The Secretary of State said Thursday the United States will provide humanitarian assistance following the Myanmar earthquake but that a military junta in the country limits U.S. operations on the ground. "They have a military junta that doesn't like us. So it's hard for us to move around in that country," he said.

Nut graf: The secretary pushed back on assertions that reduced U.S. response stems solely from dismantling of USAID, saying the government in Myanmar complicates deployment. He said the United States will continue to help and work with governments and appropriate nongovernmental organizations on the ground.

The secretary said the United States already has personnel in the area and plans to send more, but he cautioned that response capacity is constrained by access and by broader resource priorities. He criticized what he called an "NGO industrial complex" that, in his view, sometimes absorbs large portions of aid budgets in indirect costs.

He urged other wealthy countries, including China and India, to increase contributions to the response and said the United States will not shoulder the majority of humanitarian burdens alone. "We're going to do our part. We already have people there. We'll have more people there," he said.