This position that you are being nominated to is one of the three or four most vital assistant secretaryships right now in DOD given the transitions that we are looking at.

I would hope that part of the reexamination of the strategy is a realization that the model that we put in place in Afghanistan is not going to be the model of the future.

One of the concerns that I've had since I've been here in the Senate is with what I can only call a deterioration of the management aspects in the Pentagon.

I believe what we were able to come up with is at least the right approach, and it could be done in a timely way if we could get people to work with us on doing that.

I did hear you agree with Senator McCain or to his comment that nobody is thinking about putting American ground forces in Libya?

The timing of addressing these basing issues, particularly with respect to the Japanese, is vital.

At the same time, we have a situation where when the President unilaterally decides to begin a military operation and then continues it, where, clearly, I think as a former Member of Congress, you would agree that Congress needs to be…

I honestly believe that, other than the presidency itself, this is probably the most difficult and complicated job in our Federal Government.

But when you have a situation like in this case where the justification is humanitarian, you can see the potential for a very broad definition of what a humanitarian crisis is.

We are the key, I think, to the strategic balance in that region.

I appreciate or was gratified to hear your response to Senator Collins with respect to the need to rebuild our Navy.

I just think we have our hands full, and it is not something we should be doing in the future in that part of the world.

these are people who have been told since the day they came into the military that they're going to have health care for the rest of their lives.

I recommended the creation of this position in 1985 in a memorandum to Caspar Weinberger.

There are military cultures and there are cultures within the military cultures.

I think this is a great fit and I will be a very strong supporter and hope to be working with you on some of these issues in the near future.

I'm the chairman of the subcommittee that's going to have to evaluate this proposal.

it was over 10 years ago that I introduced legislation--probably the first net neutrality legislation introduced in the Congress--along with Congressman Rick Boucher in 1999