Secretary of State Marco Rubio Remarks to the Press

SECRETARY RUBIO: Hey, guys, sorry to be late. We've got to be quick. Let's go.

QUESTION: Can you talk about -

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, why did bombers leave Fairford?

SECRETARY RUBIO: What?

QUESTION: Why did American bombers leave Fairford?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, you'll have to - the Department of War is constantly reallocating resources where they need to be. There's regular rotations that happen as well, so I think you guys are just -

QUESTION: Is there a threat?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I mean, we've documented what happened last week. I wouldn't directly tie that to the move that was made. The only reason why you guys are focused on how many planes are at Fairford is because of the threat that happened last week, but it's not unusual to see rotations happen and movement of assets to different parts of the world based on exercises, redeployments, people changing out and new people coming in, new planes coming in, old planes going out. So crews are changing all the time. You guys are just really focused on that now because of the threat last week.

QUESTION: So you still have confidence in British security at the base in general? You -

SECRETARY RUBIO: Oh, we have confidence in the security of all of our bases, because all of our bases are theoretically - could be threatened at any moment, and that's why there's so much security built around them. And with the Brits, we've worked very closely for a very long time, including on this investigation, and they couldn't be more cooperative.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, you're going to Iceland obviously today.

SECRETARY RUBIO: We are? Nobody told me that. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: Albuquerque, not Iceland.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah.

QUESTION: Why are you picking Iceland? And what -

SECRETARY RUBIO: They're a NATO member -

QUESTION: What do you aim to do over there?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah. Look, they're a NATO member and have been a good friend of the United States, so it's an opportunity to stop there and meet with them. And it's something that I don't think has happened in a while. So - but it really is a result of a conversation I had with their leaders at the NATO Summit - with the leaders earlier this year and with their foreign minister, so I'm looking forward to it. And I've been there before and I don't know when the last time a Secretary of State went. It may have been a while, but -

QUESTION: 2021.

QUESTION: Was the decision made to send -

QUESTION: Can you speak -

SECRETARY RUBIO: 2021? All right, not that long ago.

QUESTION: - air support into Saudis for (inaudible) -

QUESTION: Wait, wait, hold on a second. Let's stay with the trip for a moment, if we could. So I mean, Portugal and Greece are also NATO members.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah.

QUESTION: So can you talk a little bit about those two -

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, if you go to Europe you're probably going to go see a NATO member, because most of the countries in Europe are. In the case of Portugal, they've been a strong ally, again, and we have an opportunity to go there and visit with them. And of course Greece is a very important U.S. ally. It's a place that we have not just a military presence but strong economic ties, so it's an opportunity to go there and see them.

QUESTION: Can you give us an update on the suspected plague case in Russia?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, we don't - we know what we know, obviously, about whatever the Russians have provided, which is it seems that there was a worker at the lab that was infected, and there's concern that that could have spread, at least internally. So you've seen them do quarantines with this - of that nature. There's very limited travel between the U.S. and Russia, obviously. But like anything else, something like that gets out, it could quickly spread. So we're watching and monitoring it closely. I don't think it's cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus and a cause to just keep an eye on it, and we're doing that.

QUESTION: Has a decision been made -

QUESTION: What's your view of the offensive this past weekend in the recent days by the Yemeni Government forces and the Saudi forces against the Houthis in Yemen?

SECRETARY RUBIO: So what's the question?

QUESTION: The strikes by the - the counterstrikes by the official Yemeni Government and the Saudi - with Saudi support against the Houthis -

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah.

QUESTION: What's your view?

QUESTION: Will the U.S. aid provide air support?

QUESTION: Or is it coordinated with the U.S.?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, first of all the United States - just on the question of aid, the United States has a defense and security agreement with Saudi Arabia and we intend to live by it. I won't discuss details further than that. As far as our view of it, well, I think it's - the Saudis and Yemeni forces clearly are not in favor of the Houthis controlling that territory close to the - to the strait there. And it's territory that was gained as a result of a Houthi offensive, and this is the counter to it. We expected that would happen and that's what's happening.

So obviously the Saudis have come under Houthi attack and see the threat that that poses, and they have a right to defend themselves. And obviously the Yemeni forces are going to try to retake territory that they were ousted from.

We've got to get going. We're late. So two more.

QUESTION: But the Saudis are -

QUESTION: Okay. Can you tell us anything -

SECRETARY RUBIO: What?

QUESTION: - about (inaudible) Camp David meeting? Any decision was made?

SECRETARY RUBIO: About what?

QUESTION: The Camp David meeting on Friday.

SECRETARY RUBIO: This weekend?

QUESTION: Yeah.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Oh, we constantly are meeting for long-term strategic planning and things of this nature. It's not unusual for us as a team to get together. That was just an opportunity to do it in a setting where there were less distractions, but we're constantly - that's just part of the role the National Security Council plays -

QUESTION: Yeah.

SECRETARY RUBIO: - is to bring together stakeholders to sort of do long-term planning - six months, nine months, but in many cases five or 10 years down the road. So I wouldn't call it routine because the topics being discussed are global by nature ,but they are long-term in thinking. So we've had many meetings like that before. This one just happened to be in Camp David -

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: Brazil - do you have a reaction for the election in Brazil?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, it's going to a second round. I think everybody expected that it would, so we'll see how that plays out.

Last one.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, Russia is calling, urging foreign diplomats -

SECRETARY RUBIO: You got everybody else? He's already had a question. All right, go -

QUESTION: Well, on the Houthis, sir -

QUESTION: Urging - Russia is urging foreign diplomats in Kyiv to leave the town. What is the U.S.'s position on that?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, they've done that now for months. Look, we have an embassy presence there, and we'll make the determination about whether it's safe for them to be there or not, but that's not - I mean, they've been saying that now for months. They've been warning diplomats to leave for months, and I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that Kyiv is under attack. I think that's well understood. But we analyze every single day the safety of every diplomatic mission in the world, and if a threat arises that we feel needs to be addressed by a change in posture, we'll do so. We haven't done that up to this point there. Okay? Let's go.

QUESTION: Thank you.

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