Pentagon Special Briefing, October 12, 2000

DoD News Briefing



Thursday, October 12, 2000 - 3 p.m. EDT

Presenter: Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen



(Special briefing on the incident involving USS Cole. Also
participating in this briefing was Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern
Clark)


Cohen: Good afternoon.



At 5:15 this morning, Washington time, a large explosion blew a hole
in the hull of the USS Cole as she was mooring at Aden, Yemen, to
refuel. According to current reports, five sailors are dead, 36 are
wounded, and 12 are still missing. These numbers are likely to change
as we learn more.


I want to take this opportunity to express my deepest sorrow for the
sailors, who died defending our national interests, and to extend my
condolences to their families.


This is a sad day for America, for the Navy, and for the families of
the lost and the wounded sailors.


At this time, we do not know the cause of the blast, and the Navy is
concentrating on caring for the wounded and controlling the flooding
on the USS Cole. Admiral Clark, the chief of Naval Operations, is
going to have more to say about this in just a moment.


However, according to an eyewitness account, the explosion occurred
when a small boat that was participating in the mooring approached the
USS Cole. I want to repeat that we do not yet know the cause of the
explosion. If, however, we determine that terrorists attacked our ship
and killed our sailors, then we will not rest until we have tracked
down those who are responsible for this vicious and cowardly act.


The United States is a global power with global responsibilities, and
as a result, we face global risks. In the wake of this tragedy, I want
to be very clear about one point. We will continue to protect our
national interests around the world, in the Middle East, and
elsewhere. No one should doubt our resolve to remain a force for peace
and for stability, and no one should assume that they can force us to
retreat. No one should assume they can attack us with impunity.


All Americans can be proud of the men and women who protect our
country around the world. The world is safer because of their service,
and their dedication to our ideals of freedom and security makes their
loss even more painful.


Force protection is my top priority when I deploy troops, and it's the
top priority of every commander. But we know that our vigilance cannot
eliminate all risk. In the wake of this tragedy, we have increased the
alert level of all of our forces around the world, at home and abroad.
The Navy has dispatched medical teams and additional security teams to
Aden. And British and French officials have offered assistance to
evacuate and to treat our wounded. The Departments of State and
Justice have dispatched investigators to learn what was responsible
for the blast.


The tragedies that test our strength and our resolve occur and have
occurred in the past. We have passed the tests of measuring up to
those responsibilities and we will pass that test once again today. I
would like to ask all Americans to join me in the prayers for the
families of those who were killed and wounded. Their loved ones were
serving all of us.


Before I turn this over to Admiral Clark, I'd like to say we are
prepared to answer as many questions as we can this afternoon, but
information continues to come in by the minute, and we want to make
sure that we'll keep you updated as the day progresses. But we'll try
to answer as many as we can, understanding some of the limitations
that we have.


Q: Mr. Secretary, just very briefly, can I ask, do you, do you suspect
terrorism? And how could anything but a large explosive device or
explosives cause a hole like that in the side of a ship --


Cohen: I think, as I've indicated, if, as it appears, that this was
the act of terrorists, then we will certainly do everything in our
power to track them down and hold them accountable. We don't want to
reach a conclusive judgment at this point. It has the appearance of an
act of terrorism.


Admiral Clark has some photographs which he will share with you. You
should also know that we have asked the networks not to continue to
run photographs, pictures, of those who have been wounded, since have
not yet been able to notify all of the families.


And so we prefer to make that notification immediately ourselves and
hope that that request can be abided by. But Admiral Clark does have
some photographs of the ship, which will -- and he will explain in
greater detail the nature of the impact on the ship itself.


Q: Mr. Secretary, has anybody claimed responsibility for this?



Cohen: Not to my knowledge. There's been no claim of responsibility at
this point.


Q: A follow-up. If you find someone, credibly, who is responsible, do
you plan any kind of retaliatory attack?


Cohen: Well, as I've indicated, we will take appropriate measures to
hold those responsible.


Q: How about the reports -- I'm sorry -- that two men were aboard that
small boat and apparently stood at attention just when the blast went
off?


Cohen: Well, I'd like to wait for the full inquiry in this. There have
been a number of reports. I think right now Admiral Clark would like
to brief you on some of the details and then we'll answer those
questions.


Q: Mr. Secretary, this is a part of the world which has been tense for
years. Force protection is always very high. With all due respect,
what are your concerns about how a potential terrorist could have
penetrated U.S. military security? How could they have approached a
U.S. military asset? How could something like this happen?


Cohen: As I've indicated in the past, there are -- we are a global
power. We have global responsibilities and there are risks associated
with that. We take force protection as a very highest of priorities.
Admiral Clark is going to brief you in terms of the measures,
basically, that we take to protect our forces. We don't go into detail
specifically in what measures we take, but we are at a very
substantial state of force protection. We continue to be at that state
of protection, have actually increased it even further. But every area
in the region certainly poses potential risks to our soldiers, Marines
and airmen and -- and other forces.


Q: And briefly to follow up, you say you've raised the alert status of
U.S. forces around the world. Can you tell us, are there any other
threats or warnings that you have received today against U.S. military
forces?


Cohen: I don't want to go into specific threats as such. We think it's
just prudent, in the wake of what has happened, to make sure that we
are more aware of what is taking place. So it's just a precautionary
measure.


Q: Secretary Cohen, was there any intelligence that indicated that
this attack might have taken place? Even looking back in retrospect,
were there any warning signals that you missed that this threat might
have existed?


Cohen: I don't think we missed any specific threats.



There are general threats in the region, and we understand that. And
that's the reason why we have such precautionary measures we take. I
believe that Admiral Clark will indicate that the nature of this
particular situation would not have -- been very difficult if not
impossible to protect against this type of incident.


Q: Could I follow that, sir? Is this an example of asymmetric warfare
that you've warned about is in our future?


Cohen: Well, the answer's yes. This is precisely the kinds of threats
that we face where countries are unwilling to take us on head to head,
but will resort to acts of terrorism in order to achieve their goal.
If, again, if the facts substantiate that this was a terrorist act, it
would fall under the category of using an asymmetrical means of
attacking a larger force.


Q: Mr. Secretary, do you think that --



Clark: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I'll get right to the point.



The secretary has already indicated that our indications are that this
event occurred at approximately 5:15 this morning East Coast time
while the ship, the USS Cole, was mooring at a fueling facility in
Yemen.


The guided missile destroyer Cole was apparently attacked by
terrorists in a small boat. And I say "apparently" because the
investigation is going to have to reach the bottom line on this
situation. But from a personal point of view, and what I know about
the ship and the events that have been described to me, I have no
reason to think that this was anything but a senseless act of
terrorism. At this point, as the secretary has indicated, nobody has
claimed responsibility for this act.


Let me first say that all of us in the Navy -- and I have been called
by people from across the -- around the world today -- all of us are
deeply saddened by the loss of our shipmates. They, like generations
of sailors before them, have made the ultimate sacrifice serving their
country.


I want to also commend the crew of the USS Cole. As we speak, there
are 250 men and women on that ship battling for their ship and
battling for their shipmates. They have performed superbly. They have
done what they need to do to control and limit the flooding and the
damage that has occurred to the ship.


The commanding officer reports that they have the situation under
control.


Now, we do have some photos to show you, and they're going to appear
over here on this side. And this first picture is a photo of the
Arleigh Burke Class -- the DDG-51 class.


[ Slides shown during this briefing are available on line through
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/#SLIDES ]


Next slide, please.



This, of course, is where the event occurred; down here in Aden.



Next slide.



And this is a picture of the damage to the hull. And you can see that
it is generally midships and the immediately damaged area is in one of
the main engine rooms and an auxiliary engineering space.


Give me the next slide, please.



Now this is a close-up of the hull -- of the hull and the hole in the
hull. And you can see that the damage has occurred at the water line,
and you can also get a picture of the nature of the damage in the way
the metal is bent and so forth. The hole is generally 20 feet high and
40 feet across. As I indicated before, the captain indicates that they
have the flooding under control. In fact, they did very early in the
evolution.


And I would just like to say at this point that some of you know that
until a few months ago, I was the commander in the Atlantic Fleet. And
I remember specifically this ship and the George Washington
battlegroup of which she is part of, and going through the training
and certification for this group of ships as they were preparing to
deploy. They are trained in the specifics of force protection. And
they are also -- when they arrive in theater, as was the case in this
situation, they are required to submit to their theater commander, via
the chain of command, a force protection plan. And they, in fact,
submit such a plan for every port visit that they are involved in.


Such was the case here. The planning was done, it was approved by the
immediate superior in command, and they executed the plan as it was
specified.


Now, you all have heard the reports throughout the day. The secretary
has just indicated that there are now five fatalities on USS Cole. A
dozen are missing. We are working very hard to make the notifications
to all of the families, and let me say that we're not talking now just
about notifying five families. We are talking about 300 people that
are on this ship, and all of them want to know the circumstances
regarding their loved one.


We have set up -- the commander in chief of the Atlantic Fleet,
Admiral Natter, has put procedures into effect to support the
families. The media has been reporting the 1-800 number throughout the
day, and that activity is progressing.


The secretary has also made reference to the point about those injured
that were on television, and I am so appreciative of the willingness
of the networks to cease with those reports, because the fact of the
matter is, we're talking about 300 families and we have not completed
all of the notifications. I want to thank all of you who were involved
in that. It is very much appreciated by Navy families.


You can imagine how I feel. My heart goes out to the family members of
the crew of the Cole. This is a very difficult and trying time for
them. I am heartened, though, by the way people in the nation have --
are reaching out to them and people, specifically, in the Hampton
Roads area and, of course, those crew members' families are from
around the United States.


The secretary has described the eyewitness account that has been
passed to us regarding the small boat approaching the USS Cole. Let me
just say that the ability to deal with this kind of attack is limited
by this circumstance. This small boat, by report, was involved in the
mooring evolution. This was not a conventional pier, if you will.
Rather, it was a fueling -- it's called a fueling dolphin, but it is,
in effect, a fueling facility out in the middle of the harbor.


The mooring evolution, instead of being alongside of a pier, there are
several mooring buoys that the ship attaches lines to.


Small boats come to the ship and the lines drop down to them and the
boat takes the line to the mooring buoy. This is what happened in this
circumstance. And the report I have is that this small boat was
involved in that activity, and then returning from one buoy came
alongside.


The crew is continuing to control the damage. They do have power
aboard. There were reports today that they did not have power. Early
in the evolution they did lose power. Their emergency supplies are
operating and have been for the bulk of the day. They have the fuel
required on board to continue operations in the near future.


We have two ships en route to scene; two United States ships are now
around 300 miles away and are closing the port of Aden, and expect
them to be there sometime tomorrow. They're making best speed to get
there.


We are also heartened by the support of other nations. And the
secretary mentioned the support from the French, and they have a ship
en route, and the British also have a ship that is en route. And I am
told, just before I came in here, that the French had an airplane on
the ground that was supporting our people.


As we started this conference here at about 3:00 [p.m. EDT], it was
our -- the time line was that our first aircraft would arrive there
that has a surgeon aboard and some other medical support. It has some
security people to enhance the security, and there are also some
people there to help us assess the damage so that we can then do
follow-on planning to determine the future course of action.


In closing, again I just want to express my appreciation to the people
who are reaching out to the men and women and the families of the
United States Ship Cole.


Q: Admiral, why did the Cole stop in Yemen to refuel? And will you
suspend refueling stops at Aden for the future?


Clark: Well, let me say first of all that the decision for suspension
of ops would rest under the control of the unified CINC, in this case
General Franks. You know, in Goldwater-Nichols, he is responsible for
the operations and the decisions on where that kind of activity takes
place.


But let me put it in context.



The ship is coming from Norfolk, through the Mediterranean, then down
through the Red Sea. If we go back to the chart, if you go back a
couple of slides, somewhere in this area you're going to have to fuel
unless you have an oiler along with you. And so the decision was made
to use this port. We have been in there on three other occasions in
the last six months, since last May. And the decision was made to
utilize this facility.


As the secretary indicated earlier with regard to a specific threat
warning in that area, all of the circumstances that they would -- all
of the information that would be available to the unified commander in
chief would be used to make a judgment about where you were going to
have the ship pull in. And as the secretary indicated, I know of
nothing, no kind of a warning or a threat indicator that would have
made this something that the unified CINC would have decided.


Q: The Navy's reduced the number of oilers in recent years. Do we
accept more risk by having fewer oilers?


Clark: Well what, in any circumstance, if you were always
self-contained, that's a nice position to be in. The reality is that
any battlegroup is operating with that kind of support. But we do not
have enough ships to assign one to -- this ship was transiting
independently, and we don't have enough resources to -- by the way,
let me say today I have 101 ships in the United States Navy deployed
to the four corners of the Earth. Cole is one of those 101.


Q: Can you tell us anything about the suspect boat? Was it a steel
vessel of some size?


Clark: I can't tell you. I do not have any of that kind of
information.


Q: You don't know whether it was under contract by the Navy?



Clark: I have no idea how that setup works (inaudible).



Q: What kind of security procedures were followed? Were there armed
security personnel on the deck? And did they have any of the fleet
anti-terrorism support teams that normally go with ships?


Clark: I described earlier the requirement to have an approved force
protection plan. Then there are a series of threat conditions in every
theater in the world. Their threat condition posture was threat
condition Bravo. I have talked to the commander a number of times
today and reviewed the bidding on this, and they were in the posture
that they were required to be in for this threat condition and
entering this port, which would include armed personnel topside.


Now, the reason that -- and the secretary alluded to this -- in the
scenario that I have described to you, any commanding officer that was
working in a situation in a port like this has to assess the threat
and the movement of ships and boats and so forth in the harbor. And a
boat that was involved in the mooring evolution he wouldn't -- and was
currently involved in it he would not expect to be a threat. And I
believe that to be the circumstance.


Q: Admiral, would you tell me please, if it's a small boat, the type
of (inaudible) boats that take mooring lines out, what kind of
explosive would be aboard a boat of that size? And we're told that
Arleigh Burke class destroyers have three inches of steel at the water
line. Was this a shaped charge, do you believe? What could have caused
a gaping hole of this size?


Clark: I can't answer that. I'm not an explosives expert. I can tell
you this: these are exactly the questions that need to be answered in
the investigation. And the FBI is en route to the scene to deal with
these kinds of questions. Let me answer a specific with regard to the
Arleigh Burke and her capability.


She has different thicknesses upon her hull and throughout the ship.
It's not all the same in any given one place. I would tell you that
the steel at this -- at the point of the water line is 51,000 pounds
per square inch. And it is approximately half-inch steel. And so
obviously this was a significant explosion.


Now, I think it's important that, you know, the -- this is a warship.
And one of the things to look at here is that they have power back on
the ship and, you know, the crew is working hard to -- they're
fighting for their ship. The damage from the picture you could see is
basically localized to that area. I don't have significant information
about what the conditions are inside. It was inside the -- inside that
picture, inside the engine room, and I really don't have any
information.


Q: Admiral, two questions about the port. How much advance notice did
the port of Aden have that the Cole was coming in, first? And could
you take us back into 1999 when the decision was made to use this port
to refuel? Because Yemen is well known to be a headquarters for Hamas
and several other terrorist groups.


Clark: I don't have the specific time line, but I believe that it was
10-12 days that -- somewhere in that time frame that the request to
come into the report goes in through the embassy and so forth, and
then the process is put in place for the contractor to execute the
refueling.


Q: Mr. Secretary --



Clark: Let me go to part number two.



I really can't talk to the specifics in '99; I can just say this: We
have been working to improve our relations with Yemen for some time.
And I'm sure that that was at the heart of the motivation of the
unified commander as they are improving our relations in that part of
the world. But with regard to specifics, you'd need to talk to the
CINC.


Q: One might conclude from your earlier statements that a shortage of
oilers for the -- or just simply the stresses of deployment, resulted
in this ship making a refueling stop in a more dangerous port, and had
you had more resources, that might not have been the case.


Can you tell me whether that's a fair --



Clark: I'm on record: I'd like to have more resources. But never would
we send an oiler -- I can't recall a circumstance in my career where
we sent an oiler with a single ship.


Q: Mr. Secretary?



Q: Admiral, have you had a chance to talk to the ship's captain, or
could you share with us any details from the crew that you might have
heard -- received?


Clark: I certainly have not talked personally to the ship's captain,
you know; he is a busy man. I have been speaking with the naval
commander in the theater, Admiral Moore, and that's where I have my
feedback. Our comments have been confined to the steps -- the actions
that we need to take and the actions that are being taken to support
this ship the way she needs to be supported.


Q: Admiral, was the -- the boat that was involved in the explosion,
was it a government boat, a Yemeni government boat, a contractor boat?


Clark: I do not know.



Q: (inaudible) -- reportedly had two men on that boat, and are they
dead, Admiral?


Q: Sir, any relation with the conflict in the Middle East?



Q: Secretary Cohen, can you --



Q: Is there a relation to the conflict --



Cohen: Is there any relation? We have no information that it would be
related to the conflict in the Middle East.


Q: Mr. Secretary, can you review for us your assessment of the
terrorism situation in Yemen? Who operates there? Who concerns you? Do
you see Osama bin Laden and his network as being active in Yemen right
now? And do you have any reason to believe that his network or
associates could be involved in this incident?


Cohen: Well, we really don't have enough information to make any
judgments at this point. We do know that terrorists are operating
throughout the region, not just in Yemen but throughout the entire
Middle East. It's pretty fluid; there are various groups who move in
and move out. And so it's generally a high alert area for virtually
every area in the Middle East.


But I think it's just premature to make any link between Osama bin
Laden or anyone else at this point until we have more information.


We're still, as Admiral Clark has pointed out, we're still bailing out
the water to make sure we don't take on more water in that particular
ship. And you will note, from that last photograph -- and I think the
admiral pointed out to me -- that there have been a number of reports
of how badly the ship was listing, but in fact, if you look at that
last photograph you will see a sailor up on the deck who is standing
straight up over the gaping hole.


So it's a serious blow; they are working hard to maintain the ship and
they deserve great credit for that.


Q: Can you give us an idea of what your game plan is for the wounded,
and where do you plan to take them, how you plan to do that, and when?


Clark: Yes, I certainly can. The medical -- I said that one, the first
medical assist team is arriving and should have arrived since we came
down to this event.


Q: That is from Bahrain?



Clark: They are coming from Admiral Moore's theater, and -- wherever
exactly they were. I expect that they were from Bahrain.


Q: Admiral, what questions will you ask -- (cross talk)?



Clark: Just a minute.



Q: Sorry.



Clark: And then, on the next flight, which is also in the air, is a
larger medical assistance team. There is also another aircraft
inbound, a medevac aircraft that will be able to move people to a
location that will be determined by the surgeons on scene. They will
make the recommendations, and I expect all of that activity to occur
over the evening hours here in the United States.


Q: Did you have trouble getting any of these medical aircraft on the
ground because of the condition and the length of the runway in Aden?


Clark: I have not been notified of any problem in that regard.



Q: Secretary Cohen -- (inaudible) -- on the latest Iraqi troop
movements and whether you see anything sinister happening there?


Cohen: Well, there have been identified, in the press accounts, some
Iraqi movements to the west. This a also a training cycle for the
Iraqi military. But we're watching it very closely, because of the
ambiguity of the situation, to make sure that Saddam is not using any
training cycle in order to take advantage of any developments in the
Middle East or elsewhere. But we have not seen any specific move that
would indicate that he is -- intends to cause any major controversy.


Q: Admiral Clark --



Q: Mr. Secretary, you and the admiral have been very careful to talk
about an "apparent act of terrorism." Do you have in mind any other
scenario or possible cause, other than terrorism, that might have
brought this about?


Cohen: I don't have in mind any other cause of this, but again, I
don't want to reach a judgment at this point. We have a team over
there, they will make an assessment, and we will follow it up very
quickly. There will be bomb experts. They will investigate the nature
of the material that was used. That will help us reaching judgments
about how it occurred and perhaps lead to those responsible for it.
But I simply don't want to speculate at this point. We said it's
apparent. I want to leave it at that until such time as we can say
conclusively what it was.


Q: How many people were observed on the boat? And were they doing
anything unusual? There were reports that they were standing at
attention --


Clark: I've heard the same reports you have. I don't know if they're
accurate or not.


Q: Sir, was anybody observed on the small boat?



Clark: I am told that two individuals were observed on the boat, but
that is the same kind of hearsay. I've heard a number of reports. I
have not heard a report that said anything other than two, with regard
to number count.


Q: Was the small boat destroyed and are they dead, Admiral -- the two
people? Was the small boat completely destroyed by the blast --


Clark: I frankly never asked the question.



Q: Admiral, on three occasions when you refueled in the past -- since
May in Yemen, was this a fairly standard procedure - that you had
boats from the area help with mooring? It became almost a routine
event?


Clark: That is absolutely a standard procedure in every port you go
into in the world. You know, this is a large warship, and so, as it is
approaching a pier, instead of getting close enough to stick itself
into the pier or something, virtually always you have a boat that
assists you in getting the lines over. Then the lines help you moor
the ship. So that's very standard.


Q: So that's attributed to the whole issue of it would be hard to
detect a threat here?


Clark: Well, that's exactly right, and the fact that the individual
apparently, by report, was involved in the evolution.


Q: And the fueling hadn't started yet, right?



Clark: No. They will still tying up when this -- as this --



Q: So the fuel could be exploding because it didn't leak from the line
--


Clark: That's correct. No, that's right.



Q: Was there a pilot on board for this evolution?



Clark: I do not know.



Q: Does the Cole's crew include any women? And were any women among
the injured?


Clark: The USS Cole is a mixed-gender ship. I'm not going to --
frankly, I don't have detailed knowledge of the injuries. But I do
know that men and women were injured. But I don't have any idea what
the balance would --


Q: Admiral, you talk about the force protection plan, and you said
that force protection plans are in place. But wouldn't it make sense
to send Navy personnel out to make sure that these boats coming toward
you are actually part of the tender operations and not some sort of a
threat? Is that a lapse, that you let these people come up so close to
the boat without knowing, really, exactly who they are?


Clark: Well, in my view -- and you can accuse me of 31 years of
experience in this and being involved in this activity and then just
sort of taking it for granted.


But the reality is, is that when you enter a port like this, you make
contact with the port officials, you always do before you enter; you
wouldn't think of going in without having them verbally clear you in.
They tell you who -- that the individuals are there to support you.
You make assumptions about the credibility of that support. And I
think that's appropriate, and that's the way we deal with people all
around the world. We don't automatically suspect people that are sent
forward to help us in an official way. This kind of support takes the
tone of -- the arrangements made -- we send our request to the embassy
and they deal with the local people there. And I will tell you that
the first report I had from this via Admiral Moore was from an embassy
support person.


Q: If you really don't know who's coming towards you, wouldn't it be
wise to send some Navy personnel out before it gets close to the ship
to make sure that these are in fact --


Clark: Well, I think that's the same question, and the answer I just
gave you would be the same.


Q: Sir, does this appear to be an inside job, then?



Clark: I think that you're going to have to get the -- we will all get
the answer to that as the investigation moves along. I gave you my
personal opinion, based upon what I know now. I have described the
information that I have available to me, and I can't tell you that the
info that I've shared with you is 100 percent accurate, I mean, I have
reports, and that's what I'm sharing with you.


Q: Admiral, you mentioned an 800-number for families. Is there
anything other -- specifics you have that families can do or what's
set up for families in the Norfolk area?


Clark: I've been in contact with the leadership in Norfolk several
times today, and I have been in contact with the chief of Naval
Personnel who is working this. We have 32 operators online answering
responses. The backlog has gotten to the point where an individual
might wait -- the maximum I've heard so far is up to two minutes to
get a response. They are calling in and given information on their
loved one and the information that they are seeking.


We've also set up a facility at Norfolk at the Air Station there where
they have 24-hour support for the families, and people on-scene to
assist them. And they're doing everything that they know how to do to
support them.


You can understand the anxiety that exists within the families. Every
one of them wants to know what is the status of their loved one. I
wish that there was a way to get an instantaneous report to each and
every family. There isn't a way to do that. We are, for example --
because the record communications channel was down as a result of the
explosion -- we have been passing this information verbally.


And you can imagine how important it is for us not to make a mistake
on one of the individuals and what category they might be in.


Q: Admiral? Could you --



Clark: And so this is -- it's taking some time. They're working at it.
They've got people committed to it, large numbers of people committed
to it so that we can properly support the --


Q: Admiral, could you assess the damage on the ship in a little more
detail beyond what's on the water line: how many compartments were
flooded, where the fires --


Clark: No, I can't give you -- I can give you a little information. I
said the main areas are one engine room and one auxiliary engineering
space. That is a space that would hold pumps and various kind of
valves for the control of fluids and so forth around the ship. The
spaces adjacent to that space have also been affected, but I don't
know to the extent, and that includes -- I understand the messing and
berthing -- messing area where the crew eats and a living space. But
at this point in time they're at an evolution with a maximum number of
people assigned to operating stations when you're coming in, and we
call it the special sea and anchor evolution. And during this period
there are a large number of people on the forecastle and on the
fantail handling the lines. You've got people in every location in the
ship that have the maximum number of people required to execute this
kind of evolution. This is a varsity event when you're mooring the
ship. So that's the posture the ship was in, and I just don't have any
other detail that I can share with you at this time.


Q: (Inaudible) -- about where the casualties were?



Q: Admiral, are you saying that essentially this was -- there's no way
this could be anticipated or prevented, at least --


Clark: What I'm telling you is that because force -- the secretary has
made it real clear to us in uniform where force protection stands on
the priority list. And that is the reason that the kind of -- the
extent of events occurs before they go into a port like they did here,
as I described to you, specific plans, force protection plans for
entry into this specific port.


I can tell you, when I came in the Navy we never ever did things like
this. This is the kind of steps that we're taking now to protect our
people. So my view is that -- and the scenario that I've described to
you is that it would be extraordinarily difficult to have ever
observed in time to do anything about this kind of situation and to
have stopped it.


Q: My question to you then is what do you do now to make sure this
doesn't happen -- now that you know that this is a possibility, what
do you do now? To make sure this doesn't happen again?


Clark: The investigation will give us all of the details into this,
and then we will evaluate those findings and we will come to judgments
about any steps that we can take to mitigate the risk.


But I have to say, you know, let's understand: 101 ships around the
world today, and we do not live in a low-threat environment around the
whole world. And so risk does exist, and we will never be able to take
steps to eliminate all risk.


I make this point to say that this is about the young men and women
who serve our country, and we can't lose sight of this. Their service
involves some risk, and it's part of their service that they go to the
four corners of this Earth and represent this nation and our
interests. And so I don't -- I won't prejudge what those findings
might be, but I can assure you that an event like this will not occur
without receiving the attention of the highest levels of leadership in
our department. And that includes myself.


Q: Is there a risk of the ship being lost completely as a result of
the damage?


Clark: It is -- I have described the events to you the best way I know
how. The captain --


Q: -- the phrase, "fighting for the life of the ship."



Clark: Well, I said fighting for their ship. And I was careful in the
way I said that. I don't want to give the impression -- and if I did,
I'm glad you asked the question. They're fighting for their ship. And
I make that point because, look at this hole. See, the water is still
free-flowing here. So the flooding challenge is not over. They have it
under control, all right? The ship is listing, by last report, four
degrees, which is not a significant indication of progressive damage.
And so, based on the information now, I see no such -- no such threat.
They are doing a great job containing the damage.


Q: Admiral, how long does it take for the USS Cole to refuel? Was this
a four-hour operation, six-hour? What was sort of the window of
opportunity?


Clark: I can't really answer. I don't know what her fuel load was.
Nominally, you would pull into a port, though, like this and you'd
look at an hour or so to get tied up and get all the lines over, and
then maybe two to three hours to execute a fueling evolution. But
that's soft, because I don't know how much fuel she needed.


Cohen: Thank you very much.