Secretary Esper Press Conference with Admiral Craig Faller

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE MARK T. ESPER: Well, good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining me here today along with Admiral Faller, and my first visit as secretary of defense to U.S. Southern Command. It's a historic -- this is not my first visit to Southern Command. Actually, had a chance to first visit it when I was a young lieutenant in the Army, 1989, when the command was located in Panama. So it's good to be back. Since that time, I've traveled to the region numerous times. And certainly, in my role as secretary of defense, I've had the chance to meet with many of my counterparts, or talk with many of my counterparts in the region, I've had very good conversations. It's a very important th...