Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–January 24, 2013 – 10:32 A.M. EST
MR. CARNEY: Good morning. Welcome to the first gaggle of the second term. (Laughter.)
Q Historic.
MR. CARNEY: Precisely. The first only comes once.
So, as you know, the President is — youâll see the President later this afternoon. He has a personnel announcement, and therefore I decided to move my meeting with you to the morning, do an off-camera gaggle, something that a number of you have asked that we do a little more frequently and Iâm happy to oblige.
Weâre going to do this — for those of you who arenât familiar with it — kind of try to, in keeping with tradition — efficient, no seven questions for members of the first row before we get to move it around. Maybe one way that I think this has been done is sort of one topic per person so we can move around, try to do this in 20 minutes, and so you guys can get back to work.
With that, Iâll go to the Associated Press.
Q Thanks. On the Pentagonâs announcement on women in combat, can you explain what the Presidentâs role was in that decision?
MR. CARNEY: I can tell you that the President is very pleased with the announcement that Secretary Panetta and Chairman Dempsey will be making official on this important policy change later today. Iâll let the Secretary and the Chairman discuss the details.
The President fully supports this effort to expand opportunities for women, to serve in our armed forces. As you know, women are already serving in critical roles throughout our military, and the President believes strongly that we should continue to remove these unnecessary gender-based barriers to service.
Despite the existence of these barriers heretofore, as you know, women have fought and bled and died in Iraq and Afghanistan in uniform, and the President believes that this is a very appropriate policy change.
Q Did he ask Secretary Panetta to take this on?
MR. CARNEY: This is something that he and the Secretary have discussed in their regular meetings over time. But obviously, this is a decision that is generated by the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary, which is appropriate — not a directed decision. But itâs certainly one that the President believes is appropriate, and I think thatâs a position heâs held for some time.
Q And does he think itâs appropriate for women to serve in all combat forces, including Special Forces, like the SEALs or the Delta Force?
MR. CARNEY: Iâll let Secretary Panetta and Chairman Dempsey talk about the details this afternoon before we go into the details here. I think thatâs appropriate given that this is a military decision thatâs being I think recommended by the Joint Chiefs to the Secretary, so weâll let them present. And then Iâm sure tomorrow I can take more questions on it.
