When the proxy forces run into trouble, Russian forces step in to right the balance.

Russia wants Kiev out of the West, and wants the West out of Kiev.

Graham Allison, from Harvard, called it the 'Thucydides Trap,' wherein 12 of 16 instances in world history where you had a rapidly rising power confronting an established power ended in war.

Yes, we need to be intellectually honest that anything we do--anything we do--is going to provoke a Russian response.

I certainly hope you will counsel the White House to think seriously about what I would consider a modest additional investment to maintain the tremendous gains that have been had.

I think you can argue that a lot of the problems we're having in Iraq now are because of the Maliki government's failure to be inclusive.

This has to be inclusive.

I hope that Congress can find a more realistic and responsible solution to sequestration.

If you build a doomsday machine, you've got to tell people you have it.

I just think it's critical to develop an offensive cyber capability.

We should have--it's one of the few large institutions I know of that doesn't have an operating budget and a capital budget.

If you do this to us, you will pay a price?

I think it is, as we think about deterrence.

Clearly that is where we are. All the testimony both in the Intelligence Committee and Armed Services has been from professionals. They have never seen anything quite like the instability and unpredictability of the world that we are in.

I think it would be a tragedy if we pull our forces out of there prematurely.

By definition, a contingency account is not a contingency account if you are spending it for base budget purposes.

This is like General Robert E. Lee losing J.E.B. Stuart before the Battle of Gettysburg. As I remember, General Lee's comment was 'I am blind.' That is what we are talking about.

There is no low-hanging fruit. There is no easy solution to it.