The Ninth Ministerial Plenary Meeting of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), co-chaired by the Netherlands and Morocco, took place today in New York on the margins of the UN General Assembly. Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan represented the United States, and introduced two new U.S. co-led initiatives on terrorist travel and unmanned aerial system (UAS) threats.

The United States and Morocco will co-lead the “Initiative on Improving Capabilities for Detecting and Interdicting Terrorist Travel through Enhanced Terrorist Screening and Information Sharing.” This terrorist travel initiative will address border security and information sharing, including the use of watchlists, biometrics, Advance Passenger Information (API), and Passenger Name Record (PNR) data. It aims to help countries implement their obligations under UNSCR 2396 to combat terrorist travel. The United States and Germany will co-lead the “Initiative to Counter Unmanned Aerial System Threats” to raise awareness of the growing UAS threat and help formulate plans to address it. Both initiatives will produce a set of non-binding good practice documents for endorsement at the GCTF Ministerial in 2019.

Ministers also endorsed today two new GCTF documents stemming from two current initiatives on returning families of foreign terrorist fighters and homegrown terrorism. The Good Practices for Addressing the Challenge of Returning Families of Foreign Terrorist Fighters was generated by an initiative co-led by the United States and the Netherlands, and is a resource for international engagement, assistance, and training on this issue. The Rabat-Washington Good Practices on the Prevention, Detection, Intervention, and Response to Homegrown Terrorism came out of an initiative co-led by the United States and Morocco and helps policymakers and practitioners improve domestic efforts to identify and counter homegrown terrorism.

Founded in 2011, the GCTF is a multilateral counterterrorism platform focused on identifying critical civilian counterterrorism needs, mobilizing the expertise and resources to address those needs, and enhancing global cooperation. The Forum, with its 30 members (29 countries and the European Union), regularly convenes key policymakers and practitioners from nations around the world, as well as experts from the UN and other multilateral bodies.

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Today, Under Secretary Hale convened a meeting on the South Sudan peace process on the margins of the 73rd UN General Assembly. Together with African regional leaders and other international partners, he discussed ongoing efforts to address the political, security, and humanitarian crises in South Sudan, including key actions needed to ensure successful implementation of the September 12 peace agreement. Under Secretary Hale underscored that the United States is a partner with the South Sudanese people and the region for a sustainable peace in South Sudan, and strongly encouraged member states of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the African Union to hold the parties of the September 12 agreement accountable to honoring their commitments.

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The below is attributable to Spokesperson Heather Nauert:‎

Today, Secretary Pompeo met with Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in New York. Secretary Pompeo accepted Chairman Kim’s invitation to travel to Pyongyang next month to make further progress on the implementation of the commitments from the U.S.-DPRK Singapore summit, including the final, fully verified denuclearization of the DPRK, and to prepare for a second summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim.

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QUESTION: Good morning, Gayle, and Secretary Pompeo, thank you so much for joining us live on CBS This Morning. I know you have a very busy day.

SECRETARY POMPEO: It’s great to be with you, Norah.

QUESTION: Lots to talk about. Let’s start first with North Korea. President Trump and the South Korean president said there is going to be another summit and that it will be soon. When will that happen and where?

SECRETARY POMPEO: So there will be another summit. The location and date have not been set yet, but we’re working diligently to make sure we get the conditions right so that we can accomplish as much as possible during this summit, but we hope it’ll be soon. I’ll personally be traveling to Pyongyang before too long to continue the work that’s ongoing even today to try and deliver on that.

QUESTION: You’re going to be going in the next couple of days?

SECRETARY POMPEO: I don’t know when it’ll be exactly. It’ll be very soon.

QUESTION: Do you expect that that summit will happen in October?

SECRETARY POMPEO: I don’t know when the summit will take place. We – it may happen in October, but more likely sometime after that. It takes a little while to put these together, and we want to make sure we’ve got the conditions just right so the two leaders can be successful.

QUESTION: South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that he was going to deliver a secret message from Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, to President Trump. What was in that message?

SECRETARY POMPEO: So the messages that we’ve been receiving from Chairman Kim have been very consistent. They are that he is intent on denuclearizing, he understands that, he understands the scope of that and what that means. He’s been very consistent in his commitment to delivering on that promise. We need to find our way forward to achieve that for the world. It’s great. I’m here at the UN this week. These are UN Security Council resolutions that are being enforced.

QUESTION: But it’s a lot of words at this point and I know you have been clear. You have set key demands. I mean, has the North declared their stockpile yet? No, right? I mean, have they set a timetable to give up these weapons? No. Have they agreed to inspectors? What steps have they taken to show proof that they are going to denuclearize?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Norah, I’ve been pretty consistent. I’ve also been consistent about the other item, which is I’m not going to talk about the conversations, the negotiations each day, the twists and turns. What we’re going to do is we’re going to continue the good work we have. We’re going to make sure there’s no more missile tests, no more nuclear tests. We’re going to continue to work on getting American remains back, we’re going to continue to work towards denuclearization, and it will take a while. There will be a process to this. President Trump’s been clear about that and clear-eyed about that since the very beginning.

QUESTION: The South Korean president gave an interview to Fox News’s Bret Baier, and in that he said that the North Korean leader will allow in inspectors, would be willing to verification. Is that true?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yes.

QUESTION: And have any U.S. or international inspectors been inside North Korea?

SECRETARY POMPEO: So we’re working our way towards making sure that this verification that we have talked about since the beginning – and many have been skeptical, Norah – we’ve talked about this verification from the beginning. We’re not going to buy a pig in a poke. We’re going to get this right, we’re going to deliver on this commitment that Chairman Kim has made to the world, and then there’s going to be a brighter future for the North Korean people, and there’ll be a more peaceful world. That’s what the President talked about yesterday in his UN speech and there will be a wonderful outcome if we can get that.

QUESTION: And do you envision at this next summit with the North Korean leader that there could be an opportunity to sign a declaration to the end of the Korean War?

SECRETARY POMPEO: It’s hard to know. I don’t want to prejudge precisely where we’ll end up, but make no mistake about it, there is real progress being made and we’re going to continue to work at it until the point in time where, as the President says – we could be wrong, it may not happen – but until such time as we conclude we can’t get this done, we’re going to continue to drive to achieve the – continue the progress which we’ve already made.

QUESTION: Let’s talk about Iran. I know there was some talk that perhaps a meeting would happen between President Trump and Iran President Rouhani. Rouhani yesterday, before the UN, said that President Trump has tendencies resembling a Nazi disposition and that America’s First strategy is a symptom of weakness of intellect. How do you sit down with someone like that?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Well, there’s not going to be a meeting. President Trump has said when the Iranians are prepared to talk about fundamentally changing their behavior, then he is of course prepared to talk to them. Those statements yesterday indicate that they’re not in that place, and it is outrageous for him to say such a thing. For a Holocaust-denying country that is threatening Israel to compare the United States or its leader to Nazis is among the most outrageous things I have heard – and I will tell you, in diplomacy you hear a lot of them – the most outrageous things I have ever heard.

QUESTION: And yet you are ramping up sanctions on Iran and then the news that Europe, China and Russia are all going to create this backchannel so that they can keep economic relationships with Iran despite these U.S. sanctions. I mean, what does that say about our relationship with those countries and the fact that they’ve created this backchannel?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Look, I hosted a dinner with them last night. There are lots of places we’re working with our transatlantic partners in fundamentally important ways, on chemical weapons – lots of places where we have great overlap. They’ve taken a different path with respect to the JCPOA. That’s been clear for some time.

Here’s what I’d say about their decision yesterday: To continue to create mechanisms to fund the world’s largest state sponsor of terror is disastrous policy and I hope they will reconsider it. But most importantly, European businesses are voting with their checkbooks. They are leaving Iran in droves. These sanctions will be effective, they are effective, and come November 4th, they’ll be even more effective.

QUESTION: Isn’t it a lot more effective, though, when the world enforces the sanctions than just U.S. sanctions?

SECRETARY POMPEO: We’re going to be incredibly effective. You can see it. Today, the rial trades at over 150,000 rial to the dollar. The economy is collapsing. There are two reasons for that. One is certainly the pressure that’s put in place, but most importantly, it’s the total chaos created by the Islamic Republic, Iran’s government. They treat their people horribly, they spend billions of dollars committing terror acts around the world, and they don’t take care of their people. And you see the protests, you see the anger on the streets of Tehran and in the rural areas. That’s a result of terrible government and the Iranian people aren’t going to stand for it, and the American people are going to stand with the Iranian people.

QUESTION: I know your time is short, want to quickly ask you about Russia, we – Russia. We are just 40 days from the midterm elections here in the United States. Is Russia trying to meddle in our elections again?

SECRETARY POMPEO: I have no doubt that the Russians have every intention of making life difficult for every American. This has been going on for decades, so please know, the American people should know, that the U.S. Government is actively engaged in efforts to ensure that the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, the North Koreans, all of those with malintent for America will not have the capacity to have substantial interference in the American elections. We are diligently working on this and I’m confident that we can achieve it.

QUESTION: So you’re confident that our elections will be safe in November?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yes.

QUESTION: No question?

SECRETARY POMPEO: No question.

QUESTION: You’re pushing back hard on Russia?

SECRETARY POMPEO: No question. This administration has pushed back harder against Russia than any administration since the Cold War.

QUESTION: All right. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, we appreciate your time —

SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you, Norah.

QUESTION: — as you’re here on the world stage meeting with world leaders. Thank you very much.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you, Norah. Have a good day.

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The below is attributable to Spokesperson Heather Nauert:‎

On September 24, Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan met with Sudanese Foreign Minister Dirdeiry Mohamed Ahmed, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. The two discussed the strengthening of U.S-Sudan relations, expanding counterterrorism cooperation, addressing human rights, including religious freedom and humanitarian access, and bringing peace to neighboring South Sudan. The United States will remain focused on achieving an end to conflict, supporting an inclusive national political process, and creating an environment for political reform and economic development in Sudan.

The Office of Website Management, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department.
External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.