1
00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:05,359
Speaker 1: On January fifth, Secretary Austin resuming his duties from the hospital.

2
00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:08,480
Speaker 1: The press and public finally told about it late in

3
00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:12,280
Speaker 1: the day, Secretary Austin issuing a statement from.

4
00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,480
Speaker 2: His hospital bed. I recognize I.

5
00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:17,159
Speaker 1: Could have done a better job ensuring the public was

6
00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:18,640
Speaker 1: appropriately informed.

7
00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:20,520
Speaker 2: I commit to doing better.

8
00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:24,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, that seems weasily to me, just in that the

9
00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:28,600
Speaker 3: public being informed. I don't need to know, but the

10
00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:32,600
Speaker 3: President probably should know. The National Security Advisor should probably know.

11
00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:37,040
Speaker 3: Your number two should probably know that they're in charge.

12
00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:40,120
Speaker 2: I don't need to know. Well, it seems self evident

13
00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:42,640
Speaker 2: to me, but again, I'm a layman. I thought it

14
00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:45,320
Speaker 2: was striking that some of the newscasts said the effort

15
00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:49,080
Speaker 2: to hide the hospitalization just came out and said it.

16
00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:51,320
Speaker 2: Let's consult with somebody who knows what he's talking about.

17
00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:53,960
Speaker 2: Major Mike Lions retired in the United States military. He

18
00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,680
Speaker 2: respected military analyst for CNN among the other outlets. Always

19
00:00:57,680 --> 00:00:59,040
Speaker 2: good to have you, Mike. How are you, sir?

20
00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:01,000
Speaker 4: Any guys happy New Year?

21
00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:05,160
Speaker 3: Do you stand by your tweet from yesterday in which

22
00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:09,400
Speaker 3: you thought there needs to be repercussions for this? I'll

23
00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:11,640
Speaker 3: read it if there are no consequences for this action.

24
00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:14,080
Speaker 3: The result is a new standard of behavior for a

25
00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:14,880
Speaker 3: cabinet official.

26
00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:17,520
Speaker 5: Well, I mean, all I really did was tweet out

27
00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,360
Speaker 5: leadership one on one, and then when a leadership, when

28
00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:21,959
Speaker 5: a leader, you know, kind of walks by and creates

29
00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:24,319
Speaker 5: this kind of problem and there's no consequence, and that's

30
00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:26,800
Speaker 5: we've created a new standard. So I don't I want

31
00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:29,120
Speaker 5: to take any outrage out of it with regard to,

32
00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:31,280
Speaker 5: you know, calling for his head or or anything like that.

33
00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:35,520
Speaker 5: That's not what I really meant to say. The level

34
00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:40,680
Speaker 5: of breakdown though, in this particular situation is concerning the fact,

35
00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:44,680
Speaker 5: you know, take take out all the components of it,

36
00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:48,040
Speaker 5: goes into the hospital. The second that he was medevac

37
00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:52,360
Speaker 5: to ICU should have triggered multiple communication channels with his

38
00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:54,680
Speaker 5: chief of staff, who now we come to find out,

39
00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:57,200
Speaker 5: was sick with the flu, with his deputy who was

40
00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:01,480
Speaker 5: off on vacation in Puerto Rico. He should have returned immediately,

41
00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:03,880
Speaker 5: and none of those things happened. And that's where the

42
00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:05,840
Speaker 5: breakdown I think happens. The Chairman of the Joint Chief

43
00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,520
Speaker 5: then gets notified I believe January second, which is a Tuesday,

44
00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:13,960
Speaker 5: he had by law responsibility to communicate. So to me,

45
00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:18,519
Speaker 5: this is you know, more of again leadership one oh one,

46
00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:21,440
Speaker 5: that when we create this kind of behavior, we set

47
00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:24,560
Speaker 5: a new standard and we'll see if there will be

48
00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:28,639
Speaker 5: a consequence. It doesn't necessarily mean he has to resign,

49
00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:31,280
Speaker 5: but there's going to be a consequence. There's going to

50
00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:33,480
Speaker 5: be an investigation. Now at a very minimum, we see.

51
00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:36,680
Speaker 2: Well, ultimately, I guess the consequence is that the ballot box.

52
00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:39,520
Speaker 2: But so you seem to be suggesting this is just

53
00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:43,520
Speaker 2: good old fashioned this happened. Then that happened, and nobody

54
00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:47,720
Speaker 2: thought of it just incompetence, Mistakes were made, people were sick.

55
00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:49,720
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's probably more alike.

56
00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:52,320
Speaker 5: I mean, in order for these kind of things to happen,

57
00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:54,600
Speaker 5: lots of things have to go wrong, and all what

58
00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,000
Speaker 5: have taken is that one person back then, the chief

59
00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:01,480
Speaker 5: of staff notifying the president right away when he's an ICU,

60
00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:04,560
Speaker 5: because there's the regulatory requirements that have to happen. It orders,

61
00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:08,320
Speaker 5: you know, from a civilian defense, you know, pritary perspective

62
00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:10,200
Speaker 5: that the orders you would have to give out that

63
00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:12,960
Speaker 5: would have to be delegated to someone else. And so

64
00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,480
Speaker 5: none of those things happened. You factor in, it's the

65
00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:18,560
Speaker 5: end of the year, your factor in all those things,

66
00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:22,320
Speaker 5: the factor in the deputies on vacation doesn't. It's it's

67
00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:25,440
Speaker 5: just more incompetence. That's unfortunate. That likely they're going to

68
00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:27,280
Speaker 5: have to go back and put another you know, belt

69
00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:29,120
Speaker 5: and suspenders process and to make sure it doesn't ever

70
00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:29,640
Speaker 5: happen again.

71
00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:32,200
Speaker 3: I don't want to try to get you to comment

72
00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:35,480
Speaker 3: on something that you don't know about, but maybe you

73
00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:38,840
Speaker 3: do know about this. It's surprising to me that the

74
00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:42,880
Speaker 3: President isn't talking to the Sect death like practically every day,

75
00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:45,520
Speaker 3: given you know, the events of the last couple of weeks.

76
00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:49,560
Speaker 5: Well, I think that's one of these implied things that

77
00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:53,920
Speaker 5: have come out of this whole thing and the daily intelligence.

78
00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:55,040
Speaker 4: Briefing and all of those things.

79
00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:57,640
Speaker 5: I mean, he's not reading them in the ICU and

80
00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:00,360
Speaker 5: like who is and you would think you would think

81
00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:03,000
Speaker 5: they're fifteen minutes with the NSC. You know, Jake Sullivan

82
00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,800
Speaker 5: was surprised as well. So it does show there is

83
00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:11,120
Speaker 5: somewhat of a disconnect. I think what this is showing

84
00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:14,760
Speaker 5: us is that the NSC, the Nasal Security Advisor and

85
00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:18,040
Speaker 5: Council are doing more to run the operation inside of

86
00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:21,400
Speaker 5: Israel and what's going on foreign policy wise than the

87
00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:27,320
Speaker 5: Secretary of Defensive That's the unfortunate, unintended consequence of this happening,

88
00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:30,360
Speaker 5: and this having been found out, he's not he's not

89
00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:34,120
Speaker 5: communicating with him for whatever reason, and the fact that

90
00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:36,280
Speaker 5: he's going to let this go, it just goes to

91
00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:37,919
Speaker 5: show you that they're with the current process.

92
00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:40,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, speaking of the ballot box before we move on

93
00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:43,240
Speaker 2: to the situation in Israel, I'm just struck Mike by.

94
00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:46,520
Speaker 2: You know, I spent enough time as an athlete to

95
00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:50,880
Speaker 2: know that you don't have any idea how good your

96
00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:55,560
Speaker 2: team is until you play a game. And the Russians

97
00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:59,960
Speaker 2: found that out bitterly in Ukraine, where is the Chinese

98
00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,800
Speaker 2: are discovering that they are not nearly as well equipped

99
00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:06,560
Speaker 2: as they thought they were, hence the clean out of

100
00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,880
Speaker 2: the Chinese military Upper Eche lines. And I just have

101
00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:14,200
Speaker 2: a bad feeling about our military apparatus and how ready

102
00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:14,920
Speaker 2: we really are.

103
00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:18,919
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, it's great question because we thought that

104
00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:21,599
Speaker 5: was that way back in the eighties, and we saw

105
00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:23,680
Speaker 5: the Desert Storm proved that wrong. And I think the

106
00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:27,880
Speaker 5: same thing our military were almost sent me sometimes in

107
00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:29,800
Speaker 5: terms of how we feel the standard in the bar

108
00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:32,599
Speaker 5: is but we do answer the bell and rise to

109
00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:37,159
Speaker 5: the occasion. And at our reporting structure is always for example,

110
00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:40,520
Speaker 5: and if equipment is supposed to be ready, it is ready.

111
00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:44,039
Speaker 5: It's good to go. I saw those about water with

112
00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:46,200
Speaker 5: there were supposed to be fuel in those rockets in China,

113
00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:49,560
Speaker 5: and you know, China, I think was looking to get

114
00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:51,840
Speaker 5: by on masks. They were just they're looking to throw

115
00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:53,960
Speaker 5: bodies at things because that's what that's what their advantage is.

116
00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:56,840
Speaker 5: In a military perspective, the question comes back to whether

117
00:05:56,839 --> 00:05:58,839
Speaker 5: our technology and because they can out mass us, they

118
00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:01,240
Speaker 5: could do anything in that regard. We saw the pictures

119
00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:04,960
Speaker 5: of the carrier that they're trying, their practicing bombing all

120
00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:07,520
Speaker 5: those things, all those intimidate actors, but again to kind

121
00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:11,000
Speaker 5: of netted out. I think our military learned that lesson

122
00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:13,640
Speaker 5: in a bad way during Vietnam, and we still have

123
00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:16,120
Speaker 5: the leadership in our military making sure that that would

124
00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:18,839
Speaker 5: never happen. We've got high readiness for our active forces.

125
00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:20,400
Speaker 5: I'm confident in that.

126
00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:21,120
Speaker 2: That's great to hear.

127
00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:24,880
Speaker 3: So reading more of your tweets because you're one of

128
00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:29,159
Speaker 3: the people that anything happens in Israel Ukraine big anything

129
00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:29,800
Speaker 3: with the military.

130
00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:31,039
Speaker 2: You're one of the first Twitter feeds.

131
00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:33,960
Speaker 3: I go to your tweet from four days ago while

132
00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:38,480
Speaker 3: US conducts airstrike and bag Dad, why this target over

133
00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:39,080
Speaker 3: the hoofies?

134
00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:40,400
Speaker 2: What were you talking about there?

135
00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:44,080
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm surprised that we chose to go pick a

136
00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:48,839
Speaker 5: target that of was logistical support, but it looks like

137
00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:50,920
Speaker 5: we had one of the leaders of one of those

138
00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:54,320
Speaker 5: Hezbola brigades that were there that was so close to Baghdad.

139
00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:57,680
Speaker 5: I think, you know, we're starting to go We're still

140
00:06:57,680 --> 00:06:59,359
Speaker 5: going after the logistics, but I'd like to see us

141
00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:02,000
Speaker 5: go after you know, the archers are not just the arrows,

142
00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:06,040
Speaker 5: and the archers are sitting in Yemen, and there's now

143
00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:07,599
Speaker 5: who these are. But then I kind of thought about it.

144
00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:10,320
Speaker 5: The reason why, the reason why we probably want attack

145
00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:14,200
Speaker 5: inside of Yemen is because we likely would kill Iranian

146
00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:17,800
Speaker 5: soldiers that are there helping them and supporting them in

147
00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:20,880
Speaker 5: Ranian public Guards, and I think that would show an escalation.

148
00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,360
Speaker 5: So I think they're keeping that in their back pocket.

149
00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:26,000
Speaker 5: This was as close to though, as a surprise to

150
00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:29,080
Speaker 5: me that the administration would approve this attack, just given

151
00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:32,920
Speaker 5: how far it was inside of a rock inside of Baghdad,

152
00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:35,200
Speaker 5: not in the hinterlands. You know, the Syrians and all

153
00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:38,200
Speaker 5: those other kind of outposts that those brigades are one thing.

154
00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:41,200
Speaker 5: But this is a close attack that again sent a

155
00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:44,240
Speaker 5: very very clear message, and it just it's delaying this

156
00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:48,800
Speaker 5: whole potential attack inside of Yemen. I saw admist Rebauties

157
00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:51,000
Speaker 5: basically say the same thing. We should be going after them.

158
00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:53,600
Speaker 5: But I think when you think about it, we would

159
00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:55,560
Speaker 5: attack and the kill Iranian soldiers, and I think that's

160
00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:57,000
Speaker 5: going to be a problem for this administration.

161
00:07:57,280 --> 00:07:58,920
Speaker 3: Okay, interesting, Yeah, I was going to bring him up

162
00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:03,480
Speaker 3: because he said, whoever you're talking about Hezbolahamas or the Huthies,

163
00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:08,680
Speaker 3: it's all about you're talking about Iran And to your mind,

164
00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:11,560
Speaker 3: are even close to pushing back hard enough against all

165
00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:12,840
Speaker 3: of those attacks yet?

166
00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:13,800
Speaker 4: Not yet.

167
00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:17,720
Speaker 5: But we haven't seen any counter attacks of substance since

168
00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:20,000
Speaker 5: that last attack from you know, a week ago or

169
00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:23,240
Speaker 5: top five days ago. So again it's an interesting Maybe

170
00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:26,600
Speaker 5: we're starting to draw this line on military deterrence in

171
00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,000
Speaker 5: that area there, and maybe we're seeing I've seen intelligence

172
00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,880
Speaker 5: reports that are showing that the Iranians are sending message

173
00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:37,520
Speaker 5: to Hesbelah about backing off and not escalating. However, I've

174
00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:40,480
Speaker 5: seen the other side where you know, Israel might decide

175
00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:43,200
Speaker 5: that they want to escalate. I just the words of

176
00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:45,840
Speaker 5: the Defense minister saying it's time for war right now.

177
00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:49,760
Speaker 5: You know, Israel's not stopping their operations until they find

178
00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:52,640
Speaker 5: an Arab person that runs an Arab organization that says

179
00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:55,000
Speaker 5: we surrender, and they're going to keep going for as

180
00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:57,080
Speaker 5: long as that happens. That might be a very long

181
00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:00,480
Speaker 5: time still, so I think that is you will might

182
00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:04,280
Speaker 5: end up extending this if as long as as long

183
00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:06,679
Speaker 5: as they think they're going to win, and right now

184
00:09:06,679 --> 00:09:07,520
Speaker 5: they're doing just that.

185
00:09:07,559 --> 00:09:10,240
Speaker 4: I think in Gada as well as eleven one, it.

186
00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:12,480
Speaker 2: Seems pretty clear to me that the Israelis have said

187
00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:15,199
Speaker 2: this is time for total warfare. We will defeat our enemy.

188
00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:18,839
Speaker 2: And if the world is uncomfortable with that, well that's fine.

189
00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:21,440
Speaker 2: They will have to deal with it. And you know, honestly,

190
00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:25,600
Speaker 2: putting aside certain people in that region, the quote unquote

191
00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,120
Speaker 2: world will have forgotten about this in six months, so

192
00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:30,640
Speaker 2: I think they're probably doing the right thing. One more

193
00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:34,920
Speaker 2: note about Israel. When those bombs went off at the

194
00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:39,880
Speaker 2: big ceremony, unerring General Sulamani in the cemetery in Iran,

195
00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:43,360
Speaker 2: I with great confidence pronounced to my wife that, yep,

196
00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:46,280
Speaker 2: you don't mess with the Israelis. They take as long

197
00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:48,880
Speaker 2: as they need blah blah blah. And she looked at

198
00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:51,120
Speaker 2: me with admiring eyes. And it turns out I'm probably

199
00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:54,320
Speaker 2: completely wrong. Now people are saying that was icy. I

200
00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:57,679
Speaker 2: buy yeah, well right, do you buy that, mic I.

201
00:09:57,679 --> 00:09:59,800
Speaker 5: Do I do the kind of attack that it was

202
00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:02,640
Speaker 5: tap where they go in and they bomb the first time,

203
00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:04,720
Speaker 5: wait for first responders to show up to help, and

204
00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:07,640
Speaker 5: then they bomb again. You know, that's just not something

205
00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:10,920
Speaker 5: Israel would do. That's not in their fingerprint. They're more surgical. Look,

206
00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:14,880
Speaker 5: they will go after leadership of Hamas. But I'm going

207
00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:16,560
Speaker 5: to go out and women say they're not going to

208
00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:20,480
Speaker 5: bomb civilians and make that kind of attack. That's clearly ice.

209
00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:22,959
Speaker 5: That's a terrorist attack. Now terrorism has come home to

210
00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:26,040
Speaker 5: roost in Iran. You know, the number one state supporter

211
00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:29,480
Speaker 5: or exporter of terrorist activities. Well, by the way, it

212
00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:31,920
Speaker 5: has enemies inside themselves as well. And we're took place

213
00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:34,720
Speaker 5: in the southern eastern portion of the country, maybe more

214
00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:37,719
Speaker 5: in the central portion. Easy to get terrorist organizations from

215
00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:40,800
Speaker 5: from Afghanistan and other people can come through those very

216
00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:43,160
Speaker 5: poor sports and set that up again away from the

217
00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:45,520
Speaker 5: flagpole of Tehran. So I think that's how that that's

218
00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:47,400
Speaker 5: that way that went down, and I think the Ranians

219
00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:49,760
Speaker 5: have got to be concerned about more ISIS attacks as

220
00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:54,600
Speaker 5: this conflict with inside the Muslim world exists of Shia

221
00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:55,240
Speaker 5: versus Sunni.

222
00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:59,319
Speaker 2: Mike Lyons, military analyst, Mike, thanks a million, so interesting.

223
00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:01,360
Speaker 2: Happy new year to you and we're looking forward to

224
00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:02,319
Speaker 2: staying to touch this year.

225
00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:06,080
Speaker 4: Great guys, thanks for me Armstrong and Getty