On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said “we’ve been drawing down on stocks quite a bit” to supply arms to Ukraine, but that the Department of Defense has made replacing defense inventories a priority and that the Pentagon has been consulted on every Ukraine arms package to ensure that American national security interests will not be harmed by the aid.
Host Wolf Blitzer asked, “On F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) told me yesterday that the U.S. needs to be ‘stingy’ and make sure that we have the resources to protect ourselves and our treaty allies. Is that how the White House also views this?”
Kirby answered, “We have, with every single package that the president has approved, made sure that we consult with the Pentagon and the Pentagon can reassure the entire interagency that our national security interests are not going to be compromised by the material we’re giving to Ukraine. Now, it is true, we’ve been drawing down on stocks quite a bit. Those inventories have got to be continually replaced. The Pentagon is prioritizing that, as you might think. But we are comfortable and confident that, with each package, we’re taking a pretty deep look to make sure that we can still defend our national security interests around the world.”
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