Pool Reports by Tal Kopan, San Francisco Chronicle
| Sent: | Reports: |
| August 25, 2021 06:52 |
In-town pool report 1: Evac update ?Good morning. This just came over to the pool. From a White House Official: From August 24 at 3:00 AM EDT to August 25 at 3:00 AM EDT, a total of approximately 19,000 people were evacuated from Kabul. This is the result of 42 US military flights (37 C-17s and 5 C-130s) which carried approximately 11,200 evacuees, and 48 coalition flights which carried 7,800 people. Since August 14, the U.S. has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 82,300 people on US military and coalition flights. Since the end of July, we have re-located approximately 87,900 people on US military and coalition flights. |
| August 25, 2021 08:54 |
In town pool 2: Background for the day Passing this background on from the White House: This afternoon, the President will meet with members of his Cabinet and national security team, and private sector and education leaders to discuss how we can collectively improve the Nation's cybersecurity. After the President's meeting, the private sector and education leaders will participate in sessions with members of the Cabinet and national security team to continue their discussions from the meeting with the President. The sessions will be:
List of participants: *This list is not comprehensive and subject to change Biden Administration
Financial
Energy and Water
Tech
Insurance
Education
|
| August 25, 2021 12:27 |
In-town pool report 3: Checking in Good afternoon from the White House, where it is definitely still summer in DC. There are no changes to the daily schedule from the White House, meaning we'll have a 1pm (scheduled time) press briefing from Jen Psaki and a spray of the 2pm (scheduled) cybersecurity meeting that I passed along background info for earlier. I'll send along a two-minute warning for the briefing if we get one and, as always, will stand ready to distribute any news or updates as I get them. |
| August 25, 2021 12:38 |
In-town pool report 4: Briefing moved to 3 The briefing has been moved to 3pm, per the press office. |
| August 25, 2021 14:09 |
In-town pool report 5: waiting for cybersecurity meeting The pool is holding in an empty State Dining Room, awaiting being taken into the President's cybersecurity meeting in the East Room. That was scheduled to begin at 2 pm. (See pool report 2 for participants etc) |
| August 25, 2021 14:13 |
In-town pool report 6: Cybersecurity meeting The pool entered the East Room at 2:10 pm. The President, wearing a striped tie, was seated at the center of the head of the crowded, square table, with several feet between him and the next participants, all of whom were masked. Remarks ongoing, will send highlights. |
| August 25, 2021 14:20 |
In-town pool report 6a: remarks /no questions answered Biden gave introductory remarks about cybersecurity for roughly 3 minutes. As he wrapped, he ignored a shouted question (very audible in the silent room aside from the calls of "thank you" from wranglers trying to usher us out) from Peter Alexander about what he would do if Americans are still in Afghanistan after the deadline. After asking it a second time, Biden joked "you'll be the first person I call" At the top he highlighted the actions of his administration and noted increasing efforts on gas pipelines, internationally, and mentioned he told Putin that Moscow had to do more against ransomware criminals. "They know who they are," Biden said (check quotes against transcript. "The federal government can't meet this challenge alone," Biden said to the group he convened. "We've got a lot of work to do and thank you very much." |
| August 25, 2021 14:37 |
In town pool report 6b: More remarks Pool could not see who was seated to the President's left, but to his right was Alphabet (Google)'s Sundar Pinchai, then IBM's Arvind Krishna, then Apple's Tim Cook. (Here's my photo of the room setup https://twitter.com/TalKopan/status/1430596469992611848) These are some fuller remarks transcribed from my recording, though I encourage you to check out the TV/online playback and official transcript for anything beyond this. Overall, Biden highlighted some accomplishments of his administration on cybersecurity including is EO on the matter from May, the 100 day cybersecurity initiative (that he said they're extending to gas pipelines), NATO efforts and G7 efforts on this front. "We've seen time and again how the technologies we rely on, cell phones, and pipelines and the electric grid, can become targets of criminals. At the same time, our skilled cybersecurity workforce has not grown fast enough to keep pace ... about half a million cybersecurity jobs remain unfilled," Biden said. "That's a challenge and also is a real opportunity, and I've made this a priority of my administration from the outset," he said. "Because cybersecurity's a global issue, we've also rallied G7 countries to hold nations that harbor ransomware criminals accountable and I might add I had a summit with Vladimir Putin and made it clear to him that we expected him to hold them accountable as well. Because they know where they are and who they are," Biden said. "But the reality is most of our critical infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector and the federal government can't meet this challenge alone. So I've invited you all here today to (inaudible to me)... raise the bar on cybersecurity, and so ultimately we've got a lot of work to do and thank you all very much." This was then when the wranglers tried to "thank you" us out the door and he ignored then joked with Peter Alexander. (Will send any updates on the briefing timing as I get them.) |
| August 25, 2021 14:49 |
In-town pool report 7: Briefing timing update From the press office: The Press Briefing will begin after Secretary Tony Blinken concludes his remarks at the State Department. |
| August 25, 2021 15:20 |
In-town pool report 8: Briefing begins At 3:19, Jen Psaki began the briefing. |
| August 25, 2021 16:14 |
In-town pool report 9: Briefing over Wrapped at 4:13 pm |
| August 25, 2021 17:37 |
In-town pool report 10: Cybersec meeting timing and attendees for signings Per the press office, the President's cybersecurity meeting (that began a little after 2 pm.) ended at approximately 4:55 pm. (Pool has asked whether this marks the end of the breakout sessions or the beginning of them). Further background from the WH: In attendance for the Puppies Assisting Wounded Servicemembers (PAWS) for Veterans Therapy Act signing in the Oval Office: Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough In attendance for the Harlem Hellfighters Congressional Gold Medal Act signing in the Oval Office: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) |
| August 25, 2021 17:47 |
In-town pool report 11: Lid The White House called a travel/photo lid at 5:45 pm. I will pass along anything further I hear about the timing of the President's cybersecurity meeting (and breakout sessions). |
| August 25, 2021 18:27 |
In town pool report 10a: Meeting timing update The press office clarified the cybersecurity meeting timing: The breakout sessions with Cabinet secretaries and CEOs and meeting debrief ended at 4:55 PM. The actual meeting ended at approximately 3 PM. The President was not present at breakout sessions or the debrief. |
Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Pool Reports of August 25, 2021 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/352055