WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:02.070 SECRETARY POMPEO: Well, good morning. 00:00:02.070 --> 00:00:05.430 Thank you, Thomas, for the kind introduction, the kind words. 00:00:05.430 --> 00:00:08.280 Thank you, too, for the warm welcome. 00:00:08.280 --> 00:00:09.920 I have felt it everywhere. 00:00:09.920 --> 00:00:12.280 I was commenting that I’m going to be here in Germany for two days. 00:00:12.280 --> 00:00:18.260 I don’t think I’ve been two days any one place in the last three years, and it has 00:00:18.260 --> 00:00:22.550 been a blessing and wonderful, and you all have been so gracious to me and to my team. 00:00:22.550 --> 00:00:24.490 I want to thank Foreign Minister Maas, too. 00:00:24.490 --> 00:00:26.660 He spent the whole day with me yesterday. 00:00:26.660 --> 00:00:30.530 It was a great show of hospitality and friendship. 00:00:30.530 --> 00:00:33.110 We traveled a good part of your country. 00:00:33.110 --> 00:00:35.260 And I want to thank the Korber Foundation. 00:00:35.260 --> 00:00:38.520 You all have been so gracious to host us in this beautiful building. 00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:42.880 I love your founder’s mantra ̶ talking with people. 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:43.900 Fantastic. 00:00:43.900 --> 00:00:44.900 Not about them. 00:00:44.900 --> 00:00:46.740 I wish that happened in Washington. 00:00:46.740 --> 00:00:47.850 (Laughter.) 00:00:47.850 --> 00:00:51.750 I can handle Twitter storms, too. 00:00:51.750 --> 00:00:54.620 As many of you know, I am from the great state of Kansas. 00:00:54.620 --> 00:00:57.870 It’s right smack dab in the center of the United States of America. 00:00:57.870 --> 00:01:03.239 And we have been welcoming Germans, German immigrants, since the 1800s. 00:01:03.239 --> 00:01:09.700 They founded towns that I know people in and have campaigned in, towns like Bremen, a little 00:01:09.700 --> 00:01:12.470 town called Humboldt, Stuttgart – you know. 00:01:12.470 --> 00:01:13.490 (Laughter.) 00:01:13.490 --> 00:01:19.650 It’s Germans like those people that I know so well from Kansas who helped build America. 00:01:19.650 --> 00:01:26.640 But my personal connection to your great country, and to the German people, began in the fall 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:34.200 of 1986, as a younger, thinner, more daring Army second lieutenant, in a place called 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:37.409 Bindlach – we’re not far from, by the way. 00:01:37.409 --> 00:01:42.760 I am one of millions of Americans who have lived in Germany since the founding of the 00:01:42.760 --> 00:01:46.460 Federal Republic back in 1949. 00:01:46.460 --> 00:01:53.060 My tour, my time on station here, happened towards the end of the Cold War, but my fellow 00:01:53.060 --> 00:02:01.310 soldiers and I know that we had no idea that it was, in fact, close to the end. 00:02:01.310 --> 00:02:07.280 We did midnight emergency drills and exercises within sight of a militarized border. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:12.219 Would the next patrol – I patrolled the border from the tri-zonal point in Czechoslovakia 00:02:12.219 --> 00:02:15.430 then, Czechoslovakia up and through Hof and through Modlareuth. 00:02:15.430 --> 00:02:19.310 Would the next patrol be our last? 00:02:19.310 --> 00:02:20.310 This was very real. 00:02:20.310 --> 00:02:23.859 It seems hard to imagine for the young people in either of our two countries. 00:02:23.859 --> 00:02:26.879 We didn’t know. 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:28.579 But we knew we had the ultimate advantage. 00:02:28.579 --> 00:02:34.650 We had national leaders with a deep faith in God, and human dignity, that had confidence 00:02:34.650 --> 00:02:43.659 in free peoples, with the courage of their convictions, who also had patience and persistence. 00:02:43.659 --> 00:02:46.579 They built our peoples’ resolve. 00:02:46.579 --> 00:02:49.480 They made the case to their respective peoples. 00:02:49.480 --> 00:02:54.419 They built our institutions and alliances so that we could collectively prevail over 00:02:54.419 --> 00:02:59.239 communism and over evil. 00:02:59.239 --> 00:03:04.620 And behind the Iron Curtain, a brave and noble group of East German citizens refused to remain 00:03:04.620 --> 00:03:10.090 chained inside a communist system that denied the inherent worth of every individual. 00:03:10.090 --> 00:03:13.209 Indeed, they are the real heroes of this story. 00:03:13.209 --> 00:03:17.069 I had a chance to meet with a few of them last night in Leipzig. 00:03:17.069 --> 00:03:24.169 Together, we won the Cold War: Germany, Germany and the United States, and all of our Allies 00:03:24.169 --> 00:03:25.409 and partners. 00:03:25.409 --> 00:03:28.560 And so it’s why I am really thrilled and happy to be here. 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:33.099 It’s why I’m so proud – speaking mere feet from where the Wall once stood – to 00:03:33.099 --> 00:03:38.129 celebrate its demise now three decades ago. 00:03:38.129 --> 00:03:40.750 Sometimes we need to take a victory lap. 00:03:40.750 --> 00:03:43.989 We get caught up in the challenge of the day and we forget the greatness that we have achieved 00:03:43.989 --> 00:03:51.480 to lift billions of people out of horrific conditions, and that we did so together. 00:03:51.480 --> 00:03:55.329 But as we celebrate, as we take this victory lap, we must also recognize that freedom is 00:03:55.329 --> 00:03:56.329 never guaranteed. 00:03:56.329 --> 00:03:57.559 We spoke to this. 00:03:57.559 --> 00:03:59.389 It doesn’t just happen. 00:03:59.389 --> 00:04:02.889 Today, authoritarianism is just a stone’s throw away. 00:04:02.889 --> 00:04:03.889 It’s rising. 00:04:03.889 --> 00:04:08.309 And if we’re honest, it never really went away completely. 00:04:08.309 --> 00:04:16.730 And I see there’s members of the Bundestag here, business leaders here in Germany. 00:04:16.730 --> 00:04:18.370 It’s up to us, all of us. 00:04:18.370 --> 00:04:23.210 It’s up to us to secure our freedom and our future together, and that is the subject 00:04:23.210 --> 00:04:26.810 of what I want to talk about today, how the United States and Germany can do this together, 00:04:26.810 --> 00:04:30.350 must do this together, for the good of our peoples and for the good of the world. 00:04:30.350 --> 00:04:34.760 Now, I know, too, that many of you in the audience today – no matter what side of 00:04:34.760 --> 00:04:40.780 the Wall you grew up on ‒ won’t forget the horrors of the German Democratic Republic. 00:04:40.780 --> 00:04:49.600 In 1961, the Vopos first jackhammered this city’s pavement and laid the cornerstones 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:50.600 of cruelty. 00:04:50.600 --> 00:04:57.640 Those stones became 27 miles of wall snaking through the German capital, dividing a people. 00:04:57.640 --> 00:04:59.980 The Wall wasn’t there to keep the West out. 00:04:59.980 --> 00:05:03.320 It was there to keep the East German people in. 00:05:03.320 --> 00:05:07.010 That’s how authoritarian regimes operate then. 00:05:07.010 --> 00:05:09.220 It’s how they operate today. 00:05:09.220 --> 00:05:15.320 They force people against their own will to not have the capacity to sustain themselves 00:05:15.320 --> 00:05:19.600 and be dependent on that regime. 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:25.590 President Reagan thought that communism was a “disease” and he called it an “insanity.” 00:05:25.590 --> 00:05:27.790 How right he was. 00:05:27.790 --> 00:05:31.590 We should never forget how many millions of people suffered and died from the communist 00:05:31.590 --> 00:05:34.830 cause in the 20th century. 00:05:34.830 --> 00:05:39.210 Indeed, the bleakness of East Germany was clear to me too, when I was stationed here. 00:05:39.210 --> 00:05:44.710 I could see it, although only from a distance, and only a short distance across that border. 00:05:44.710 --> 00:05:48.710 But I knew – I was young, I was in my early 20s – but what kind of country needed bricks 00:05:48.710 --> 00:05:54.870 and barbed wire and machine guns just to keep its people from fleeing, and they needed a 00:05:54.870 --> 00:05:57.070 Stasi to keep people from talking? 00:05:57.070 --> 00:06:02.790 Yesterday, I had a chance to go revisit some of the same ground I walked when I was in 00:06:02.790 --> 00:06:04.080 my early 20s. 00:06:04.080 --> 00:06:08.190 I saw the tools of terror from the perspective of the other side. 00:06:08.190 --> 00:06:11.540 I’d never been across that piece of terrain before. 00:06:11.540 --> 00:06:13.760 I’d seen Modlareuth, but only from one side. 00:06:13.760 --> 00:06:17.650 Yesterday, I got to see it from the other side. 00:06:17.650 --> 00:06:21.380 And yet for all of that, for all of that governmental power, all of that authoritarianism, the GDR 00:06:21.380 --> 00:06:23.090 couldn’t crush the human spirit. 00:06:23.090 --> 00:06:27.590 The Germans maintained their imperishable hope of freedom and a better future even under 00:06:27.590 --> 00:06:30.150 that authoritarian regime. 00:06:30.150 --> 00:06:36.000 Countless East Germans – so many of them Berliners, and maybe some of them related 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:40.230 to you that are sitting right here today – made the daring flight against the – across the 00:06:40.230 --> 00:06:41.970 “kill zone” and the Wall. 00:06:41.970 --> 00:06:46.520 And a number of them, of course, died trying. 00:06:46.520 --> 00:06:52.240 Our Embassy here in Berlin, where the American flag flies proudly today, sits on the land 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:55.520 that was once in that “kill zone.” 00:06:55.520 --> 00:06:57.840 But East Germans knew they weren’t alone. 00:06:57.840 --> 00:06:58.980 They knew they had a partner. 00:06:58.980 --> 00:07:03.820 And they took heart from the soaring words of leaders and deeds of Presidents Truman 00:07:03.820 --> 00:07:05.520 and Kennedy and Reagan. 00:07:05.520 --> 00:07:12.800 They remembered the East German uprising of 1953, and the Hungarian uprising just a few 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:17.170 years later in 1956, and the Prague Spring of 1968. 00:07:17.170 --> 00:07:19.030 And they saw. 00:07:19.030 --> 00:07:21.400 They saw kindred spirits all across the world. 00:07:21.400 --> 00:07:23.110 They saw them in Poland, the march for Solidarity. 00:07:23.110 --> 00:07:27.200 They felt the prayers of Pope John Paul II. 00:07:27.200 --> 00:07:33.120 And they saw the courage to be free in the student protests in Tiananmen Square. 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:36.930 And at their back – at their back – was all of us. 00:07:36.930 --> 00:07:40.850 It was the wind of Western resolve and power. 00:07:40.850 --> 00:07:42.870 That mission wasn’t always easy. 00:07:42.870 --> 00:07:47.350 It seems as we think about the challenges between allied partners today, the kerfuffles 00:07:47.350 --> 00:07:53.080 that make all the news, we think it was the Halcyon times. 00:07:53.080 --> 00:07:54.480 There were challenges then, too. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:57.340 I could recount them. 00:07:57.340 --> 00:08:01.480 NATO suffered France’s departure from its integrated military command in the 1960s. 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:07.830 And the United States tried detente with the Soviets, without success, later than that. 00:08:07.830 --> 00:08:12.300 Chancellor Kohl weathered political opposition – enormous political opposition and protests 00:08:12.300 --> 00:08:19.960 when he deployed U.S. nuclear missiles in Germany in an attempt to deter Soviet aggression. 00:08:19.960 --> 00:08:25.490 We shouldn’t forget that Mitterand and Thatcher didn’t support reunification at first. 00:08:25.490 --> 00:08:32.220 It’s not historic for nations to have differences in judgment at times. 00:08:32.220 --> 00:08:37.319 But as Reagan said, two things were absolutely non-negotiable: our collective freedom and 00:08:37.319 --> 00:08:39.519 our collective future. 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:42.899 We knew that deep down, deep down, a system that was afraid of its own people could never 00:08:42.899 --> 00:08:43.899 be sustained. 00:08:43.899 --> 00:08:46.339 I believe that wholeheartedly today. 00:08:46.339 --> 00:08:47.749 (Applause.) 00:08:47.749 --> 00:08:51.180 We just didn’t – thank you. 00:08:51.180 --> 00:08:54.559 We just didn’t know when it would end. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:58.379 Neither the lieutenant in the field nor the president of the United States nor the chancellor 00:08:58.379 --> 00:09:02.850 of Germany knew the moment that it would come, but we knew it was absolutely imperative that 00:09:02.850 --> 00:09:03.850 we fight for it. 00:09:03.850 --> 00:09:05.589 And I think there is a real lesson there. 00:09:05.589 --> 00:09:09.810 There’s a lesson there for those of us who think that authoritarian regimes are destined 00:09:09.810 --> 00:09:10.810 to live forever. 00:09:10.810 --> 00:09:12.579 They are not. 00:09:12.579 --> 00:09:21.259 In 1989, on the day before George H.W. Bush’s inauguration, Erich Honecker predicted the 00:09:21.259 --> 00:09:27.740 Wall would stand in, quote, “fifty and even one hundred years,” end of quote. 00:09:27.740 --> 00:09:28.759 I had just left. 00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:32.750 I left in the beginning of October of 1989 to return to my next duty assignment. 00:09:32.750 --> 00:09:39.100 I had no idea that I left just a couple weeks early. 00:09:39.100 --> 00:09:44.680 German courage – German courage brought it down 294 days later. 00:09:44.680 --> 00:09:50.250 It’s made my visit to St. Nicholas Church last night in Leipzig particularly poignant 00:09:50.250 --> 00:09:52.100 for me. 00:09:52.100 --> 00:09:55.181 The German triumph inspired others to throw off the chains of the Soviet empire, too, 00:09:55.181 --> 00:10:01.430 and secure their own freedom, their own future, their own dignity. 00:10:01.430 --> 00:10:10.540 So here we are on this three-decade anniversary celebrating a monumental victory for mankind’s 00:10:10.540 --> 00:10:17.190 natural longing for freedom, for this great city of Berlin, for Germany, for the German 00:10:17.190 --> 00:10:22.980 people, but also for the West ‒ all of us. 00:10:22.980 --> 00:10:28.319 All of us had a moment after those days where we lost our way in the afterglow of that proud 00:10:28.319 --> 00:10:29.540 moment. 00:10:29.540 --> 00:10:34.589 We thought perhaps that the collapse of communism in Berlin and Moscow and the rest of the Eastern 00:10:34.589 --> 00:10:37.790 Bloc was the start of an inevitable trend worldwide. 00:10:37.790 --> 00:10:42.189 There were those who wrote about the “end of history.” 00:10:42.189 --> 00:10:45.379 We thought free societies would flourish everywhere. 00:10:45.379 --> 00:10:49.110 And in some places, they indeed have. 00:10:49.110 --> 00:10:54.559 But we, most importantly, thought that we could divert our resources away from alliances 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:59.620 and militaries and the things that had secured those very freedoms. 00:10:59.620 --> 00:11:01.649 Sadly, we were wrong. 00:11:01.649 --> 00:11:05.180 We were wrong about the human condition and the nature of the course that many countries 00:11:05.180 --> 00:11:06.589 might take today. 00:11:06.589 --> 00:11:11.589 Today, Russia – led by a former KGB officer stationed in Dresden ‒ invades its neighbors 00:11:11.589 --> 00:11:16.279 and slays political opponents. 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:20.899 It suppresses the independence of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. 00:11:20.899 --> 00:11:24.930 Russian authorities, even as we speak, use police raids and torture against Crimean Tatars 00:11:24.930 --> 00:11:30.230 and Ukrainians who are working in opposition to Russian aggression. 00:11:30.230 --> 00:11:37.699 In Chechnya, anyone considered “undesirable” by the authorities simply disappears. 00:11:37.699 --> 00:11:43.129 In China – in China, the Chinese Communist Party is shaping a new vision of authoritarianism, 00:11:43.129 --> 00:11:48.199 one that the world has not seen for an awfully long time. 00:11:48.199 --> 00:11:53.820 The Chinese Communist Party uses tactics and methods to suppress its own people that would 00:11:53.820 --> 00:11:59.259 be horrifyingly familiar to former East Germans. 00:11:59.259 --> 00:12:03.720 The People’s Liberation Army encroaches on the sovereignty of its Chinese neighbors, 00:12:03.720 --> 00:12:09.479 and the Chinese Communist Party denies travel privileges to critics – even German lawmakers 00:12:09.479 --> 00:12:13.540 – who condemn its abysmal human rights record. 00:12:13.540 --> 00:12:23.929 The CCP harasses the families of Chinese Muslims in Xinjiang, who simply sought refuge abroad. 00:12:23.929 --> 00:12:26.800 We – all of us, everyone in this room – has a duty. 00:12:26.800 --> 00:12:31.540 We must recognize that free nations are in a competition of values with those unfree 00:12:31.540 --> 00:12:33.720 nations. 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:37.970 The truth – this truth – wasn’t quite apparent to us in 1989. 00:12:37.970 --> 00:12:40.800 That’s understandable, perhaps. 00:12:40.800 --> 00:12:46.240 So today, today 30 years on, we must mix celebration with sobriety. 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:48.949 We must see the world for what it truly is. 00:12:48.949 --> 00:12:51.290 And we must recognize who we are. 00:12:51.290 --> 00:12:56.420 Our two democracies, the United States and Germany, possess the abundant political and 00:12:56.420 --> 00:13:03.050 economic capital and the power that can only be garnered by free societies. 00:13:03.050 --> 00:13:09.639 We have a duty – each of us – to use all we have to defend what was so hard-won in 00:13:09.639 --> 00:13:12.870 1776, in 1945, and in 1989. 00:13:12.870 --> 00:13:16.990 And we have to do it together. 00:13:16.990 --> 00:13:21.629 We have to do it together because it’s not easy, and doing it alone is impossible. 00:13:21.629 --> 00:13:23.250 It’s never easy. 00:13:23.250 --> 00:13:25.689 It never is and it never will be. 00:13:25.689 --> 00:13:31.149 This is why we make a tough case about ensuring that Germany doesn’t become dependent on 00:13:31.149 --> 00:13:32.559 Russian energy. 00:13:32.559 --> 00:13:36.879 We don’t want Europe’s energy supplies to be dependent on Vladimir Putin. 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:42.279 It’s why we ask for more from all of our NATO Allies, because Western, free nations 00:13:42.279 --> 00:13:47.360 have a responsibility to deter threats to our people, and that we are only stronger 00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:48.500 together. 00:13:48.500 --> 00:13:54.910 It’s why President Trump asks every nation to help pressure the revolutionary regime 00:13:54.910 --> 00:14:02.009 in Tehran to get back to the negotiating table and get Iran to do this simple thing – to 00:14:02.009 --> 00:14:07.209 behave like a normal nation and not conduct assassination campaigns right here in the 00:14:07.209 --> 00:14:08.480 heart of Europe. 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:14.889 And it’s why I spend a fair amount of my time talking about the risks that are presented 00:14:14.889 --> 00:14:20.759 to the world by the Chinese Communist Party, its acquisition of sensitive technology firms 00:14:20.759 --> 00:14:26.250 and Chinese companies’ intent to build out the world’s next networks. 00:14:26.250 --> 00:14:33.310 Your own intelligence chief said that Huawei cannot be fully trusted, because it is subject 00:14:33.310 --> 00:14:36.519 to the power of the Chinese Communist Party. 00:14:36.519 --> 00:14:42.850 It’s why we must speak up when we see human rights abuses inside of China, in Burma, in 00:14:42.850 --> 00:14:49.949 Iran and elsewhere, because if you don’t lead, if America doesn’t lead, who will? 00:14:49.949 --> 00:14:55.929 Today, my fellow Americans and I rejoice with the German people. 00:14:55.929 --> 00:14:57.149 The Wall is no more. 00:14:57.149 --> 00:15:01.810 But let us also not take lightly the threats to our freedoms, the challenges that we all 00:15:01.810 --> 00:15:09.829 face from regimes, regimes that rule instead of govern, regimes that crush rights instead 00:15:09.829 --> 00:15:20.779 of protect them, regimes for which this anniversary is a fearful warning, not a cause for celebration. 00:15:20.779 --> 00:15:25.819 Those of us who want to spread freedom must confront those that want to spread their vile 00:15:25.819 --> 00:15:31.149 ideology, to dominate free nations of the world, and to subvert the rule of law, and 00:15:31.149 --> 00:15:35.360 to undermine the multilateral institutions that matter so much to freedom. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:39.589 They want to turn them to their own political ends. 00:15:39.589 --> 00:15:43.869 We have to collectively move forward, look forward, and face this threat with our eyes 00:15:43.869 --> 00:15:46.399 wide open if we are to overcome it. 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:47.600 I know that we will. 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:52.440 It’s our duty to decide the terms on which our people will live, and we want them to 00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:55.560 live in peace and in freedom. 00:15:55.560 --> 00:15:59.309 So let’s resolve today – all of us, those of us in government, those of us in business 00:15:59.309 --> 00:16:02.339 – let us stand together in unity. 00:16:02.339 --> 00:16:03.700 Let us stand together as allies. 00:16:03.700 --> 00:16:09.209 Let us stand together as dear friends, as we have always been. 00:16:09.209 --> 00:16:11.040 We’ve done it before. 00:16:11.040 --> 00:16:15.360 I am very, very confident that we will continue to do it, and do it again and again. 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:19.790 I hope God will bless each of you, God will bless this great country Germany and our close 00:16:19.790 --> 00:16:20.959 friendship together. 00:16:20.959 --> 00:16:23.110 And I look forward to taking some questions today. 00:16:23.110 --> 00:16:24.110 Thank you all so much. 00:16:24.110 --> 00:16:25.110 (Applause.) 00:16:25.110 --> 00:16:26.110 MS MULLER: Mr. Secretary, thanks very much for a great speech. 00:16:26.110 --> 00:16:27.110 Fantastic to have you here. 00:16:27.110 --> 00:16:28.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you, Nora. 00:16:28.110 --> 00:16:29.110 It’s great to be with you. 00:16:29.110 --> 00:16:30.110 MS MULLER: You mentioned President Reagan a couple of times. 00:16:30.110 --> 00:16:31.110 In fact, he once said to an audience very much like this one, “Before I refuse to 00:16:31.110 --> 00:16:32.110 take your questions, I’ll have a statement.” 00:16:32.110 --> 00:16:33.110 (Laughter.) 00:16:33.110 --> 00:16:34.110 So I am very happy that you agree to take some questions, and that is a good — 00:16:34.110 --> 00:16:35.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: He might have had the better line than I had. 00:16:35.110 --> 00:16:36.110 (Laughter.) 00:16:36.110 --> 00:16:37.110 It’s possible. 00:16:37.110 --> 00:16:38.110 We’ll see here in just a minute. 00:16:38.110 --> 00:16:39.110 MS MULLER: It’s a good line. 00:16:39.110 --> 00:16:40.110 So ladies and gentlemen, just to remind you to write your questions on those little cards. 00:16:40.110 --> 00:16:41.110 We will come and collect them, and then we’ll pick the smartest ones and the most difficult 00:16:41.110 --> 00:16:42.110 ones, probably. 00:16:42.110 --> 00:16:43.110 (Laughter.) 00:16:43.110 --> 00:16:44.110 So Mr. Secretary, you talked at length about China. 00:16:44.110 --> 00:16:45.110 You mentioned this strategic and also ideological rivalry between Washington and Beijing, and 00:16:45.110 --> 00:16:46.110 I am afraid to say that Marxism was probably a German export to China, but that’s a different 00:16:46.110 --> 00:16:47.110 story. 00:16:47.110 --> 00:16:48.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: Yes. 00:16:48.110 --> 00:16:49.110 MS MULLER: So I was kind of trying to connect the historical dots here. 00:16:49.110 --> 00:16:50.110 We’re sitting in front of Brandenburg Gate, which was for a long time the symbol of the 00:16:50.110 --> 00:16:51.110 Cold War and became the symbol of the end of the Cold War. 00:16:51.110 --> 00:16:52.110 Now, I wanted to ask you whether you think that this Sino-American rivalry, is that the 00:16:52.110 --> 00:16:53.110 Cold War of the 21st century? 00:16:53.110 --> 00:16:54.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: So I wouldn’t characterize it as a conflict between the United States 00:16:54.110 --> 00:16:55.110 and China. 00:16:55.110 --> 00:16:56.110 The Chinese people – we have a huge trade relationship with China. 00:16:56.110 --> 00:16:57.110 So do German companies. 00:16:57.110 --> 00:16:58.110 The Chinese people are an innovative, smart, capable set of people. 00:16:58.110 --> 00:16:59.110 It’s the Chinese Communist Party. 00:16:59.110 --> 00:17:00.110 And it’s not between the United States and China. 00:17:00.110 --> 00:17:01.110 It’s the challenge between the Chinese Communist Party and its authoritarian regime and freedom-loving 00:17:01.110 --> 00:17:02.110 peoples all across the world. 00:17:02.110 --> 00:17:03.110 You all can see it. 00:17:03.110 --> 00:17:04.110 Those of you who travel to China can see how President Xi has moved their country in this 00:17:04.110 --> 00:17:05.110 direction. 00:17:05.110 --> 00:17:06.110 You just need to look at the fact that they have put weapons systems now in the South 00:17:06.110 --> 00:17:07.110 China Sea. 00:17:07.110 --> 00:17:08.110 They are using information technology to do credit scoring against their own peoples. 00:17:08.110 --> 00:17:09.110 That will extend to every individual whose personal information they get access to. 00:17:09.110 --> 00:17:10.110 So as you think about networks, as you think about who is going to control the rules of 00:17:10.110 --> 00:17:11.110 communications connectivity in the next decades, you should think about whether you would have 00:17:11.110 --> 00:17:12.110 permitted the Soviet Union to control your infrastructure, your network communications 00:17:12.110 --> 00:17:13.110 infrastructure. 00:17:13.110 --> 00:17:14.110 It’s a reasonable question. 00:17:14.110 --> 00:17:15.110 And so this challenge is to take the people who value the rule of law, who want to preserve 00:17:15.110 --> 00:17:16.110 freedom, who despite authoritarianism, and make sure that we are working together to 00:17:16.110 --> 00:17:17.110 push back against any regime that threatens its own people and the world with this ideology. 00:17:17.110 --> 00:17:18.110 MS MULLER: That message is very much appreciated, Mr. Secretary. 00:17:18.110 --> 00:17:19.110 And I think a lot of people in this room would agree that we as Europeans and Americans have 00:17:19.110 --> 00:17:20.110 to stand together when we deal with that challenge. 00:17:20.110 --> 00:17:21.110 I mean, many opportunities in the rise of China, but also a lot of challenges. 00:17:21.110 --> 00:17:22.110 So in doing so, wouldn’t it be better if we were kind of not imposing tariffs on each 00:17:22.110 --> 00:17:23.110 other’s goods? 00:17:23.110 --> 00:17:24.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: Yes. 00:17:24.110 --> 00:17:25.110 We wish you wouldn’t impose tariffs on us. 00:17:25.110 --> 00:17:26.110 Yes, we concur. 00:17:26.110 --> 00:17:27.110 (Laughter.) 00:17:27.110 --> 00:17:28.110 Absolutely. 00:17:28.110 --> 00:17:29.110 But President Trump’s been clear. 00:17:29.110 --> 00:17:30.110 He’s been very clear. 00:17:30.110 --> 00:17:31.110 Our ideal trade relationship with the European Union would be to have no tariffs between 00:17:31.110 --> 00:17:32.110 either of our two countries, no non-tariff barriers either, no hiding behind some regulatory 00:17:32.110 --> 00:17:33.110 framework that says somehow that American agriculture isn’t safe for the European 00:17:33.110 --> 00:17:34.110 people to eat, right? 00:17:34.110 --> 00:17:35.110 This is not the way free peoples interact and trade with each other, and this is what 00:17:35.110 --> 00:17:36.110 President Trump has been driving towards. 00:17:36.110 --> 00:17:37.110 We want increased trade with Europe. 00:17:37.110 --> 00:17:38.110 We want increased trade with India. 00:17:38.110 --> 00:17:39.110 But we want it to be conducted in a way that’s consistent with the history of free trade 00:17:39.110 --> 00:17:40.110 around the world, where we join together and we don’t try and protect our own industries, 00:17:40.110 --> 00:17:41.110 we compete freely and fairly. 00:17:41.110 --> 00:17:42.110 Sometimes European businesses will be more successful than American businesses. 00:17:42.110 --> 00:17:43.110 So be it. 00:17:43.110 --> 00:17:44.110 Sometimes an American company will be more successful. 00:17:44.110 --> 00:17:45.110 Often, you’ll not know which it is. 00:17:45.110 --> 00:17:46.110 There will be shareholders that come from all across the world, from Europe and the 00:17:46.110 --> 00:17:47.110 United States, so it’s very complex. 00:17:47.110 --> 00:17:48.110 But as the sovereign states interact with each other and trade across sovereign boundaries, 00:17:48.110 --> 00:17:49.110 the idea is that you have fair, free, reciprocal trade with as little trade friction as you 00:17:49.110 --> 00:17:50.110 can possibly imagine, and allow competition to flourish so that each of our peoples can 00:17:50.110 --> 00:17:51.110 continue to grow and prosper. 00:17:51.110 --> 00:17:52.110 That’s the mission set that our administration is engaged in. 00:17:52.110 --> 00:17:53.110 MS MULLER: Right. 00:17:53.110 --> 00:17:54.110 I just wanted to make sure you’re not thinking that we are worse than China. 00:17:54.110 --> 00:17:55.110 (Laughter.) 00:17:55.110 --> 00:17:56.110 So anyways — 00:17:56.110 --> 00:17:57.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: We ought not let the narrative of some of the media out there get in the 00:17:57.110 --> 00:17:58.110 way of the reality, right? 00:17:58.110 --> 00:17:59.110 So that you’re somehow suggesting that there was even a remote comparison in the way we 00:17:59.110 --> 00:18:00.110 think about the value sets that reside inside the Chinese Communist Party and the value 00:18:00.110 --> 00:18:01.110 sets that we know and appreciate in Europe, the democracies of Europe, they’re fundamentally 00:18:01.110 --> 00:18:02.110 different and America knows this. 00:18:02.110 --> 00:18:03.110 MS MULLER: So now over to your questions, ladies and gentlemen, and here’s one about 00:18:03.110 --> 00:18:04.110 the future of Ukraine. 00:18:04.110 --> 00:18:05.110 I’d like to read that one out: “How committed is the U.S. to peace and stability in Ukraine? 00:18:05.110 --> 00:18:06.110 Without any preconditions?” 00:18:06.110 --> 00:18:07.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: Very. 00:18:07.110 --> 00:18:08.110 (Laughter.) 00:18:08.110 --> 00:18:09.110 MS MULLER: Very? 00:18:09.110 --> 00:18:10.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: Very. 00:18:10.110 --> 00:18:11.110 Very committed. 00:18:11.110 --> 00:18:12.110 Yes, yes. 00:18:12.110 --> 00:18:13.110 It’s a project we have been working on. 00:18:13.110 --> 00:18:14.110 I remember I was at the Munich Security Conference when I was a member of Congress in Kansas, 00:18:14.110 --> 00:18:15.110 and I remember pushing the topic, at this time, was whether defensive weapons system 00:18:15.110 --> 00:18:16.110 would be provided to the Ukrainians. 00:18:16.110 --> 00:18:17.110 This must have been 2015 or ’16. 00:18:17.110 --> 00:18:18.110 And I remember, and I remember Germany deciding it was a bad idea and America deciding it 00:18:18.110 --> 00:18:19.110 was a bad idea, President Obama deciding it wasn’t something he wanted to do. 00:18:19.110 --> 00:18:20.110 In fact, President Trump has now not once, not twice, but three times come to provide 00:18:20.110 --> 00:18:21.110 the tools so that the Ukrainian people can protect themselves from Russian aggression 00:18:21.110 --> 00:18:22.110 in the Donbas. 00:18:22.110 --> 00:18:23.110 We’re proud of that. 00:18:23.110 --> 00:18:24.110 We think it makes sense. 00:18:24.110 --> 00:18:25.110 We think it makes sense for freedom. 00:18:25.110 --> 00:18:26.110 We think it makes sense for Europe and we think it makes sense for the world and Ukrainian 00:18:26.110 --> 00:18:27.110 sovereignty. 00:18:27.110 --> 00:18:28.110 We’re very clear about our position on the invasion of Crimea that happened in the previous 00:18:28.110 --> 00:18:29.110 administration and how it is we’re going to work to develop a prosperous Ukraine that 00:18:29.110 --> 00:18:30.110 is less corrupt and capable of moving itself towards the West. 00:18:30.110 --> 00:18:31.110 MS MULLER: Thank you. 00:18:31.110 --> 00:18:32.110 Here’s another one about Syria. 00:18:32.110 --> 00:18:33.110 So this in German so I have to translate as we go alone. 00:18:33.110 --> 00:18:34.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: You can read in German and I’ll just — 00:18:34.110 --> 00:18:35.110 MS MULLER: No, no, that’s fine. 00:18:35.110 --> 00:18:36.110 I’ll — 00:18:36.110 --> 00:18:37.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: I’ll give it my best shot. 00:18:37.110 --> 00:18:38.110 (Laughter.) 00:18:38.110 --> 00:18:39.110 Drank a few beers and – am I right? 00:18:39.110 --> 00:18:40.110 (Laughter.) 00:18:40.110 --> 00:18:41.110 I’ve got a chance. 00:18:41.110 --> 00:18:42.110 MS MULLER: So here we go. 00:18:42.110 --> 00:18:43.110 So in Syria, the U.S. exposed the Kurds to the Turkish forces. 00:18:43.110 --> 00:18:44.110 That’s what it said. 00:18:44.110 --> 00:18:45.110 And it paved the way for Moscow to come in. 00:18:45.110 --> 00:18:46.110 So has that done harm to the credibility of U.S. foreign policy? 00:18:46.110 --> 00:18:47.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah, I mean, it just – I think that doesn’t frame the question properly. 00:18:47.110 --> 00:18:48.110 The United States didn’t do that. 00:18:48.110 --> 00:18:49.110 The United States, in fact, provided enormous resources to the SDF and to the Kurds, resources 00:18:49.110 --> 00:18:50.110 that no other nation, including any European nation, was prepared to provide them. 00:18:50.110 --> 00:18:51.110 And we did so alongside of you. 00:18:51.110 --> 00:18:52.110 There were French partners that joined us. 00:18:52.110 --> 00:18:53.110 There were British partners that joined us. 00:18:53.110 --> 00:18:54.110 We’re proud of that work. 00:18:54.110 --> 00:18:55.110 We destroyed the caliphate. 00:18:55.110 --> 00:18:56.110 When President Trump came into office, they owned real estate that amounted to the size 00:18:56.110 --> 00:18:57.110 – it doesn’t mean as much – I should have picked a German state – but the size 00:18:57.110 --> 00:18:58.110 of Ohio. 00:18:58.110 --> 00:18:59.110 They owned it. 00:18:59.110 --> 00:19:00.110 They controlled it. 00:19:00.110 --> 00:19:01.110 They raised taxes. 00:19:01.110 --> 00:19:02.110 They governed. 00:19:02.110 --> 00:19:03.110 They had schools and hospitals and medical facilities. 00:19:03.110 --> 00:19:04.110 This is the terrorists that were beheading people simultaneously. 00:19:04.110 --> 00:19:05.110 When we came to office, that was the condition in the eastern part of Syria, the northeastern 00:19:05.110 --> 00:19:06.110 part of Syria that is – has a Kurdish majority. 00:19:06.110 --> 00:19:07.110 This administration provided the resources to the Kurds so that that would not occur. 00:19:07.110 --> 00:19:08.110 We’re very proud of that and we’re continuing to provide them support. 00:19:08.110 --> 00:19:09.110 We’re doing it because we have a vested interest. 00:19:09.110 --> 00:19:10.110 We think Europe has an interest in this as well. 00:19:10.110 --> 00:19:11.110 There are hundreds and hundreds of foreign terrorist fighters that are going to have 00:19:11.110 --> 00:19:12.110 to go somewhere. 00:19:12.110 --> 00:19:13.110 We need each nation to thoughtfully consider whether it’s appropriate for them to come 00:19:13.110 --> 00:19:14.110 back so that they can prosecute them there, so that they don’t roam free, that our kids 00:19:14.110 --> 00:19:15.110 and grandkids don’t have to fight them again. 00:19:15.110 --> 00:19:16.110 And the United States is committed. 00:19:16.110 --> 00:19:17.110 Wherever we find radical Islamic terrorism, we’ll continue to stay at it. 00:19:17.110 --> 00:19:18.110 You’ve seen President Trump’s actions in the last few weeks. 00:19:18.110 --> 00:19:19.110 We’re going to take the appropriate response so that the ISIS fighters can’t get a hold 00:19:19.110 --> 00:19:20.110 of the oil fields there. 00:19:20.110 --> 00:19:21.110 But just as I spoke to in my speech, we need friends around the world who care about freedom 00:19:21.110 --> 00:19:22.110 and who want to help us fight terror around the world. 00:19:22.110 --> 00:19:23.110 We need them to join us. 00:19:23.110 --> 00:19:24.110 These can’t be American propositions alone. 00:19:24.110 --> 00:19:25.110 They need to be done by all of us who care so much. 00:19:25.110 --> 00:19:26.110 Europe has the real risk that if we don’t get this right that there’ll be enormous 00:19:26.110 --> 00:19:27.110 migration from this region into Europe. 00:19:27.110 --> 00:19:28.110 We want – and I think European countries want – them to be able to live in their 00:19:28.110 --> 00:19:29.110 own country. 00:19:29.110 --> 00:19:30.110 We want – right? 00:19:30.110 --> 00:19:31.110 They want to live in their own country. 00:19:31.110 --> 00:19:32.110 And we need to do the things we can do to take down this terrorist threat so that we 00:19:32.110 --> 00:19:33.110 can get a political resolution inside of Syria and so that the people, now some 6 million 00:19:33.110 --> 00:19:34.110 who have been displaced, can return to their homes. 00:19:34.110 --> 00:19:35.110 MS MULLER: Right. 00:19:35.110 --> 00:19:36.110 But let me press you a bit more on that Syria issue still, Mr. Secretary. 00:19:36.110 --> 00:19:37.110 After that withdrawal happened, I had a — 00:19:37.110 --> 00:19:38.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: But – no — 00:19:38.110 --> 00:19:39.110 MS MULLER: Whatever you — 00:19:39.110 --> 00:19:40.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: That’s the wrong verb. 00:19:40.110 --> 00:19:41.110 MS MULLER: Okay. 00:19:41.110 --> 00:19:42.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: And it’s important. 00:19:42.110 --> 00:19:43.110 It’s important. 00:19:43.110 --> 00:19:44.110 MS MULLER: That pullback. 00:19:44.110 --> 00:19:45.110 (Laughter.) 00:19:45.110 --> 00:19:46.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: It’s not – it’s again – it’s – we are doing – we are performing 00:19:46.110 --> 00:19:47.110 the mission set. 00:19:47.110 --> 00:19:48.110 President Erdogan made a decision to conduct an incursion into Turkey [1]. 00:19:48.110 --> 00:19:49.110 We opposed that. 00:19:49.110 --> 00:19:50.110 So did the German Government. 00:19:50.110 --> 00:19:51.110 So did the French Government. 00:19:51.110 --> 00:19:52.110 President Erdogan made that decision. 00:19:52.110 --> 00:19:53.110 We have made the strategic decision that we’re going to continue the counter-ISIS campaign 00:19:53.110 --> 00:19:54.110 there. 00:19:54.110 --> 00:19:55.110 MS MULLER: Right. 00:19:55.110 --> 00:19:56.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: That’s what’s happening in Syria today. 00:19:56.110 --> 00:19:57.110 We’re there. 00:19:57.110 --> 00:19:58.110 Young men and women that work for the American Department of Defense are putting their lives 00:19:58.110 --> 00:19:59.110 at risk there today. 00:19:59.110 --> 00:20:00.110 Young officers that work for me in the United States Department of State are on the ground 00:20:00.110 --> 00:20:01.110 in Syria today. 00:20:01.110 --> 00:20:02.110 We need you all to join us. 00:20:02.110 --> 00:20:03.110 If you care, if it matters so much, as the question suggests – and I would concur that 00:20:03.110 --> 00:20:04.110 the questioner’s predicate suggested it is important, and I agree – we need each 00:20:04.110 --> 00:20:05.110 country to go to their people and make the case why this is an important challenge worthy 00:20:05.110 --> 00:20:06.110 of undertaking, worthy of putting people’s lives at risk, our own citizens’ lives at 00:20:06.110 --> 00:20:07.110 risk. 00:20:07.110 --> 00:20:08.110 MS MULLER: Right. 00:20:08.110 --> 00:20:09.110 No, that message is understood. 00:20:09.110 --> 00:20:10.110 But still, when the Syria thing occurred, I had the chance to travel to the region, 00:20:10.110 --> 00:20:11.110 in fact, and I talked to a number of people, and some of them – U.S. allies – and they 00:20:11.110 --> 00:20:12.110 were kind of concerned. 00:20:12.110 --> 00:20:13.110 And they told me, “Nora, we start to think that Russia is maybe the more reliable ally 00:20:13.110 --> 00:20:14.110 in the region than is the U.S.” 00:20:14.110 --> 00:20:15.110 Is that something that concerns you, or are they completely — 00:20:15.110 --> 00:20:16.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: Yes, it does concern me. 00:20:16.110 --> 00:20:17.110 When people are irrational, it always concerns me. 00:20:17.110 --> 00:20:18.110 Yeah, to think of Russia as a worthy partner engaged in the same undertaking that we all 00:20:18.110 --> 00:20:19.110 are – taking down the threat of terrorism around the world or promoting freedom and 00:20:19.110 --> 00:20:20.110 prosperity and the economic well-being of citizens around the world – to think that 00:20:20.110 --> 00:20:21.110 Russia would remotely be a partner anything like the United States or anything like a 00:20:21.110 --> 00:20:22.110 European country is irrational. 00:20:22.110 --> 00:20:23.110 And so yes, I am concerned. 00:20:23.110 --> 00:20:24.110 When people are irrational, it always bothers me. 00:20:24.110 --> 00:20:25.110 MS MULLER: Okay. 00:20:25.110 --> 00:20:26.110 So here’s another question from the audience. 00:20:26.110 --> 00:20:27.110 It’s about Hong Kong, in fact, and I’ll read it out: “You said freedom will prevail. 00:20:27.110 --> 00:20:28.110 What is your advice to Hong Kong demonstrators right now? 00:20:28.110 --> 00:20:29.110 Settle for what they have achieved peacefully or continue to struggle?” 00:20:29.110 --> 00:20:30.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: This will be up to the human spirit, the people of Hong Kong. 00:20:30.110 --> 00:20:31.110 We have made very clear to the leadership in China that it’s our expectation that 00:20:31.110 --> 00:20:32.110 the Chinese Government will honor their commitment. 00:20:32.110 --> 00:20:33.110 They made a promise to the people in the region that they would adhere to a fundamental system 00:20:33.110 --> 00:20:34.110 that allowed a difference – there would be one country and two systems. 00:20:34.110 --> 00:20:35.110 We’ve asked the Chinese Government to maintain the promise that they made, that they made 00:20:35.110 --> 00:20:36.110 to their own people. 00:20:36.110 --> 00:20:37.110 And as for the people of Hong Kong, they’ll make their own decision. 00:20:37.110 --> 00:20:38.110 They’ll find their own path forward. 00:20:38.110 --> 00:20:39.110 We have suggested to all the parties in the region that violence is a bad idea, but the 00:20:39.110 --> 00:20:40.110 struggle for freedom continues. 00:20:40.110 --> 00:20:41.110 We see it not just in Hong Kong. 00:20:41.110 --> 00:20:42.110 We see it in the streets of Beirut. 00:20:42.110 --> 00:20:43.110 We see it in the streets of Baghdad, where peoples are rising up against the Islamic 00:20:43.110 --> 00:20:44.110 Republic of Iran. 00:20:44.110 --> 00:20:45.110 They want to be Iraqi. 00:20:45.110 --> 00:20:46.110 They want to be Lebanese, not Hizballah. 00:20:46.110 --> 00:20:47.110 They want to be Iraqi, not part of a Iranian militia. 00:20:47.110 --> 00:20:48.110 I think that those of us who are freedom-loving peoples all across the world need to support 00:20:48.110 --> 00:20:49.110 those people wherever we can and make sure that they have the capacity and the tools 00:20:49.110 --> 00:20:50.110 to achieve the outcomes that they choose to seek. 00:20:50.110 --> 00:20:51.110 MS MULLER: And will the U.S. come to those demonstrators’ aid at some point? 00:20:51.110 --> 00:20:52.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: I don’t want to get out in front of any policy decision that we’ve 00:20:52.110 --> 00:20:53.110 made. 00:20:53.110 --> 00:20:54.110 In the end – the world has the obligation to provide the capacity and the guidance – but 00:20:54.110 --> 00:20:55.110 in the end, these peoples will lead these struggles successfully. 00:20:55.110 --> 00:20:56.110 (Inaudible) I was with some amazing people last night who were in East Germany, and they 00:20:56.110 --> 00:20:57.110 talked about their prayer gatherings, because the churches were the only place that they 00:20:57.110 --> 00:20:58.110 could go to get themselves away from the stares of the Communists, of the Stasi. 00:20:58.110 --> 00:20:59.110 It’s amazing. 00:20:59.110 --> 00:21:00.110 It’s amazing what freedom and the yearning for freedom inside those peoples did. 00:21:00.110 --> 00:21:01.110 I’m convinced that there are people all around the world who want this same thing, 00:21:01.110 --> 00:21:02.110 and that we – our obligation, those of us who value those freedoms – our obligation 00:21:02.110 --> 00:21:03.110 is to provide them the support that they need when we can and where we can. 00:21:03.110 --> 00:21:04.110 MS MULLER: So here’s a very short and concise question. 00:21:04.110 --> 00:21:05.110 It’s about NATO: “Is NATO — 00:21:05.110 --> 00:21:06.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: I’m for it. 00:21:06.110 --> 00:21:07.110 (Laughter and applause.) 00:21:07.110 --> 00:21:08.110 MS MULLER: For the record. 00:21:08.110 --> 00:21:09.110 (Applause.) 00:21:09.110 --> 00:21:10.110 So I think you’ve already kind of preempted that. 00:21:10.110 --> 00:21:11.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: There you go. 00:21:11.110 --> 00:21:12.110 MS MULLER: But I’ll read it out anyways. 00:21:12.110 --> 00:21:13.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: All right. 00:21:13.110 --> 00:21:14.110 MS MULLER: So is NATO obsolete or brain-dead, or both or neither? 00:21:14.110 --> 00:21:15.110 (Laughter.) 00:21:15.110 --> 00:21:16.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: So yes – (laughter) – so many good answers, so many cameras. 00:21:16.110 --> 00:21:17.110 Yes. 00:21:17.110 --> 00:21:18.110 (Laughter.) 00:21:18.110 --> 00:21:19.110 So 70 years on NATO now, it needs to grow and change. 00:21:19.110 --> 00:21:20.110 It needs to confront the realities of today and the challenge of today. 00:21:20.110 --> 00:21:21.110 They’re different – they’re fundamentally different. 00:21:21.110 --> 00:21:22.110 When German soldiers patrolled the Fulda Gap, it was a different time than it is today. 00:21:22.110 --> 00:21:23.110 And so NATO runs always the risk that it will become obsolete – not because the partnership, 00:21:23.110 --> 00:21:24.110 not because the political commitments will ever become – I don’t think as between 00:21:24.110 --> 00:21:25.110 – in the transatlantic – those commitments between our countries will ever become obsolete. 00:21:25.110 --> 00:21:26.110 But it does run that risk if it doesn’t do the things it needs to do to confront the 00:21:26.110 --> 00:21:27.110 challenges of today in a way that is effective. 00:21:27.110 --> 00:21:28.110 If nations believe that they can get the security benefit without providing NATO the resources 00:21:28.110 --> 00:21:29.110 that it needs, if they don’t live up to their commitments, there is a risk that NATO 00:21:29.110 --> 00:21:30.110 could become ineffective or obsolete. 00:21:30.110 --> 00:21:31.110 So we need to be mindful. 00:21:31.110 --> 00:21:32.110 It’s what I spoke about today. 00:21:32.110 --> 00:21:33.110 These things – we can never take these things for granted. 00:21:33.110 --> 00:21:34.110 We can never assume that because there is this infrastructure, this beautiful building 00:21:34.110 --> 00:21:35.110 that sits in Brussels, that it will exist and that it will of its own force, just by 00:21:35.110 --> 00:21:36.110 the nature of it, will continue to be relevant and important and effective. 00:21:36.110 --> 00:21:37.110 We need to work and be thoughtful and challenge the underlying presumptions that we’ve built 00:21:37.110 --> 00:21:38.110 upon and say, “How do we ensure that this structure is appropriate 70 years on?” 00:21:38.110 --> 00:21:39.110 If we do that, NATO and the political alliances that underlay it will continue to be incredibly 00:21:39.110 --> 00:21:40.110 valuable to each of our peoples. 00:21:40.110 --> 00:21:41.110 MS MULLER: And 10 years from now, we will be sitting here together celebrating NATO’s 00:21:41.110 --> 00:21:42.110 80th birthday? 00:21:42.110 --> 00:21:43.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: Yes, me in my wheelchair. 00:21:43.110 --> 00:21:44.110 It’ll all be good. 00:21:44.110 --> 00:21:45.110 (Laughter.) 00:21:45.110 --> 00:21:46.110 MS MULLER: Mr. Secretary, I have one more question that I wanted to ask you. 00:21:46.110 --> 00:21:47.110 It’s not about foreign – yeah, it’s a little bit about foreign policy, actually. 00:21:47.110 --> 00:21:48.110 So you played basketball during high school, and I am told you played forward. 00:21:48.110 --> 00:21:49.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: Power forward, yes. 00:21:49.110 --> 00:21:50.110 MS MULLER: Yeah. 00:21:50.110 --> 00:21:51.110 So I wanted to ask you what do a – or what does a power forward have in common with a 00:21:51.110 --> 00:21:52.110 foreign minister? 00:21:52.110 --> 00:21:53.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah, so that was a joke. 00:21:53.110 --> 00:21:54.110 At 5’11” I wasn’t much of a power forward. 00:21:54.110 --> 00:21:55.110 (Laughter.) 00:21:55.110 --> 00:21:56.110 Well under two meters, yes. 00:21:56.110 --> 00:21:57.110 You learn a lot, I think, playing team sports in that way, because I think you come to appreciate 00:21:57.110 --> 00:21:58.110 that you can have a star that can carry you a long ways, but if you don’t figure out 00:21:58.110 --> 00:21:59.110 how to make one plus one equal 2.2 or 2.3, if you can’t build a team that collectively 00:21:59.110 --> 00:22:00.110 can deliver, you’ll only rise so far. 00:22:00.110 --> 00:22:01.110 I think the same thing sitting as America’s foreign minister, as the Secretary of State. 00:22:01.110 --> 00:22:02.110 I think the same thing, if – the United States can do a lot. 00:22:02.110 --> 00:22:03.110 We’re a capable nation. 00:22:03.110 --> 00:22:04.110 We can achieve a lot of good things for our people. 00:22:04.110 --> 00:22:05.110 But we need partners and allies around the world to do this together. 00:22:05.110 --> 00:22:06.110 It’s a competitive landscape, much like in basketball. 00:22:06.110 --> 00:22:07.110 Some years one team has a little bit more power, more capacity, more influence, and 00:22:07.110 --> 00:22:08.110 a decade later, no more. 00:22:08.110 --> 00:22:09.110 That doesn’t happen by chance. 00:22:09.110 --> 00:22:10.110 It happens because good peoples gather together to go deliver a team’s outcome, go deliver 00:22:10.110 --> 00:22:11.110 against a mission set. 00:22:11.110 --> 00:22:12.110 In basketball, it’s simple: Score more than the other team. 00:22:12.110 --> 00:22:13.110 In national security and foreign policy space, it’s to make sure we understand why it is 00:22:13.110 --> 00:22:14.110 we’re doing what we’re doing, why it is our value set matters, and then communicate 00:22:14.110 --> 00:22:15.110 that. 00:22:15.110 --> 00:22:16.110 Every leader’s obligation – it’s easy to do, by the way – it’s easy to ignore. 00:22:16.110 --> 00:22:17.110 Every leader’s obligation is to go back to their home village, city, state, and make 00:22:17.110 --> 00:22:18.110 the case for why the expenditure of resources, time, talent, lives, why that’s necessary, 00:22:18.110 --> 00:22:19.110 to make the case for why if we don’t do it the next generation won’t have all the 00:22:19.110 --> 00:22:20.110 things that our kids have today. 00:22:20.110 --> 00:22:21.110 The same thing is true in sports. 00:22:21.110 --> 00:22:22.110 If you don’t make the case about why it is you’re trying to build out a team in 00:22:22.110 --> 00:22:23.110 a certain way, then you are at some risk of failure. 00:22:23.110 --> 00:22:24.110 I think the analogy might be carried a little bit too far, but I do think it’s absolutely 00:22:24.110 --> 00:22:25.110 imperative that we identify what the competition looks like, what the threats are, what our 00:22:25.110 --> 00:22:26.110 adversaries are trying to do, and then build our collective efforts to ensure that our 00:22:26.110 --> 00:22:27.110 way of life, the way of lives that we all care so deeply about, is still around 20, 00:22:27.110 --> 00:22:28.110 40, and 50 years in from now. 00:22:28.110 --> 00:22:29.110 (Applause.) 00:22:29.110 --> 00:22:30.110 MS MULLER: So it’s really all about being a good team. 00:22:30.110 --> 00:22:31.110 On this note, Mr. Secretary, thank you very, very much. 00:22:31.110 --> 00:22:32.110 It’s been an immense honor and a great pleasure to have you with us at the Koerber Foundation. 00:22:32.110 --> 00:22:33.110 Thank you very much. 00:22:33.110 --> 00:22:34.110 Thank you, everyone, for joining us, for actively listening, and for the great questions. 00:22:34.110 --> 00:22:35.110 And I can only say let’s keep talking to each other, with each other, rather than about 00:22:35.110 --> 00:22:36.110 one another. 00:22:36.110 --> 00:22:37.110 Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. 00:22:37.110 --> 00:22:38.110 SECRETARY POMPEO: Amen. 00:22:38.110 --> 00:22:38.115 Thank you all so much.