Michael G. Mullen

The appeal is for a shift in national policy to the growth of the private, productive economy as our all-out, primary priority.

I strongly believe that Congress needs a catalyst to force members and the President to take action before it's too late.

You know, or you should, that public debt this large weighs heavily on economic growth, crowding out private investment and discouraging it through uncertainty.

You know, or you should, that our national debt has reached a peacetime record, heading for territory where other nations have spiraled into default or into the loss of sovereignty as creditors use their leverage to dictate terms.

You know, or you should, that the unchecked explosion of entitlement spending, coupled with debt service, is squeezing every other federal activity.

President Obama has added more to the federal debt in less than 8 years than his 43 predecessors combined did over 218 years.

The most significant threat to our national security is our debt.

Our debt is our greatest national security threat because it jeopardizes our ability to fund defense.

the most significant threat to our national security is our debt.

A civilian nuclear cooperation agreement would legitimize the Pakistani nuclear weapons program and reward Islamabad for its long history of bad behavior.

Instead of talking about the possibility of rewarding Pakistan with a nuclear deal, we should be enforcing the consequences for Pakistan's bad behavior.

The Haqqani network acts as a veritable arm of the Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency.