John Kirby

To quote Peter Baker in the New York Times, Americans today are more afraid of one another than they are of foreign terrorists.

Here to discuss our MSNOW National Security Analyst, retired Navy Rear Admiral and former Pentagon Press Secretary in the Biden administration, John Kirby.

Mary McCord is a former Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ's National Security Division.

Rosina Ali is a journalist and author of Seasons of Fury, and former New York Democratic Congressman Max Rose is an Afghanistan war veteran and senior advisor to VoteVets.

And a few people have asked me that.

If I had it to do again, I'd do exactly as I did.

Admiral John Kirby and former Congressman Max Rose are still with us.

Admiral, how do Trump's comments land with you when you compare the situation in Iran with what we found ourselves in after 9-11?

US officials also have asserted that Israel is making efforts to reduce the number of civilian casualties.

According to White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby, quote, "They've, the Israelis, relied less on air power, structured their ground operations in such a way to try to be more targeted and precise.

I get this all the time that they're ignoring us, that they're not listening to us, and frankly, the facts just don't bear that out." End quote.

According to one report, the United States and Israel have set up a bilateral channel to investigate reports of civilian harm, noting, quote, "Through the channel, which has been active for the last few weeks, Washington raises with the Israelis every specific incident of concern related to Israel's military campaign in Gaza, another US official said.

The vast majority of the international community recognizes that Israel is committing a genocide.

The United Nations pushed for ceasefires starting in 2023, but the United States repeatedly vetoed them, using their disproportionate power within that institution to really uh thwart its ability to do anything so the problem with these institutions is their mechanisms to enforce things so you know even when uh i think it was in spring of 2024 because there was growing pressure remember 2024 was an election year and there was a lot of pressure you had campus protests in universities you had the uncommitted movement you had election related events whether it was biden or later harris that were disrupted by protesters specifically about gaza so there was all this pressure growing and finally there was one resolution the biden admin abstained from voting on they didn't vote for it but they didn't veto it and they did a very interesting thing when people were like oh so so israel will have to implement the ceasefire now because the resolution passed the language of whether it was the white house spokesperson john kirby or the state department spokesperson matthew miller The language of it was, well, this is a non-binding resolution, which makes no sense.

So what's the point of it then? I mean, that was actually a question that was raised in the State Department briefing, right? Because the question was then what is the point of the United Nations? So it's actually the most powerful countries in the world, like the United States, even though we tout the idea of an international rules-based system, that undermines it that has helped to erode that very system.

And it's never worked maybe well or perfectly certainly not, but it's not necessarily even worked well.

This is where we are six months in with the whole world paying the price.

Joining us now, retired US Navy A- Rear Admiral John Kirby.

He is a former White House National Security Communications Advisor and an MS Now National Security Analyst.

Admiral Kirby, thank you very much for coming to The Last Word.

I served for 29 years, Jonathan, and I can tell you, I, I, I saw the military in, in some key, key moments, critical moments in national security, and diversity, the diversity of the military actually was a strength, is a strength, and ought to be a strength going forward.

Hallelujah.

[laughs] Admiral John Kirby, thank you very much for coming on tonight.

Yes, sir.

She's reporting from Thailand, where the beleaguered USS Lincoln has docked after a grueling extended deployment.

Also with us, MSNOW national security analyst, former White House National Security Communications advisor, retired Rear Admiral John Kirby.

Admiral Kirby, what does it tell you that Driscoll repeatedly went to the White House to say, "There's a problem here inside the Pentagon," and that that problem was not acknowledged and not resolved?

Well, it tells me, it tells me a couple of things.

They are struggling to keep up with the pace of this war, and they are struggling to get this administration to listen to them and to their expertise.

That is what all the reporting shows.

Priya Shriar, Admiral John Kirby, thank you both so much for getting us started.

Well, in light of all this, can Congress do anything to contain the chaos happening inside the Pentagon right now? Congressman Jason Crow, an Army veteran and member of the Armed Services Committee, joins our conversation in just 90 seconds.

Two days

before Kabul fell to the Taliban, John Kirby said there was no imminent danger.

Saturday, he was pressed to admit he was wrong.

In the moment

We are hearing about an explosion that has just taken place at the airport in Kabul.

This was the warning we were getting late last night and overnight.

And Admiral John Kirby sending out a tweet a moment ago.

I'm just going to read it off the screen.

With global security on the line, I want to bring in MSNOW's Pia Schroeter.

Retired Navy Rear Admiral John Kirby is an MSNOW national security analyst, former White House national security communications advisor, and director of the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics.

Tim O'Brien is senior executive editor of Bloomberg Opinion and an MSNOW political analyst.

Admiral Kirby, I wanna start with you because, correct me if I'm wrong, I think in 2003, when President Bush was on the USS Lincoln, interestingly enough, saying mission accomplished, you were still a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy, inactive.

A source familiar with the matter tells MSNOW that one of the members being investigated is Anthony Guglielmi, the organization's chief of communications.

It's not clear what the investigation is about or what misconduct is alleged.

Joining us, MSNOW Justice and Intel reporter Ken Delaney and Admiral John Kirby is back with us as well.

Ken, what do we know about this investigation? The Secret Service has had issues for years now.

Why would I want to blow up the global financial system? We believe that it is important to level set and give people a cure period, but they should know that that will move very quickly and that we are serious.

[whoosh] Joining us now is retired US Navy Rear Admiral John Kirby, the former White House National Security Communications Advisor, and is an MS now National Security Analyst.

Uh, Admiral Kirby, uh, I, I wanna get to this N- I feel nonsensical, uh, use of the phrase D-Day for something that you're warning about publicly ahead of time.

And begin with, uh, what Jamelle Bouie identified as, uh, at this point, the president exists in a degraded, chaotic information environment.

Um, I don't wanna begrudge them, uh, their creativity, uh, here.

Uh, but I'm skeptical because sanctions w- just typically don't work in the middle of a war, and this r- and this regime has shown, uh, no propensity to be driven by economic considerations of their own people.

Admiral John Kirby, thank you very much for joining us tonight.

Yes, sir.