Peter Cook, formerly of Bloomberg TV, was recently chosen to serve as Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s press secretary, succeeding Rear Adm. John Kirby. Cook has extensive on-air experience, but his first live press briefing wasn’t particularly illuminating. Perhaps it wasn’t necessary to note in his tweet that it was his first press briefing.
"There are a lot of meetings here and we do a lot of planning" – @PentagonPresSec jokes of his initial days in the building. He has no idea.
— Kevin Baron ?? ? (@DefenseBaron) August 25, 2015
Two hot topics among the press: Hillary Clinton’s unsecured private email server, and the future of Guantanamo Bay.
Conservative columnist Bill Gertz in the briefing room asks if DOD investigating Hillary emails. @PentagonPresSec shockingly passes.
— Kevin Baron ?? ? (@DefenseBaron) August 25, 2015
Fair question but rest of Pentagon press corps asking about non-Hillary things like, ISIS, Syria, Turkey, F-35, industry, war, peace…
— Kevin Baron ?? ? (@DefenseBaron) August 25, 2015
How about Guantanamo Bay prisoner transfers then? The Pentagon recently sent a team to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., to see if “a limited number” of detainees could be housed there. Gov. Sam Brownback called it “a bad idea,” and Sen. Pat Roberts declared, “Not on my watch will any terrorist be placed in Kansas.” So now what’s the plan?
Obama still closing Guantanamo? "He wants to move expeditiously and we're trying to do that at the Dept of Defense" @PentagonPresSec
— Kevin Baron ?? ? (@DefenseBaron) August 25, 2015
When will DoD present Gitmo closing plans? "Don't have a specific date for you. I just know that we'd like to do it soon"-@PentagonPresSec
— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) August 25, 2015
The @PentagonPresSec also says there's no firm deadline to deliver #Gitmo closure plan to Congress. Cook: "This is difficult. This is hard."
— Carol Rosenberg (@carolrosenberg) August 25, 2015
Where besides Leavenworth or Charleston? "We haven't identified those other locations" @PentagonPresSec says. #Guantanamo #GTMO
— Kevin Baron ?? ? (@DefenseBaron) August 25, 2015
On #Gitmo Closure Plan team's would-be survey sites: "They're still evaluating what would be the most suitable locations." @PentagonPresSec
— Carol Rosenberg (@carolrosenberg) August 25, 2015
The @PentagonPressSec also says he's got nothing on whether Pentagon has permission to survey other would-be Gitmo North sites in the USA.
— Carol Rosenberg (@carolrosenberg) August 25, 2015
Don’t sweat it. It took Marie Harf tons of useless press briefings at the State Department before she was promoted.
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