I was really struck, Admiral, by your statement that 65 or 70 percent of the attacks are essentially preventable.

What bothers me, Mr. Chairman, if there is an attack--and I don't think it's if, I think it's when--and we go home, and I go home to Maine and say, well, we couldn't really defend ourselves because we had four committees that couldn't get…

To me, the most chilling finding of the board was--and this is a direct quote-- 'The unfortunate reality is that for at least the next decade, the offensive cyber capabilities of our most capable adversaries are likely to far exceed the…

If you're right, that technically we can't defend ourselves, then deterrence is the only answer.

Well, I don't think we have five years. This is the longest windup for a punch in the history of the world.

I think we've got to have the capacity to deter.

I think the United States must take the leadership here if for no other reason than the dominance of the United States in the technology and as much of the world's infrastructure that originates here or passes through this country.

That gets to my point about it has to be public. People have to know what the rules are.

To put a point on this, the three most serious foreign policy mistakes in my lifetime are the Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, and the invasion of Iraq.

I'm concerned about reports that the President is changing the composition of the so-called Principals Committee on the National Security Council.

I want you to, because there is going to be a moment when you're going to have to say: I don't need this job, because I'm being asked to do something that I shouldn't do.

You shouldn't be welcome at these meetings; you should be part of these meetings.

I understand that President Bush forbade Karl Rove from even going to National Security Council meetings, let alone being on it.

It's clear to me and I think everybody in this room that the VA, and God bless them, they are doing a horrible job when it comes to this issue.

We are all trying to get this right, because we have a lot of veterans who are in pain.

Should we not also be talking about a much more vigorous, strong, focused information war with this Islamic terrorist faction that is so dangerous?

But war does not always necessarily--when you use the term 'war,' you are not necessarily, at least in this day and age, talking about nation states.

All of you have testified in one way or another about one of the important features of a new strategy is the dispersement of assets, a distribution somewhat across the country.