美国国家公共电台 NPR--Many questions remain as to whether the objects pose a risk to national security

Many questions remain as to whether the objects pose a risk to national security

Transcript¹

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Josh Earnest, a press secretary for President Obama, about the Biden administration's communications strategy after recent unidentified flying objects were shot down.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

As we just heard, U.S. senators are expected to get a classified briefing on the unidentified flying objects later this morning. But lawmakers of both parties have complained that the White House still has many questions to answer. To talk about how a White House manages the knowns and the unknowns in a moment like this one, we've called up Josh Earnest. He's - who served as White House press secretary in the Obama administration. Good morning, Josh.

JOSH EARNEST: Good morning, Leila. How are you?

FADEL: I'm doing well. Thanks for being here. So why do you think the White House is saying so little about what these UFOs are, and why haven't we heard from Biden?

EARNEST: Well, Leila, I think what's important for your audience to understand...

FADEL: Yeah.

EARNEST: ...Is that there are basically two responsibilities that a White House, you know, communications strategists have. The first and most fundamental of them is, of course, being as transparent² as possible with the American people about what the president's doing and why he's doing it. But the second opportunity that this strategy has is to actually aid and support our national security and foreign policy apparatus³. And in doing so, we can actually successfully lay out pretty clearly to our adversaries⁴ what we'll tolerate, what we won't and what we're prepared to do about it if they do things that we won't tolerate. In this instance, that's exactly what the strategy and what the White House is doing.

However, there are times where that strategy comes into conflict, and there are certain things about what we know about this program or about these objects that we may not actually want to disclose to the Chinese. We may not want to let them know what we know. And that puts in the - that runs into conflict with the responsibility that those people have to be transparent with the American public.

FADEL: I mean, this situation is so unprecedented⁵, shooting three objects out of the sky in three days with fighter jets. And critics are implying the White House is deliberately⁶ withholding⁷ facts that the American people should know. In your view, is that what's happening?

EARNEST: No, I don't think that's what's happening. I actually think that the White House is navigating⁸ that friction⁹ pretty well right now. As the - as Scott pointed¹⁰ out, there are daily briefings with the White House right now...

FADEL: Yeah.

EARNEST: ...In which, you know, both Admiral Kirby and Ms. Jean-Pierre are actually doing a pretty good job, I think, of answering questions about what's happening. They're not saying everything that they know. I don't think that we want them to. There are also certain situations where, you know, the intelligence community is likely saying things - here's what we assess is happening. These assessments¹² may have low confidence or medium confidence or even high confidence. Those kinds of assessments are actually helpful when trying to make good, measured strategic decisions. They aren't necessarily the most helpful when you're trying to communicate clearly and publicly and definitively¹³ with the American public.

FADEL: So basically, from what I'm hearing from you, this is the strategy you would use if you were in this position right now.

EARNEST: Well, again, I don't know any more than you do.

FADEL: Right.

EARNEST: So it's hard for me to draw my own real clear assessment¹¹ about that.

FADEL: Yeah.

EARNEST: But I do think - here's one thing we do know about this White House. They actually have shown in the past, in not too distant history, that they are pretty effective at using information to advance our national security interests. About a year ago, the White House was steadily¹⁴ putting out very detailed¹⁵ information about our intelligence assessments related to Russia and what Russia was planning to do to lay down a pretext¹⁶ for an invasion of Ukraine. That clearly put Russia off balance. It helped fortify¹⁷ the commitment of our allies to responding to it. So we have actually seen that this White House is pretty effective in using information to advance our national security interests. And at least for now, that appears - they appear to be doing the same kind of thing in a different context here.

FADEL: Josh Earnest served as White House press secretary in the Obama administration and did not have to assure the public that it's not aliens. Thanks so much, Josh.

EARNEST: Thank you, Leila.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

3 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。

4 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句

5 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

6 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

7 withholding   

扣缴税款

参考例句：

• She was accused of withholding information from the police. 她被指控对警方知情不报。
• The judge suspected the witness was withholding information. 法官怀疑见证人在隐瞒情况。

8 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

9 friction   

n.摩擦，摩擦力

参考例句：

• When Joan returned to work,the friction between them increased.琼回来工作后，他们之间的摩擦加剧了。
• Friction acts on moving bodies and brings them to a stop.摩擦力作用于运动着的物体，并使其停止。

10 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

11 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

12 assessments   

n.评估( assessment的名词复数 )；评价；（应偿付金额的）估定；（为征税对财产所作的）估价

参考例句：

• He was shrewd in his personal assessments. 他总能对人作出精明的评价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Surveys show about two-thirds use such assessments, while half employ personality tests. 调查表明，约有三分之二的公司采用了这种测评；而一半的公司则采用工作人员个人品质测试。 来自百科语句

13 definitively   

adv.决定性地，最后地

参考例句：

• None of the three super-states could be definitively conquered even by the other two in combination. 三个超级国家中的任何一国都不可能被任何两国的联盟所绝对打败。 来自英汉文学
• Therefore, nothing can ever be definitively proved with a photograph. 因此，没有什么可以明确了一张照片。 来自互联网

14 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

15 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

16 pretext   

n.借口，托词

参考例句：

• He used his headache as a pretext for not going to school.他借口头疼而不去上学。
• He didn't attend that meeting under the pretext of sickness.他以生病为借口，没参加那个会议。

17 fortify   

v.强化防御，为…设防；加强，强化

参考例句：

• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。
• This treaty forbade the United States to fortify the canal.此条约禁止美国对运河设防。