At Pentagon Briefing, Pres. Obama Calls on Retiring Jim Miklaszewski

By Chris Ariens 

There’s a reason people around NBC News refer to seasoned Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski simply as “Mik.”

“And finally, Jim Milachefksy is retiring after 30 years at NBC,” said President Obama as he called on NBC’s man at the Pentagon during a 63-minute news conference Thursday, and in the process butchering his last name.

“This may be my last press conference here, so I just wanted to thank Jim for the extraordinary career that he’s had and the great job that he’s done, and he gets the last question,” said Obama.

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Miklaszewski, who is retiring at the end of the year, has been covering the Pentagon for most of his 31 years at NBC. Lately, he’s also been stationed at the White House as NBC’s other White House correspondents have been on the campaign trail.

For his question, Miklaszewski asked about the fight against ISIS. “In the six years you’ve been dealing with it, do you feel any personal disappointment there hasn’t been more progress?” he asked.

“Every time there’s a terrorist attack, I feel disappointment because I’d like to prevent all of them,” Obama said. “I haven’t gotten numb to it. It bugs me whenever it happens and wherever it happens. And we are constantly pushing ourselves to see are there additional ideas that we can deploy to defeat this threat,” Obama added.

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