U.S. Department of State Weekly Digest Bulletin

Skip to content
Using Gmail with screen readers

Search

Compose

Labels

Inbox

1

Starred

Snoozed

Important

Sent

Drafts

26

Categories

Social

28

Updates

1

Forums

Promotions

3

INBOX/old

Travel

More

 

Hangouts

 

 

 

More

1 of 3

U.S. Department of State Weekly Digest Bulletin Inbox x U.S. Department of State <usstatebpa@public.govdelivery.com> 7:37 AM (5 hours ago)  to me Spain National Day 10/13/2019 You are subscribed to Secretary's Remarks for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. Spain National Day 10/12/2019 12:01 AM EDT Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State On behalf of the American people and the Government of the United States of America, I send my best wishes to the people of Spain as you celebrate the Fiesta Nacional de España. The United States and Spain are united by shared history and common values.  Today, our connection remains strong, with extensive bilateral cooperation focused on promoting international peace, security, education, science, and economic prosperity.  Last year, we celebrated the 60th Anniversary of the Fulbright Program in Spain, highlighting our shared commitment to the educational and cultural ties that bind and guide us.  In December, we marked the 30th anniversary of our Agreement on Defense Cooperation, through which American and Spanish troops continue to serve together side-by-side confronting difficult challenges.  The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission in July underscored the key role Spain played in guiding us to the moon. Our cooperation in space continues today with the Mars 2020 development program. The United States counts on Spain as an important Ally, and is proud to call Spain a friend. Sanctioning the Government of Turkey in Response to the Ongoing Military Offensive in Northeast Syria 10/14/2019 You are subscribed to Secretary's Remarks for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. Sanctioning the Government of Turkey in Response to the Ongoing Military Offensive in Northeast Syria 10/14/2019 06:29 PM EDT Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State On Friday, the United States signaled its intent to take action in response to Turkey’s ongoing unilateral military offensive in northeast Syria. President Donald J. Trump has now signed an Executive Order to press Turkey to halt its military offensive against northeast Syria and adopt an immediate ceasefire. The Executive Order gives the Department of Treasury and the Department of State, the authority to consider and impose sanctions on individuals, entities, or associates of the Government of Turkey involved in actions that endanger civilians or lead to the further deterioration of peace, security, and stability in northeast Syria. Three senior Turkish officials, the Ministry of Energy, and the Ministry of Defense have been designated for sanctions under these authorities, concurrent with the signing of the Executive Order. As the President has made clear, Turkey’s actions in northeast Syria severely undermine the D-ISIS campaign, endanger civilians, and threaten the security of the entire region. If Turkey’s operation continues, it will exacerbate a growing and daunting humanitarian crisis, with potentially disastrous consequences. To avoid suffering further sanctions imposed under this new Executive Order Turkey must immediately cease its unilateral offensive in northeast Syria and return to a dialogue with the United States on security in northeast Syria. Sanctioning the Government of Turkey in Response to the Ongoing Military Offensive in Northeast Syria 10/14/2019 You are subscribed to Europe and Eurasia for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. Sanctioning the Government of Turkey in Response to the Ongoing Military Offensive in Northeast Syria 10/14/2019 06:29 PM EDT Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State On Friday, the United States signaled its intent to take action in response to Turkey’s ongoing unilateral military offensive in northeast Syria. President Donald J. Trump has now signed an Executive Order to press Turkey to halt its military offensive against northeast Syria and adopt an immediate ceasefire. The Executive Order gives the Department of Treasury and the Department of State, the authority to consider and impose sanctions on individuals, entities, or associates of the Government of Turkey involved in actions that endanger civilians or lead to the further deterioration of peace, security, and stability in northeast Syria. Three senior Turkish officials, the Ministry of Energy, and the Ministry of Defense have been designated for sanctions under these authorities, concurrent with the signing of the Executive Order. As the President has made clear, Turkey’s actions in northeast Syria severely undermine the D-ISIS campaign, endanger civilians, and threaten the security of the entire region. If Turkey’s operation continues, it will exacerbate a growing and daunting humanitarian crisis, with potentially disastrous consequences. To avoid suffering further sanctions imposed under this new Executive Order Turkey must immediately cease its unilateral offensive in northeast Syria and return to a dialogue with the United States on security in northeast Syria. Sint Maarten Constitution Day 10/15/2019 You are subscribed to Secretary's Remarks for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. Sint Maarten Constitution Day 10/15/2019 08:28 AM EDT Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State On behalf of the people of the United States of America, I congratulate the people of Sint Maarten on your Constitution Day. The United States values our strong relationship with Sint Maarten.  We commend your perseverance in rebuilding your nation and tourism industry following the devastating hurricanes of 2017.  We look forward to expanding our collaboration through initiatives such as the U.S.-Caribbean Resilience Partnership and the U.S.-Caribbean 2020 Strategy. The United States wishes the people of Sint Maarten a happy Constitution Day. On Tunisia’s Presidential Elections 10/15/2019 You are subscribed to Secretary's Remarks for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. On Tunisia’s Presidential Elections 10/15/2019 06:44 PM EDT Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State I congratulate the Tunisian people, who turned out over the weekend to exercise their hard won right to vote.  We were impressed with Tunisia’s independent elections commission, which increased voter confidence in the electoral system. Citizens choosing their next President is a milestone on Tunisia’s path to democracy.  The U.S. looks forward to working with President elect Kais Saied to continue the longstanding cooperation between our two countries. Secretary Michael R. Pompeo With Maria Bartiromo of Mornings with Maria On Fox Business Network 10/16/2019 You are subscribed to Secretary's Remarks for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. Secretary Michael R. Pompeo With Maria Bartiromo of Mornings with Maria On Fox Business Network 10/16/2019 11:44 AM EDT Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State Washington, D.C. QUESTION:  And joining me right now is the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.  Mr. Secretary, it’s a pleasure to see you.  Thanks very much for joining me this morning. SECRETARY POMPEO:  You bet.  It’s great to be with you again, Maria. QUESTION:  So you just heard what Erdogan said; he’s not going to speak to the Vice President.  Are you still planning to go to Turkey? SECRETARY POMPEO:  So at this point the Vice President and I are planning to take off later this afternoon, and we have every expectation that we will meet with President Erdogan.  And it’s important, Maria; we need to have this conversation with him directly.  The President felt it was important that we do this at the most senior levels of the United States Government to speak to him face to face.  He needs to stop – he needs to stop the incursion into Syria.  This is a complicated matter with lots of states at play, lots of non-state actors as well. QUESTION:  Right. SECRETARY POMPEO:  And we’re working to try and find a resolution. QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, were you on that phone call with Erdogan over the weekend?  Lindsey Graham has been tweeting about it, saying he was part of a phone call yesterday between President Erdogan and President Trump where Erdogan had a commitment, made a commitment to the President that he would stay away from the Kobani area to prevent further escalation in Syria.  Did he promise the President he would not invade, and then went against, broke the promise, and did so anyway? SECRETARY POMPEO:  I was on the phone call that I think Senator Graham was referring to.  In that call he made a commitment.  He said he wasn’t in position to move into Kobani.  I spoke with my counterpart, the foreign minister, what would have been now about 24 hours ago.  He made the same commitment to me.  We hope they’ll honor that.  This is a big city with a large civilian population, a multiethnic civilian population.  It would not be useful for Turkey.  It would not be a good thing for the world or the region.  It’s one of the things that we are traveling today to talk with President Erdogan about.  We need them to stand down, we need a ceasefire, at which point we can begin to put this all back together again. QUESTION:  Are you prepared to hold Erdogan personally responsible for breaking that promise, for doing something after he said he was not going to do it, and for the recent behavior of Turkey? SECRETARY POMPEO:  Well, we have to remember this is a complex situation, Maria.  You saw the initial set of sanctions that the President chose to put on Turkey.  I think, frankly, the world has underappreciated the severity of those sanctions and how much impact they will ultimately have on the Turkish economy.  But our goal here – remember, our goal here isn’t to break the relationship with Turkey.  They are a member of NATO.  We have important security interests connected to Turkey.  Our goal isn’t to break the relationship.  It is to deny Turkey the capacity to continue to engage in this behavior.  The President said this was a bad deal, it was a bad thing; we’re working to stop it. QUESTION:  When are you expecting the roughly – is it 1,000 troops in Syria – to be pulling out?  When exactly are you expecting that to happen? SECRETARY POMPEO:  So I’ll leave the details of the military movements to the Secretary of Defense and the Defense Department.  But the President’s guidance has been very clear.  But we are working to make sure that we don’t create precisely the vacuum that I heard some of the previous folks talk about.  The President’s spoken with some of these folks; I’ve heard them as well.  We know the complexity of the situation, we’ve been engaged in this a long time, and I need to remind all your viewers when we came into office two and a half years ago this was a broken place, a difficult challenge where President Obama hadn’t done the things that needed to be done to contain Assad and the Syrian regime.  And we have been trying to remedy that situation with great success.  The success was the takedown of the ISIS caliphate.  We’re proud of what we’ve done, and President Trump is committed to ensuring that ISIS does not rise again. QUESTION:  And you said that now twice, that you want to make sure ISIS doesn’t rise again.  But even the Defense Secretary, Mark Esper, released a statement saying that the decision by Turkish President Erdogan to invade northern Syria has resulted in widespread casualties, refugees, destruction, insecurity, a growing threat of U.S. military forces, and the invasion has resulted in the release of many dangerous ISIS detainees.  Are we actually seeing the Kurds run away from the jails that they were guarding, and ISIS detainees are now on the loose again? SECRETARY POMPEO:  No one disputes that the decision by the president of Turkey has created enormous risk in the region.  That’s absolutely true.  It’s precisely the reason we’re headed there today, to try and take down that set of risk – most importantly for the United States, to ensure that the work that has been done to reduce the risk to the American people, which after all is our first and foremost priority, to reduce the risk to the American people, is fully addressed. QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, I’m trying to understand better what’s behind the President’s decision now to pull these troops out.  I mean, I know that the President is under massive attack here domestically from the media, from the left; that has to be tough.  Is there any reason to believe that that pressure is causing him to make the wrong decisions in our foreign policy? SECRETARY POMPEO:  I always go back to our first principles:  What’s the mission?  What’s the objective?  When we set about this now to lay down the President’s National Security Strategy a couple years back, our mission set was very clear:  to do counterterrorism all around the world in an effective way to protect the American people.  Our efforts in Syria, our efforts in West Africa, our efforts in the Philippines, all across the world, have been aimed at that singular objective.  It’s what we’re still focused on. And so Syria is a small part of this.  It’s a small part of our Middle East strategy more broadly.  You and I, I think, have spoken a number of times about the world’s largest state sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran.  This – to focus singularly on what’s taking place in a part of Syria neglects the true risk to the American people and how effective this administration has been at preventing that risk from impacting security for the American people. QUESTION:  Yes, and I’m not disagreeing in terms of the effectiveness so far.  But is it not in the U.S.’s national security interest to keep a small number of troops there to actually protect – help the Kurds protect, for example, the oil fields?  I mean, if you’ve got Iran getting access to those oil fields, you and the administration have had Iran on its heels, and now with Turkey invading you’re opening up these oil fields to the Iranians, giving them revenue to continue to support ISIS.  Not to mention the ISIS fighters being let out of these jails. SECRETARY POMPEO:  I’ve watched the world rally to push back against President Erdogan and the invasion that took place.  We should never mistake who the actor is that has caused this disruption there.  It wasn’t the United States, it wasn’t the European countries that were there in Syria alongside of us; it was President Erdogan who is responsible for this instability.  We’re now working to make sure – and your point is well taken.  There are oil fields a little bit further south that are very important, and I know the President is thinking about – with the recommendations from myself and the Vice President – about how best to address that. QUESTION:  But isn’t it also true that we had a small number – we have a small number of troops in Syria, and for the most part we are acting as the backup to the Kurds, we’re helping them with armament and weaponry, we have not lost many people in the last five years?  And granted, any life lost is too many, but when you consider the fact that it’s really the Syrian Kurds that are doing the bulk of the fighting, the Syrian Kurds that are losing men and women, not the U.S. SECRETARY POMPEO:  Every American life matters an awful lot, Maria, as you just said.  I know we both value that.  We’re — QUESTION:  How many people have we lost?  How many people have we lost in five years? SECRETARY POMPEO:  Yeah, it’s been more than any American would wish. Right?  I mean, Maria, I understand your point.  Your point is well taken.  But we need to make sure that we get this right, that we get the balance right, and I’m very confident that President Trump will do that. QUESTION:  I guess my biggest issue here is the strength of Iran.  And I feel like the administration had the Iranians on their heels and ruining the economy through sanctions, through this pressure campaign, and now we give up and leave Syria, and in effect, wrong those people who have been supporters and have been our partners – the Kurds – and open up this area to Iran. SECRETARY POMPEO:  Maria, I can assure you of this:  The Islamic Republic of Iran is feeling the full might, the full pressure, of the United States of America.  They were feeling it yesterday.  They were feeling it a week ago.  They will feel it months from now.  We’ve laid down the strategy, the ask, what it is we’re hoping the Iranian regime will do, how they’ll change their behavior.  We are still fully committed to that, and I am confident that ultimately we will prevail. QUESTION:  Is there any reason to believe that there’s a strategy beyond what we see here in terms of hitting back at Turkey?  Turkey’s behavior has not been one of a NATO ally, and now, given that they are in Syria and have invaded here, going against NATO principles, now it enables the U.S. to put sanctions, enables the U.S. to hit back at Turkey? SECRETARY POMPEO:  It’s been a difficult relationship in that sense.  They’re a NATO ally and they have forces embedded with us in different places in the world.  We have important resources that are there inside of Turkey.  Our Department of Defense values that relationship and needs it to continue.  So it’s complicated, Maria.  And we know that Turkey has not done what President Trump asked President Erdogan to do – he did not green light this invasion; he, in fact, told them just the opposite – that made this decision.  We’re hoping that we can convince them to stop and ultimately reverse this. QUESTION:  So is that part of the decision to pull the troops out, because Turkey was committed to going into Syria and the President wanted to get our troops out of the way? SECRETARY POMPEO:  Oh, 100 percent, 100 percent.  I was very, very closely involved when President Erdogan told, informed, notified us that he was prepared to move and that he was going to do so within hours.  President Trump saw that there were American soldiers in the way, that we didn’t have the capacity to do that, and to think that we were going to have NATO-on-NATO fighting, the President made the right decision in the moment to get American forces out of the way. QUESTION:  You heard earlier in our montage of comments from people, the former prime minister of Israel, Ehud Barak, was in the studio earlier this week, and he said the winners in all of this are Russia, Assad, Iran, and ISIS.  Is it your belief that Israel today is less safe as a result of this move? SECRETARY POMPEO:  No. QUESTION:  Okay.  You don’t have a date in terms of when the President would pull these troops out.  Is there any reason to believe the President would change his thinking on this and leave this couple thousand troops on the ground?  How many troops do we have? SECRETARY POMPEO:  Yeah, my experience with the President is that he makes decisions and then absorbs data and facts, evaluates situations.  If we need to adjust our policy to achieve our goals in which – the President is always very focused on what’s the objective, what is it we’re really, truly trying to achieve. QUESTION:  Yeah. SECRETARY POMPEO:  If we conclude that we need to adjust our policy to achieve those goals, I’m confident that the team will make that recommendation, that the President will move in that direction if he concludes it’s the right thing to do to make sure that we protect America. QUESTION:  And I’ve got one final question on this subject, because Erdogan right now, right now live, is – he’s clarifying his comments.  He said he will meet with you and he will meet with Vice President Pence.  What would be victory in your view?  Do you think in this trip today when you go to Turkey you can get Turkey to pull out of Syria? SECRETARY POMPEO:  We’ll go have this discussion.  We’ve had extensive conversations.  There’s a team on the ground.  My ambassador, Ambassador Jeffrey, is on the ground now.  There’ll be lots of discussions through today in Turkey.  I’m very hopeful that we can get a good resolution when the Vice President and I travel later today and are on the ground there maybe 24 hours from now. QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, let me ask you about the unrest in Hong Kong.  China is threatening to counter-measure if the U.S. enacts legislation to support pro-democracy protestors, all in the face of them saying that they want to do a trade deal with the United States.  What’s your reaction to that? SECRETARY POMPEO:  Back to first principles again, Maria.  Our mission with respect to China is to make sure that we get from the Chinese a set of fair relationships.  It’s not just trade.  There are national security implications in the South China Sea.  There are intelligence issues.  It is a complex relationship. With respect to Hong Kong in particular, I think the President has been very clear.  The President said China made a promise.  They said one country, two systems.  And they are asking the Chinese leadership to respect that commitment that they made.  They made it to the British in the agreement that was submitted to the UN.  That has been U.S. policy.  We have been very clear about that. The President has also said that he wants to make sure that China treats the individuals there humanely.  Those are the things that are at the center of American policy with respect to Hong Kong. QUESTION:  What about this deal that the President just talked about, phase one of a deal with China?  Is anything about the human rights abuses part of this conversation?  You and I have had this discussion many times.  There is upwards of 2 million Uighurs in concentration camps right now. SECRETARY POMPEO:  So the trade discussions have a number of topics.  They are working to knock through just as many of them as they can as quickly as they can.  They’ve got a set of them that are part of this first phase.  I don’t want to get in front of Secretary Mnuchin and Ambassador Lighthizer on their agreement.  They’re hoping that they can get that resolved here quickly. But make no mistake about it: There will still be – even after the phase one trade deal – there will still be challenges between the United States and China even after that trade deal is complete. QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, we thank you for your time today, and of course, we’re all wishing you best wishes on your trip to Turkey.  Thank you so much. SECRETARY POMPEO:  Thank you.  Thank you very much.  Maria, thank you so much, ma’am.  So long. United States Resumes Targeted U.S. Foreign Assistance for El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras 10/16/2019 You are subscribed to Secretary's Remarks for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. United States Resumes Targeted U.S. Foreign Assistance for El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras 10/16/2019 04:17 PM EDT Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State Today the Department informed Congress of my intent to resume targeted U.S. foreign assistance funding for El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.  Earlier this year, pursuant to my authority over foreign assistance funds and the direction given to me by President Trump, I directed the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to temporarily cease providing assistance to these countries until the governments of these countries took sufficient action to reduce the overwhelming number of migrants coming to the U.S. border.  Thanks to the President’s policy and to the response from these countries, we are seeing great progress.  Recently signed Asylum Cooperation Agreements (ACAs) are but one example. To enable further progress in these countries’ efforts, some targeted Department of State and USAID funding will resume at this time.  This funding will support programs that are advancing our joint efforts to mitigate illegal immigration from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.  These programs will complement our joint security plans for each government; augment private sector efforts to create economic opportunity; promote rule of law, institution building, and good governance; and help these countries develop their capacities to implement the recently signed agreements to build stronger local asylum systems. The United States commends the creative thinking and commitment of the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to reaching our shared goal of reduced outward migration from these countries to the United States.  We look forward to continuing this important work with our dedicated partners in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis 10/16/2019 You are subscribed to Secretary's Remarks for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. Aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis 10/16/2019 05:01 PM EDT Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State On behalf of the American people, we express to our friend and ally Japan our deepest condolences for the loss of life and damage caused by Typhoon Hagibis.  We stand by the people of Japan during this difficult time and offer our sincere hopes for Japan’s quick recovery from this disaster. Secretary Pompeo’s Call with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu 10/16/2019 You are subscribed to Europe and Eurasia for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. Secretary Pompeo’s Call with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu 10/16/2019 06:28 PM EDT Office of the Spokesperson The following is attributable to Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus: Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo spoke yesterday with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. Secretary Pompeo reiterated U.S. opposition to Turkey’s military offensive and underscored President Trump’s call for the Turkish Government to stop its invasion of northeast Syria and to return to a dialogue with the United States on security in northeast Syria. The Secretary previewed the upcoming high-level U.S. delegation to Ankara led by Vice President Mike Pence. Secretary Pompeo’s Travel to Ankara, Jerusalem, and Brussels 10/16/2019 You are subscribed to Europe and Eurasia for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. Secretary Pompeo’s Travel to Ankara, Jerusalem, and Brussels 10/16/2019 08:59 PM EDT Morgan Ortagus, Department Spokesperson Secretary Michael R. Pompeo will travel to Ankara, Jerusalem, and Brussels from October 16-19 to meet with key leaders and discuss long-standing alliances. On October 17, Secretary Pompeo will participate in a meeting with Vice President Mike Pence and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, Turkey to discuss the situation in northeast Syria. The Secretary will then travel to Jerusalem on October 18 where he will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss developments in Syria and the continued need to counter the Iranian regime’s destabilizing behavior in the region. Later that day, the Secretary will travel to Brussels, Belgium, where he will meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to discuss Transatlantic security issues and U.S. goals for the upcoming NATO Foreign Ministerial and Leaders Meeting. Illegitimate Maduro Regime’s Election to the UN Human Rights Council 10/17/2019 You are subscribed to Secretary's Remarks for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. Illegitimate Maduro Regime’s Election to the UN Human Rights Council 10/17/2019 04:47 PM EDT Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State The UN High Commissioner report on Human Rights issued this past July documented egregious human rights abuses of the former Maduro regime in Venezuela.  It is sadly no surprise that Maduro shamelessly sought a seat on the UN Human Rights Council in an effort to block any limit to his repressive control of the Venezuelan people.  What is truly tragic, however, is that other nations voted to give Maduro’s representative for Venezuela a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.  This is a harsh blow not just against the victims of the Venezuelan regime, but also against the cause of human rights around the world. The Human Rights Council ought to be a protector and defender of human rights of people the world over.  It should be speaking out about the daily abuses of the former Maduro regime, and others like it.  Instead, the Council has become an exercise in shameless hypocrisy – with some of the world’s most serious offenders sitting on the Council itself.  Its membership includes authoritarian governments with unambiguous and abhorrent human rights records, such as China, Cuba, and Venezuela.  These are among the reasons why the United States withdrew from the Human Rights Council in 2018. The United States strongly supports multilateral organizations that sincerely and effectively work to protect human rights.  The election to the Human Rights Council of Maduro’s representative is a farce that further undermines the Council’s already frail credibility.  We desire to work with our allies and partners in support of Venezuelan interim President Guaidó’s efforts to restore human rights and democracy in Venezuela, a critical objective that reflects the United States’ commitment to human rights and freedom. Special Representative for Syria Engagement James F. Jeffrey Remarks to the Traveling Press 10/17/2019 You are subscribed to Europe and Eurasia for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. Special Representative for Syria Engagement James F. Jeffrey Remarks to the Traveling Press 10/17/2019 07:39 PM EDT Office of the Spokesperson En Route to Tel Aviv, Israel MS ORTAGUS: Do you have something to say first? AMBASSADOR JEFFREY: Yeah, just the Vice President, Mike Pompeo, and National Security Advisor O’Brien came out here to carry out the President’s directive to get a ceasefire as soon as possible in those areas where the Turks have penetrated into northeast Syria. And in return, we would work with them to see what we could do about the sanctions – not putting new sanctions on and eventually, if things went in the right direction, lifting the sanctions that we have already put on at the beginning of the week. We had extensive negotiations with President Erdogan directly and with his staff – foreign, defense minister, national security advisor, and minister of finance – in an effort to try to get a solution. As you’ve seen in this 13-point document, we have a ceasefire. It is not called a ceasefire in the document. It is called a pause, where the Turks will cease moving forward and taking military actions other than self-defense for a 5-day period in those areas that they control. We talk about the safe zone here, and the Turks talk about an aspirational safe zone based upon what we had done with them back in August, where the safe zone was from the Euphrates to the Iraqi border and we had various levels of Turkish observation or movement or whatever down to 30 kilometers, with the withdrawal of the YPG from some of them. What we have now is a different situation where the Turks have pushed down to that 30-kilometer level in a central part of the northeast and they’re still fighting in there, and that’s the focus of our attention now because that’s the area that we define as the Turkish-controlled safe zone. So the idea is, sequentially, the Turks will have a pause in military operations, the YPG elements in these areas that the Turks control will withdraw south of that area – that’s basically the 30-kilometer area, which is also the road, M4-M10 – and then we will work with the Turks to focus on taking care of humanitarian issues in the zone, protection of religious and ethnic minorities, taking care of civilian, humanitarian issues, and managing and monitoring human rights. This is all based upon prior agreements that we had done with the Turks and the – indirectly the SDF back in August on the ways that we would be helpful on monitoring all of that through mainly non-military means or air means, not ground troops. We’re not talking about American ground troops. As you know, we have a very convoluted situation now with Russian, Syrian army, Turkish, American, SDF, and some Daesh elements all floating around in a very wild way, and we are most concerned about getting our troops out of the way, which is what DOD is doing at this point. But they have the details on where their troops are and what they’re doing. Essentially, we have this pause in the Turkish operations for five days as the SDF withdraws from those areas where the Turks are. At the end of that five days, if the SDF has withdrawn, the Turks will cease all operations in northeast Syria. Now, the Turks have their own discussions going on with the Russians and with the Syrians in other areas of the northeast and in Manbij to the west of the Euphrates. Whether they incorporate that later into a Turkish-controlled safe zone, it was not discussed in any detail. That right now is not Turkish-controlled territory. It’s controlled by the Russians or it’s controlled by a mix of Russians and Syrians or by Syrians. So that’s where we are in terms of the background to this. MS ORTAGUS: Lara. QUESTION: At what point did the YPG enter into the negotiations for this specific agreement, and what do you say to concerns that they are basically being forced from territory that they had held and this is being ceded to the Turks? They’re basically pushing their border 20 miles into Syria. AMBASSADOR JEFFREY: We informed the YPG of this. We’re basically doing our best efforts to get the YPG to withdraw using as carrot and a stick the sanctions levers that we have – not only the Executive Branch’s, but also the very likely impending sanctions from Congress if we don’t see a ceasefire. In terms of YPG territory, I mean, there is a military situation on the ground back before the Turks came in against our very strong urging. You had in that whole zone a combined American-YPG/SDF force. That has changed dramatically on the ground, where you have Turkish forces occupying much of the central third of the area down 30 kilometers, again, with some YPG elements in there fighting them still who are the ones who would withdraw. You then have mixes of YPG and Syrian troops, along with some Russian advisors, to the west and to the east, and we don’t really have eyes on in that situation. This thing right now is focused on – again, as the document says – areas that are controlled by the Turks and a ceasefire there because that’s where the Turks can do a ceasefire, and a withdrawal of the YPG from those areas. QUESTION: But can I just get – I don’t understand. Was the YPG involved in this specific round of negotiations with the Turks, and are they being pushed from land that they had held? AMBASSADOR JEFFREY: There’s no doubt that the YPG wishes that they could stay in these areas. It is our assessment that they had no military ability to hold onto these areas, and therefore, we thought that a ceasefire would be much better for the eventual – aside from saving lives, which was very important for President Trump and Vice President Pence, we also thought it would be much better for trying to get some kind of control over this chaotic situation. The Turkish army has seized a great deal of territory in a very short period of time. We had no doubt whatsoever that they would not continue seizing territory if we couldn’t get a ceasefire. That’s what we’re trying to do. QUESTION: So last question, sorry. When did the YPG become informed that this was happening? AMBASSADOR JEFFREY: We’ve been informing the YPG all along of our efforts, of the idea of coming out here, of some of the ideas going on, and we had an extensive back-and-forth with various ideas with them this afternoon. MS ORTAGUS: Jake. QUESTION: The Turks are out with a statement saying this is not a ceasefire, trying to downplay it. What’s your reaction to that? AMBASSADOR JEFFREY: Now, what do we say in the document? What we say in the document is, in paragraph 11 – what the Turks say is that we’ll pause Operation Peace Spring in order to allow the withdrawal of YPG from the safe zone within 120 hours. Operation Peace Spring will be halted upon completion of this withdrawal. We use the word ceasefire. The Turks do not because it’s not in the agreement. But what we mean is – and we defined this very carefully – a ceasefire is no forward movement of troops on the ground and no military action other than self-defense. QUESTION: Ambassador Jeffrey, last week a senior administration official said they were aware that Turks had reneged on a past agreement and there were concerns that this could happen again. What was said today to assuage those concerns? AMBASSADOR JEFFREY: Well, again, the past agreement was the safe zone agreement we had in August. There the Turks’ carrot, and the whole reason we had gone into that in the first place, was threats by the Turkish Government to intervene unilaterally in northeastern Syria that they had been making back since November or December of 2018, and the whole idea was to try to find a security arrangement that would satisfy them with patrols and the other things we were doing. Against our very strong advice, once again, and we think tragically, President Erdogan decided to go in militarily. This was a huge mistake. We condemned it at the time, and what we’re trying to do now is to fix it. But the situation on the ground is the Turks are there, and you’ve got all kinds of other forces that have now, as a result of this attack, gone in. The point is we have agreed with them to only, if they adhere to the terms of this in terms of a pause and then a halt, will we act on these sanctions: first, not to have new sanctions beginning as soon as the pause goes into effect; and then after five days, if they do halt permanently, no more military action in the northeast other than self-defense, then we will lift those sanctions that were imposed last Monday – or this Monday. QUESTION: Could I quickly follow up? Were there any other warnings beyond the sanctions if they don’t honor this agreement? AMBASSADOR JEFFREY: There are always diplomatic exchanges about the nature of the relationship, how the relationship can go up or down. They were a significant part of this discussion. QUESTION: Can you give us any details? AMBASSADOR JEFFREY: No details. Focus on the sanctions. QUESTION: (Inaudible.) The United States has spoken in the past about the territorial integrity of Syria. AMBASSADOR JEFFREY: Right. QUESTION: Does this at all change that? I mean, it effectively – say that Turkey has control over part of Syria. Does that change the dynamic? Do you still believe that it’s sovereign Syrian territory? And had there been talks – probably not directly with the United States, but with the Assad regime? Are sure that the Assad regime will be in agreement with this (inaudible)? AMBASSADOR JEFFREY: Well, absolutely. The Turks have reassured us many times that they have no intention, no intention whatsoever, from President Erdogan personally on down today, of staying in Syria very long. And of course, this is nothing new. The Turks have huge chunks of northwest Syria either under their direct control or in Idlib, where they share it with a motley band of opposition forces, HTS terrorists, and others. And of course, we still maintain our forces in the south and al-Tanf. The President has decided not to remove them. So there’s a lot of people from other countries floating around Syria today because it’s a chaotic situation brought about by Assad, influenced by Iran, from 2011 on. That’s why we’re all here trying to fix all this. QUESTION: And the other major players here – I mean, do you think they’re also going to be in agreement with this? AMBASSADOR JEFFREY: Who? QUESTION: The other – the Assad regime and Russia, mainly. Do you think they’ll be – have they been informed of this? Do you think that they’ll be in agreement with this (inaudible)? AMBASSADOR JEFFREY: One of the reasons that we took the various positions we did with the SDF in the fight against Daesh with Turkey in the northeast was because we were afraid that if there was any major change, such as a Turkish intervention, you would get the SDF turning, as they did. They made an agreement with the Assad regime. And we weren’t going to stop the Assad regime troops from flowing in with the SDF, obviously, so this created a new situation on the ground with various elements now aligning with each other. And again, in the midst of this, the one – the two groups that we deal with are the SDF and the Turks, so we thought that a cease-fire arrangement, or you can call it a pause-and-halt arrangement, would make sense. That was the President’s task to Vice President Pence. QUESTION: (Inaudible.) The – in the zone, the YPG – is it only the fighters, or do you expect a mass movement of people outside of that zone? Where do you expect them to actually go? AMBASSADOR JEFFREY: We hope that there will be no mass movement of people. There’s very strong – and we insisted – Vice President Pence personally insisted on very strong language. You can see some of it in here. There’s three different paragraphs that talk about civilian casualties, human rights, taking care of religious and ethnic minorities. That, of course, includes the Kurds. We were very, very strong and very, very insistent on that. But again, we will see. And the proof will be whether it’s carried out on the ground. If it’s carried out on the ground, then we act positively with our sanctions. MS ORTAGUS: Anything (inaudible)? AMBASSADOR JEFFREY: Anything else? MS ORTAGUS: Does anybody want – no? QUESTION: Was there any discussion about Erdogan’s White House visit? Is that still on? AMBASSADOR JEFFREY: The discussion was focused, as I said, on certain aspects of the relationship but primarily on this and on trade and economic issues a little bit, not very much. No, it didn’t come up when I was there. MS ORTAGUS: Okay. QUESTION: Thank you. Unalienable Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy: The Founders’ Principles Can Help Revitalize Liberal Democracy World-wide 10/17/2019 You are subscribed to Counterterrorism for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. Unalienable Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy: The Founders’ Principles Can Help Revitalize Liberal Democracy World-wide 07/07/2019 10:04 PM EDT Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State Wall Street Journal America’s Founders defined unalienable rights as including “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” They designed the Constitution to protect individual dignity and freedom. A moral foreign policy should be grounded in this conception of human rights. Yet after the Cold War ended, many human-rights advocates turned their energy to new categories of rights. These rights often sound noble and just. But when politicians and bureaucrats create new rights, they blur the distinction between unalienable rights and ad hoc rights granted by governments. Unalienable rights are by nature universal. Not everything good, or everything granted by a government, can be a universal right. Loose talk of “rights” unmoors us from the principles of liberal democracy. That’s why I’m launching a Commission on Unalienable Rights at the State Department, chaired by Harvard Law School professor Mary Ann Glendon and populated with scholars, legal experts and activists. The commission’s mission isn’t to discover new principles but to ground our discussion of human rights in America’s founding principles. The commission is an advisory body and won’t opine on policy. My hope is that its work will generate a serious debate about human rights that extends across party lines and national borders, similar to the debate sparked by the human-rights panel Eleanor Roosevelt convened in 1947. The Commission on Unalienable Rights will study the document that resulted from that effort, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, along with our founding documents and other important works. Its members will address basic questions: What are our fundamental freedoms? Why do we have them? Who or what grants these rights? How do we know if a claim of human rights is true? What happens when rights conflict? Should certain categories of rights be inextricably “linked” to other rights? This may sound abstract, but the work is urgent. The human-rights cause once united people from disparate nations and cultures in the effort to secure fundamental freedoms and fight evils like Nazism, communism and apartheid. We have lost that focus today. Rights claims are often aimed more at rewarding interest groups and dividing humanity into subgroups. Oppressive regimes like Iran and Cuba have taken advantage of this cacophonous call for “rights,” even pretending to be avatars of freedom. No one believed the Soviet call for collective economic and civil rights was really about freedom. But after the Cold War ended, many human-rights advocates adopted the same approach, appealing to contrived rights for political advantage. The commission’s work could also help reorient international institutions specifically tasked to protect human rights, like the United Nations, back to their original missions. Many have embraced and even accelerated the proliferation of rights claims—and all but abandoned serious efforts to protect fundamental freedoms. Human-rights advocacy has lost its bearings and become more of an industry than a moral compass. And “rights talk” has become a constant element of our domestic political discourse, without any serious effort to distinguish what rights mean and where they come from. Since my teenage years as a West Point cadet, I’ve seen how special the American conception of freedom and human dignity is to the world. I studied the intersection of human rights law and warfare and confronted essential questions about human rights and how best to protect them. These central human questions about unalienable rights have profoundly affected my service as a soldier, lawyer, congressman, Central Intelligence Agency director and secretary of state. My hope is that the Commission on Unalienable Rights will ground our understanding of human rights in a manner that will both inform and better protect essential freedoms—and underscore how central these ideas are not only to Americans, but to all of humanity. Secretary Michael R. Pompeo And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu After Their Meeting 10/18/2019 You are subscribed to Secretary's Remarks for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. Secretary Michael R. Pompeo And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu After Their Meeting 10/18/2019 07:41 AM EDT Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State Prime Minister’s Residence, Jerusalem PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Secretary Pompeo, welcome once again to Jerusalem. Mike, we’ve had important discussions about strengthening our alliance, the region, the various challenges that we face together, and I want to thank you for – and the President for – your consistent support for Israel. The Middle East is a sea of troubles and turbulence, but if there’s one thing that stands out, it’s the durability, stability, and strength of the American-Israel alliance. We talked about making it even stronger. And I want to thank you for your consistent support. Thank you and welcome once again. SECRETARY POMPEO: Great. Great to be with you. Thanks. I’d just add this: It’s always a joy to be with you, Mr. Prime Minister. It’s great to be back here in Israel. The remarkable close relationship between our two countries is as strong as it has ever been. President Trump, of course, said to send his regards to you as well. We had a chance to talk this morning about all the challenges that the world faces and that Israel and the United States face head on together. As an important beacon of hope and democracy here in the Middle East, the American people value this relationship. We talked about all the efforts we’ve made to push back against the threat not only to Israel, but to the region and the world, from the Islamic Republic of Iran, and we – we shared our ideas about how we can ensure Middle East stability together and how we would further our efforts to jointly combat all of the challenges that the world confronts here in the Middle East, and we appreciate all that you and your country does to assist America in keeping its people safe as well. PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Well, thank you. And Mike, as – since you’re visiting here on the holiday of Sukkot, we sit in a sukkah, which is a – it’s called the Feast of Tabernacles, and we always remember what it was like when we didn’t have a permanent home. So let me show you a sukkah — SECRETARY POMPEO: That’d be great. PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: — and then we’ll let you continue on your way. Thank you. Detention of Cuban Human Rights Defender José Daniel Ferrer 10/18/2019 You are subscribed to Secretary's Remarks for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. Detention of Cuban Human Rights Defender José Daniel Ferrer 10/18/2019 06:13 PM EDT Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State The U.S. government strongly condemns the Cuban regime’s unconscionable detainment of human rights defender José Daniel Ferrer, founder of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU).  We call on the Castro regime to immediately disclose Mr. Ferrer’s location and condition, to treat him humanely, and to release him from detention without condition. On October 1, Castro regime officials detained Mr. Ferrer and several other human rights defenders in Santiago de Cuba.  Mr. Ferrer reportedly has still not been informed of any charges against him, and has been denied access to a lawyer and to medical care.  Mr. Ferrer’s family has not been permitted contact with him since October 4.  Fellow UNPACU activists Roilan Zarraga Ferrer, José Pupo Chaveco, and Fernando González Vailant also remain in custody. José Daniel Ferrer’s case is one more example of the Castro regime’s continuous and flagrant violation of human rights, which has recently escalated into a wave of repression against freedoms of speech, expression, and religion.  The United States will not allow these abuses against the Cuban people to go unnoticed or unanswered.  We will continue to increase sanctions and trade restrictions to diminish the resources available to the Cuban regime, which uses its income to suppress its own citizens and to prop up other regimes with shameful human rights records, including the former Maduro regime in Venezuela. Secretary Michael R. Pompeo With NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg 10/18/2019 You are subscribed to Secretary's Remarks for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. Secretary Michael R. Pompeo With NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg 10/18/2019 06:08 PM EDT Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State SECRETARY GENERAL STOLTENBERG:  Good evening, Secretary Pompeo, dear Mike.  Welcome back to the NATO headquarters.  And thank you so much for coming here just hours after your trip to Turkey, and thank you for briefing the North Atlantic Council.  We discussed the situation in northeast Syria and the joint statement.  And I welcome that two NATO allies – the United States and Turkey – have agreed on a way forward.  We all know and understand that the situation in northeast Syria is fragile and difficult, but I believe that this statement can help to de-escalate the situation and therefore help to improve the situation on the ground. NATO is an important forum for all NATO allies to sit together and address common security concerns, and the situation in northeast Syria is a concern for all NATO allies, and it matters for all NATO allies. I visited Turkey on Friday, and I stated that Turkey is on the front line, the forefront of a volatile region.  No other ally has suffered more terrorist attacks.  They host millions of refugees, and Turkey has legitimate security concerns.  At the same time, I stated my deep concern for the danger of escalating the situation for more human suffering, and the – also for increased migrant and refugee flows. We will – we all understand that we have a common enemy, Daesh.  We have made enormous progress in the global coalition; all NATO allies in NATO are part of the global coalition to defeat Daesh, and we must not jeopardize the gains we have made in the fight against our common enemy, Daesh. We will address this issue, and the NATO defense ministers meet later on the next week.  And this just shows how timely and important the briefing we had this evening and the discussion we had this evening, and therefore once again thank you, Mike, for coming and meeting the North Atlantic Council.  Welcome. SECRETARY POMPEO:  Thank you.  And thanks for joining me on a Friday night.  I know this is exactly what everyone expected to do on their Friday night in Brussels.  It was important, however, that I come by here.  Our NATO allies and partners are an important part of America’s national security, and I wanted to come talk to them about the conversation that had taken place and the statement that was jointly agreed to by the United States and our NATO ally Turkey yesterday.  I wanted to talk a little bit about what we accomplished, the things that still remain.  You talked about the continued challenge to counter ISIS in the region, all the things that still need to be done.  We still have a political resolution in Syria under UN Security Council Resolution 2254 that we jointly need to work towards a resolution. It was also important for me to be here – you are a great leader of this organization, and it was important for me to stop as I headed out of the region to make sure that our NATO friends and NATO leadership understood what the United States had accomplished, the things that we had achieved, and a path forward to limit the risk associated with the incursion into Syria and to make sure that we can still deliver on all the missions.  We also had NATO partners that were on the ground with us there in Syria who were working alongside us there.  It was important for me to get a chance to talk to them, to thank them for what they had accomplished along the way as well.  So that was the mission, the reason that I’m here, and I thank you for hosting me here this evening. MODERATOR:  We have time for just two questions.  Jennifer Hansler, from CNN. QUESTION:  Hi, thank you.  Secretary Pompeo, President Trump earlier today in remarks about Syria said that the U.S. has taken control of all the oil, quote, “that everybody was worried about.”  Can you explain where this oil is, how the U.S. is controlling it, especially if troops withdraw?  And then is this – does this raise concerns about Syria’s territorial integrity? And then to both of you:  What is the understanding of when the ceasefire actually went into effect, and do you believe that it has been violated? SECRETARY POMPEO:  So let me take those two questions, then Sec-Gen Stoltenberg can answer to the extent he wants to.  Look, the ceasefire time period, the pause commenced when we issued the statement yesterday evening, so we’re now – I don’t know, 24 hours into this.  We’re very hopeful that we will continue to be able to implement and execute that.  We – there was some activity today, but we also saw some very positive activity, the beginnings of the coordination that will be required.  The reason this couldn’t happen instantaneously is there was a great deal of coordination that had to take place so that there can, in fact, be a safe withdrawal of the YPG fighters that are inside of the Turkish-controlled area that is covered by the agreement. And we’re hopeful in the hours ahead that both the Turks, who were part of the agreement alongside of us, as well as the YPG fighters in the region, will take seriously the commitments that they made and that we will actually achieve within the next now 96 hours the commitments that were laid out in paragraphs 1 through 13 of the agreement. I didn’t see those President’s statements today that you suggested.  I know this:  We are driven by UN Security Council Resolution 2254 to make sure that we get the outcomes that the United States and, frankly, most of the member-nations at the UN have agreed is the right outcome to get the proper political resolution in broader Syria – not just in the northeast, but more broadly. You have to remember, prior to this administration taking office, over half a million people were killed in Syria, millions and millions of people displaced, all of this before President Trump took office.  We see the burden that that placed on our NATO ally, Turkey, with now some two or three or four million displaced persons inside of Turkey.  That’s an enormous burden.  Europe needs to provide – to seriously consider how to respond to this threat, this challenge that’s presented by migration.  We are hopeful that what Vice President Pence achieved yesterday will be the beginning of leading to the resolution of all these greater challenges that are presented throughout Syria, and more broadly, the instability this creates throughout the Middle East. SECRETARY GENERAL STOLTENBERG:  Just to state that the situation in northeast Syria remains fragile, but it is important that two NATO allies, the United States and Turkey, who have been on the ground for a long time, have agreed a statement – made an agreement on the way forward.  That is important because it can provide a basis for progress and for de-escalating the situation, and that’s exactly why I also welcome the fact that those two allies have agreed and also the fact that Secretary Pompeo spent some time here with all the NATO allies discussing the way forward in northeast Syria. And NATO plays an important role both as part of the global coalition to defeat Daesh, but also – being a forum, also to discuss difficult issues also when there are different views within the alliance, and that’s exactly what we do when it comes to the situation in northern Syria. MODERATOR:  Dan Michaels, Wall Street Journal. QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, President Trump today spoke about countries taking back foreign fighters.  Can you say specifically which countries are taking back, and is the U.S. doing anything to facilitate that?  And also, since October 6, in the administration’s discussions with Syria – with Turkey, how do you feel?  Was enough done to prevent the violence in the first place?  Thank you. SECRETARY POMPEO:  The United States has been working for months on a safe zone mechanism inside of northern Syria.  We committed real resources; so had some of our NATO allies.  They were working alongside us on this.  I know that in the moment, the moment when President Erdogan called President Trump, he – President Trump made very clear that this was unacceptable, that we were opposed to their incursion, their cross-border activity.  So I think we made very clear the United States position that we oppose this Turkish incursion into northern Syria, that we didn’t think this was the right approach that would yield – would bear results.  We were – we are cognizant – indeed, we said in yesterday’s statement that Turkey has valid security concerns along that border, but we didn’t think this was the right way to approach it, and we took seriously America’s capacity to try and stop that incursion. Your first question was about foreign terrorist fighters.  We’ve seen comments today from a number of countries who have said they may well be prepared to take back these fighters.  I have to say I’m happy about that.  I am disappointed that it didn’t occur previously.  I personally have had this as one of my missions for an extended period of time.  We have known this risk – 10,000 foreign terrorist fighters, many times that detained persons, women and children in camps both in Iraq and in northeastern Syria that have been detained.  These are mostly ISIS fighters and their families and those around them.  Their release presents a real risk to the world, and we have asked every country that has their citizens to take them back to their host country. We have had some success, but very little from European countries who were prepared to do that.  I hope that they will be now.  The risk remains that these camps won’t continue forever, and I hope that they will take seriously what we view as their obligation to take these people back to their countries, and to the extent these are people who have violated the law, that they be prosecuted to the full extent of the law in their host country. QUESTION:  And which countries are they?  Which countries are taking them back? SECRETARY POMPEO:  Yeah, I don’t want to get into details.  We’re hopeful that every country that has persons detained in these camps will accept those back into their country – not just European countries.  There are many, many countries around the world who have had people leave their country and go to fight alongside ISIS in their campaign in Syria. MODERATOR:  Thank you very much.  This concludes this press point. SECRETARY POMPEO:  Great.  Thank you all. MODERATOR:  Thank you for joining us at this late hour. Stay connected with the State Department:      External links found in this content or on Department of State websites that go to other non-Department websites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein. Update your subscriptions, modify your password or email address, or stop subscriptions at any time on your Subscriber Preferences Page. You will need to use your email address to log in. If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please contact subscriberhelp.govdelivery.com. This email was sent to amphiktyon@gmail.com using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: U.S. Department of State · 2201 C Street NW · Washington, DC 20520 ... [Message clipped]  View entire message ReplyForward