine counter Russia's ongoing war of aggression. This package utilized assistance previously authorized for Ukraine during prior fiscal years under the Presidential Drawdown Authority, but it is critical, as you all know, that Congress pass the president's National Security Supplemental Request to ensure we can continue to support Ukraine.
Security assistance for Ukraine is a smart investment in our national security because it helps prevent a larger war in Europe while strengthening our defense industrial base and creating skilled jobs back home here for the American people, and without additional funding, the department may soon reach a point where it can't sustain the current level of security assistance support to Ukraine.
Also yesterday, the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, in coordination with the department's V-22 Joint Program Office, announced an operational stand-down for all Osprey variants in the wake of the November 29th CV-22 mishap off the coast of Japan. This action is being taken out of abundance of caution while the AFSOC investigation is conducted. As each service conducts operational safety reviews within their fleets, each will reevaluate their respective grounding bulletins, and then determine timelines for resuming flight operations in close coordination with the Joint Program Office.
We'd also like to thank the government of Japan for all their assistance in the search and recovery efforts throughout this incident, and we will continue to work with them on sharing information and safety procedures during the investigation. Of course, our thoughts remain with the families of those airmen who were lost. Air Force Special Operations Command is investigating the CV-22 mishap, and I'd refer you to them for any additional questions.
Switching gears to Congress -- earlier this week, the Senate confirmed over 420 of our highly qualified general and flag officers. These holds have dragged on for months, degraded our military readiness, and forced far too many of our military families to put their lives on hold and endure even greater sacrifices.
And while this was welcome news, we still have dozens of officers that still have had holds placed on them, some of whom are four stars. We urge the Senate to confirm the remainder of our qualified military leaders as soon as possible so that we can have our team in place to meet this critical moment for our national security.
And shifting gears again -- next week, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks will visit locations in Silicon Valley, California. She will visit the Defense Innovation Unit, where she will meet with DIU personnel who are accelerating the U.S. military's adoption of commercial technology to strengthen national security and she will also receive an update on DIU projects through a series of capabilities demonstrations. She will also meet with a wide range of industry leaders to discuss the department's Replicator initiative, discuss innovation across the department, and see demonstrations of A.I.-powered autonomous technologies.
And just one more item. Earlier today, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called His Royal Highness Prince Khalid bin Salman, Saudi Minister of Defense, to discuss Houthi threats to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. We will have a readout coming shortly, if you don't already have it in your inbox.
And with that, I'd be happy to open it up to some questions. Tara, do you want to start us off?
Q: Hi, Sabrina. First, on the Osprey...
MS. SINGH: Yeah.
Q: ...the Osprey makes up a sizable portion of the Marine Corps fleet -- air fleet. How is the Marine Corps and Air Force and Navy going to mitigate the loss of access to this aircraft while this investigation's going on?
MS. SINGH: Well, because it's something that they are instituting, in terms of the stand down, I'd really refer you to them to speak to how they are managing this, this stand down, and how it's impacting or not their own operations. So I'd refer you to them to speak to that.
Q: But is the Secretary concerned about a loss of this many aircraft at once, with so many things going on?
MS. SINGH: The Secretary fully supports the services and their -- out of, you know, the abundance of caution to stand these -- these fleet -- these aircraft down. This is something that we've done before whenever there is a mishap that a Service feels needs either more investigation or just out of an abundance of caution. There have been stand downs of fleets before of other platforms. And so the Secretary of course supports the services' decision to do that. And again, I'd refer you to the services regarding their details on the pause of operations.
Q: And then the last, the Pentagon, for more than a year, has been trying to stand up a flight safety office where all of this data is supposed to go to be able to look across services, see trends. What's the status of that office? And is it looking at this incident?
MS. SINGH: I don't have a status update on the office, but as I mentioned in the beginning, we do have the Joint Program Office for this platform, that is coordinating with the Services and other customers who use the Osprey. So that is something that is, you know, a connecting office that is coordinating across the services and to our allies and partners, but I don't have an update for you on that particular office at this time.
Q: It is supposed to be at a Deputy Secretary of Defense level to really elevate flight safety, and when concerns are raised by maintainers or units, elevate them to a point where you get a very high level visibility. But it's been more than a year since the office was supposed to be up and running.
MS. SINGH: Yep. So again, I would say that, as you know, the Secretary takes safety and security as his -- one of his top priorities. We are -- the Services are, out of an abundance of caution, again, putting a pause on this platform.
I don't have an update for you on that particular office but it's not to say that safety and security of our service members is not a concern. That's exactly why you're seeing the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Air Force do what they are doing. But I'd refer you to them to speak to more details on that. Yeah, thanks.
Lara?
Q: Yeah, can you please give us an update on the attacks in Iraq and Syria? How many have we had? How many injuries have there been altogether? And have there been any more incidents in the Red Sea since yesterday?
MS. SINGH: So in terms of any other additional instances or attacks since yesterday, I'm not tracking anything that's occurred in the Red Sea or at any of our bases. I believe as of today, there've been approximately 78 attacks on our bases, but I don't have anything that's happened within the last 24 hours.
Q: Is the department assess that there has been a slowdown in the attacks in the last couple days, a week or so?
MS. SINGH: Well, I mean, and I feel like I was asked this question a few weeks ago when there was, you know, an uptick in attacks, and yet we do have like, a day or two that we'll go without any attacks. So it's really hard to say.
I would direct you to the forces, these hostile militant groups that continue to attack our coalition forces and our troops in Iraq and Syria on why they are, you know, doing what they're doing and when they decide to do it.
But in the last 24 hours, we haven't seen any attacks on our forces. Should that change, of course we would let you know, but that's the latest that I have as of right now, when I'm standing up here.
(CROSS-TALK)
Q: ... the number of injuries?
MS. SINGH: Oh, I'm sorry. As of December -- as of, I would say, December 4th, it's still about 66 of our folks who have received non-serious, non-life-threatening injuries, all who have returned to work. I know you'll probably ask about TBIs but I just don't have an update for you on that at this time.
Janne?
Q: Thank you, Sabrina. The United States indicted four Russians for war crimes. Is this just because they started (the) war in Ukraine?
MS. SINGH: Yeah, that's something that I saw the Department of Justice announce yesterday. I'd direct you to them for more information.
Q: ... name of those peoples?...
MS. SINGH: I don't.
Q: Was Putin included?
MS. SINGH: Again, I would direct you to the Department of Justice, who launched -- or who announced that yesterday. I just don't have more information on those names.
Q: One more?
MS. SINGH: Sure.
Q: OK. The United States Space Force Command announced that the possibility of destroying North Korea's military satellite. And when do you think that time will be coming?
MS. SINGH: I'm sorry, I've not seen that report, but I don't have anything for you on that.
I'm going to go to the phones here. Idrees, Reuters?
Q: Hey, Sabrina. There have been a number of reports in the past couple of hours about the killing of the Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injuring of other journalists in Lebanon in October, and one of the stories from Reuters says definitively that an Israeli tank was responsible for firing two shells that killed Issam. Does the DOD have an independent assessment of what happened that day? Secondly, have you talked to the Israelis about the killing? And thirdly, do you believe Israel kills journalists as a matter of policy?
MS. SINGH: Thanks, Idrees. So in terms of an independent assessment, I just don't have that for you at this time. I've seen the reports out there but that's not something that we've been able to assess independently here in the building.
Again, I think you've seen with all of our readouts that the Secretary has had with Minister Gallant, with other senior leader engagements from across this administration, we continue to urge Israel to conduct its operations in a targeted manner as it is seeking out and addressing a brutal terrorist organization within Gaza. We continue to urge Israel to uphold the laws of armed conflict and humanitarian law and the protection of innocent civilians, which includes members of the press. And so that's something that has come up that we've talked about publicly. It has come up privately as well, and I'll just leave it at that.
Konstantin, Military Times?
Q: Thanks, Sabrina. I wanted to -- going back to the Osprey, in August, you said that the department has confidence in the Osprey as a platform. Given everything that's come out this past week, is that still true? Is that still an accurate statement?
MS. SINGH: Well, thanks, Konstantin, for the question, and I think as you heard me say to Tara earlier, again, we've seen this done before with other platforms. Out of an abundance of caution, the Air Force, the Marine Corps and the Navy are standing down their Osprey fleet. I would direct you to the Services to speak to of when they're going to be back up in the air.
But as you can understand, there will always be an inherent risk in military aviation, and to mitigate that risk, we will continue to maintain the high level of operational standardization for all of our pilots and for all of the crew. As you probably know, the Osprey is one of the premier assault aviation systems that we have. It is versatile. Its speed and its vertical lift capabilities are not met by any other platform existing in fixed or rotary-wing platforms, and so it's an incredibly useful platform for all of our Services to use. Again, out of an abundance of caution there has been a stand-down, and I would direct you to the Services for when those will be back up in the air.
All right.
Q: OK.
MS. SINGH: I will take one more from the phone, and then I'll come back in the room. Chris Gordon?
Q: Thanks, Sabrina. Senator Warren expressed concern during a Senate Arms Services Committee hearing yesterday about too many service members are receiving lasting injuries or losing their lives due to accidents. Does the Pentagon share that view? And what could be done to make training safer broadly? Does the department need to review training accidents in whatever form, aviation or other?
MS. SINGH: Well, thanks, Chris, for the question. Well, as you can see, I mean, the Air Force is doing an investigation right now into the mishap that happened off the coast of Japan. Safety/security of our personnel, whether it be in our Air Force, our Army, our Navy or our Marine Corps, we take that very seriously. That's something that the Secretary, I know, is a priority for him. And so we are evaluating any time that there is a mishap, and there is an investigation taking the lessons learned from that and applying it and making sure that safety protocols and procedures are followed and enhanced, if need be.
All right, I'm going to come back in the room. Tom?
Q: Thanks, Sabrina. A quick -- two questions. One, on the Osprey, do the services have a ability to do a standdown independently, or is that the to be Service wide?
MS. SINGH: It -- they can do it independently, yeah.
Q: So thanks. And the second question, unrelated to Osprey, the president of Guyana yesterday said that he's requesting U.S. military -- possible U.S. military support because of Venezuela's referendum and oil fields. This is not getting ahead of a decision, but this is the clarification. Would such a request stay at SOUTHCOM, or would it have to come to the Pentagon? How does that work?
MS. SINGH: Well, of course, any decision where it's requesting military support, of course, would originate at the COCOM, and then of course, flow up through OSD.
Q: Just thought I'd check.
MS. SINGH: Yeah, great.
Fadi?
Q: Thank you, Sabrina. I want to go back to Idrees' question.
MS. SINGH: Sure.
Q: So this is the -- is the -- you saw the report I guess you're talking about, the Human Rights Watch and amnesty targeting Reuters photographer, my late friend, and some of the -- and six other journalists, including Jazeera and AFP. This incident happened in Lebanon; didn't happen in Gaza, where Hamas exists. According to the reports, it was deliberate and it amounts to a war crime.
In addition to this discussion, does the Secretary support accountability when it comes to the killing of Issam Abdallah and the targeting of these journalists?
MS. SINGH: Well, first, Fadi, I'm so sorry. I had no idea that you knew this journalist, and of course, our thoughts on behalf of the department are with you and, of course, the family.
Look, we are in constant communication, near-daily communication with -- with the Israeli count- -- sorry, with the Secretary's Israeli counterparts, and also here from senior levels engaging with the Israeli government. You've seen all types, from the Vice President's Office -- her national security advisor was just in the region as well -- engaging with their -- his Israeli counterparts to discuss what is happening within Gaza and around Israel.
We do not want to see this conflict spread out into a wider regional conflict. As you know, we've sent and surged assets into the region to bolster our deterrence and send a message that we do not want to see this conflict widen, and that also means any conflict or clashes along the northern border.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: The targeting of innocent civilians is something that we take very seriously. And so we are, in all of our conversations with the Israeli government, urging that they always take into account innocent civilians as they are conducting their operations against a terrorist organization that is Hamas.
Q: OK, and on a -- thank you.
MS. SINGH: Yeah.
Q: On a separate issue, Israeli forces announced yesterday that they had received so far almost 10,000 tons of equipment and ammunition, and almost 200 air shipment. Are you able to say whether all of that came from the U.S., or what -- how the proportion of U.S. aid as part of what was announced?
MS. SINGH: I can't say for certain what part is U.S. support. We've been very clear that we're going to continue to support Israel with security assistance through FMS and FMF, and as long as, you know, they need that support to conduct their operations against Hamas. But in terms of the announcement that the Israeli government made, I can't tell you what specifically in that package that was delivered was U.S. military assistance. All I can tell you is that we are continuing to support Israel. I -- yeah, I'll just leave it at that.
Q: OK. (inaudible)?
MS. SINGH: Sure.
Q: For the future -- this is not a question.
MS. SINGH: Yeah.
Q: Would you be able to compile the amount of assistance that's been provided, whether in...
MS. SINGH: Yeah.
Q: ... dollar term or, I don't know, weight or whatever?
MS. SINGH: Yeah, that's some -- I mean, that's something that I know you've asked about. That's something that we're working through. The difference in what makes it difficult is that the way we provide security assistance, let's say, to Ukraine, is through coming off of our stock shelves and it's through the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which is different from the funding mechanism such as FMS and FMF.
We are working on it. It's not that I've forgotten. I certainly haven't. As you know, we've said that we're providing, broad strokes, Israel with ammunition, precision-guided munitions and then air defense, of course, as well.
Nancy, yeah?
Q: I just want to start by reading, in Fadi's point, the war's two months today, and I think the information we've been asking for a few weeks...
MS. SINGH: Yeah.
Q: ... given that at least part of it is paid for by tax dollars. I just want to reiterate how much we'd like to see that information as soon as possible.
I had a question about the Biden administration’s announcement earlier this week kind of issuing a dire warning that if Congress has not passed funding for Ukraine by the end of the year it could affect resourcing for that war.
Some Republicans are saying that the situation is not as urgent as the administration has presented it because there’s at least a billion in funds and given the pace of funding or weapons that have been provided so far that that money could stretch out for a bit of the time.
I wanted to know if you could give me a Pentagon assessment in terms of when funds could run out and how urgently this funding needs to be provided for Ukraine. Is there a point where the Pentagon feels without that funding in the next weeks it threatens the war itself?
MS. SINGH: Sure. So I think the assertion was that Ukraine doesn’t need this funding and that they could manage with what we have left. Is that what you were summarizing?
Q: That the U.S. has enough funding. There’s still enough remaining funding that it could last for – it could be stretched out for a few more months that it’s not as urgent as the president presented yesterday.
MS. SINGH: Yes.
Q: He said it would be before the holidays --
(CROSSTALK)
MS. SINGH: Right, I would -- sorry, I didn’t mean to cut you off -- I would strongly push back against that assertion. The biggest problem that we are running up against is we don’t have enough money to backfill our own stocks, which means we don’t have enough to continue to supply Ukraine with what it needs because it is our weapons, our capabilities, our systems being pulled off our shelves and being shipped over to Ukraine.
And so if we can’t backfill, that’s going to also impact our own readiness, which means that’s going to impact what we can provide Ukraine. And so I would really push back on that assertion. And, you know, till very recently we’ve enjoyed bipartisan support from Congress and that security assistance has been critical in providing Ukraine what it needs on the battlefield.
And I would just remind you that everyone thought that Putin would Kyiv in three days. And the Ukrainians have done an incredible job of not only defending Kyiv but then there were other battles that they continue to push the Russians back, continue to push them into the east and into the south.
They are making very good use of our capabilities and not just ours, allies and partners as well, providing them with the weapon systems that they need. And so you’ve heard the President, you’ve heard the Secretary say it; we’re in it with Ukraine for the long haul. It’s not just about making sure Ukraine has what it needs to defend itself on the battlefield. It’s about making sure that Russia also gets the message that it cannot expand into other countries -- into other sovereign countries because that’s exactly what Vladimir Putin wants.
And you know you’ve seen some support from both sides of the aisle in Congress. I think there’s a small majority that oppose sending more funding for Ukraine. We’re working through that. We believe that the urgent supplemental request that we submitted to
Congress is the right thing for Congress to pass and we’re hopeful that it gets done.
Q: One last topic.
MS. SINGH: Sure.
Q: Can we get some sense of the number of stories that the Ike and Ford strike groups have conducted. Just I think we haven’t had any real visibility as to how busy they’ve been as they have been in the Mediterranean. I’d love, if possible, something to add on that.
MS. SINGH: Yes, we can take that. Yes, no problem. Yes, over here.
Q: Thank you. Comparing to the last couple of weeks, we have very few attacks on international force and your force in Iraq. So do you believe it is because of your response to the previous attacks?
And if I may add this, do you believe the Iraqi government can protect your forces that are in Iraq at the invitation of the government of Iraq?
MS. SINGH: Well, just as you said, we’re in Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government. They have been one our partners in the region and within Iraq in protecting our forces. And of course the mission, the reason why we are in Iraq is to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS. So the Iraqi military has been a partner in that effort.
Look, in terms of the attacks on our forces, I think it’s important to remember that it’s good that we have not seen attacks on our forces in the last 24 hours. We would like to see that continue. I can’t speak to whether that will be the case. I can’t predict the future.
But I would remind you that when we have decided to respond it has been deliberate, it has been effective, our strikes have been able to destroy weapons facilities, command and control node, storage facilities that these IRGC backed groups use.
So I think it’s important that while we did see a spate of attacks against our forces, they were largely not successful with minor damage to infrastructure. And so of course we’ll always respond back at a time and place of our choosing but I’ll just leave it at that.
Yes?
Q: Thank you. I have two questions on Israel. Is this the first time for U.S. military to stop flying all Osprey variants at the same time? My second question, can you give us a sense of a rough timeframe of how long stand down will last. Is it likely to be a matter of weeks and months rather than days?
MS. SINGH: I’d refer you to the Services to speak to how long the stand-down will last. In terms of if this has been the first stand down, this has not. We’ve done this with other platforms. We’ve done it with the Osprey before. But I’d let the services speak to that.
Q: Thank you.
MS. SINGH: Yes. And then I’ll come in the back.
Q: Thank you, (inaudible).
MS. SINGH: Sure.
Q: Why did it take a week to, you know, reach the decision to stand down?
MS. SINGH: Well, again, we started conducting the investigation as soon as the November 29th mishap happened. As the investigation was being conducted, the Air Force felt the need to issue that stand-down. But for more information I would direct you to the Air Force to speak to that.
Q: What is the potential material failure that was indicated in the preliminary investigation? Could you give us kind of more specific or clarification?
MS. SINGH: I unfortunately don’t have more information. I would direct you to the air force to speak to that. Again, this is an ongoing investigation. So I certainly wouldn’t want to get ahead of that at this time. Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
Q: As you mentioned at the opening when you came but there’s a call between Secretary Austin and his Saudi counterpart and they were talking about the Houthis. So today the NSC Coordinator, John Kirby, he said we are not in unarmed conflict with the Houthis. So does the DOD share with Mr. Kirby this view, you are not in a war with the Houthis? And how soon you can prevent this conflict from widening and escalating?
MS. SINGH: Yes, absolutely we share that view. We’re not in an armed conflict with the Houthis. We have seen drones and missiles shot from Houthi controlled areas within Yemen.
Not necessarily targeting our ships but of course targeting most likely commercial vessels that are transiting through the Red Sea. And so part of why we are in the region is to bolster our deterrence but to also ensure the free passageway of commercial ships that are transiting through one of the most vital water ways in the world.
And so yes, I completely agree with what Mr. Kirby said earlier today. We don’t see conflict, we don’t want to see this widen out to a regional war or into the larger region and that’s why you’ve seen the Secretary make the decisions he did to send to carrier strike groups, one in the Eastern Med and then one of course in the CENTCOM area of responsibility, to deter, to send a message of deterrence, to send a message to Iran and its proxies who would want to inflict, whether it's damage or harm to U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria or disrupt commercial commerce in the Red Sea and in the region.
So that was a very deliberate decision by the Secretary.
Yeah?
Q: Yeah, thank you. So just to circle back on Ukraine, the Ukrainians have admitted that their counter-offensive has failed. Do you agree with that assessment? And do you believe the war is a stalemate? And then how do you think the Ukrainians can break out of that? Does, like, more money and weapons help, or do you think they need a new strategy?
MS. SINGH: I think your summary is a bit short. I don't think that they've -- would say it's failed. We have seen them make progress in the counter-offensive. It might not be the gains that they want to be making every single day but there is incremental progress. I think that's important to remember.
I'd let the Ukrainians speak to their own operations and how they can change what they need to do for the next phase of the war which is entering into winter. We have provided them the training, the equipment, the support that they need to be successful, and we feel very confident that they will be successful.
And part of that is also invigorating their defense industrial base, which is why you saw the Secretary speak at Commerce just yesterday about the need for industry to partner with Ukraine so they can have a robust defense industrial base as this war continues.
But I would let the Ukrainians really speak to their own operations and characterize what they see as success on the battlefield.
Q: Do you agree the war is a stalemate right now?
MS. SINGH: I would let the Ukrainians speak to their own operations. Again, we feel confident that they have what they need to be successful on the battlefield. Great.
I saw a question over here and then I'll wrap it up.
Q: I have two questions on the Middle East. The first is the U.S. sanctioned 13 individuals and entities that are funding the Houthis in Yemen. Do you believe that will slow down the amount of attacks that we're seeing in the Red Sea and that region over the coming weeks or is that something that'll be more long-term in slowing them down?
And then secondly, what is the Pentagon's assessment of Israel's campaign to eliminate Hamas in Gaza?
MS. SINGH: So in terms of the -- I think you're referring to sanctions that were issued by the Department of Treasury? I would direct you to them to speak more to the sanctions that were placed on those 13 individuals.
Look, when you're hitting a financial network, that has obvious effects. I can't predict that that slows down or stops any attacks. We can only continue to send the message that we do not want to see this war or a war widen into a regional conflict, and we will continue to respond, should our commanders of our ships feel the need to in self-defense.
And I'm sorry, your second question?
Q: Just the current assessment of Israel's campaign to eliminate Hamas in Gaza?
MS. SINGH: Oh, sorry. Look, I'd let Israel speak to that. We continue to engage with the Israelis on their targeting of a terrorist organization in Gaza. We are talking to them. The Secretary is talking to Minister Gallant on an almost daily basis still, getting updates, but also voicing support and concern where he needs to.
Did I see one more question? Nope. Yes, one in the back and then we'll wrap it up.
Q: Thank you. (Inaudible) from (inaudible). So Director Wray from the FBI said a few days ago in a hearing on the Judiciary Committee in the Senate that the United States, especially the FBI, is seeing alerts -- terrorist alerts that are unprecedented, and he even compared them, or accepted the comparison, to what the United States was seeing before 9/11.
Do you coincide with that? Are you also worried or are you concerned about an unprecedented level of terrorist threats, not only inside the United States but also to United States' interests abroad?
MS. SINGH: I would let the Department of Justice really speak to that and the Department of Homeland Security speak to the level of terrorist threats within the United States. That's not something this building can really speak to.
Of course, we always monitor threats around the world, threats to our partners and allies, and threats to our interests abroad. That's something that we're going to continue to do but I don't have anything to announce or read out in terms of anything that we've observed that would change our behavior.
All right, thank you very much.