Your appointment represents a devastating critique of the national security apparatus of this White House.

Well, then he should be fired, because, frankly, if he's not capable of being the individual responsible for those duties and they've passed it on to someone else, then why is he there? That's my view.

the effect of our operations or the perception of our operations at least initially would be that we are conducting generally attacks against Sunni forces.

I think if the President was really serious he should replace Mr. Hadley, appoint you as a civilian, not as an Army officer.

I could go down a list of other major responsibilities you'll have.

It is another political, public relations ploy, rather than a significant change in strategy.

I think you're going to be a superb Secretary of the Army and I certainly support you.

I think there's a serious, serious danger here going forward indefinitely that those types of tours and the effects will accumulate.

One of my concerns is that there are military occupation specialties which are less stressful in some cases than being an infantry squad leader or an armored platoon leader, cavalry squad leader, et cetera.

I have seen reports, news reports, that were broadcast by al Zawahiri, that basically suggested that, they see us as being trapped in Iraq.

Do you see any progress on that front? If there is not progress on that front, how do we address the needs of reconstruction?

These are magnificent young men and women that are doing the job of soldiering in the United States Army, but they can only take so much.

Can you give me an idea of the ongoing tempo for reset funding going forward?

One of the issues I think that's been unintentionally prompted by the surge is I am told that the requirements for reset have had to be deferred.

There has been no real political progress on the ground.

I think we have to begin to think about the end of the surge.

One of the persistent problems is the inability of non-DOD elements to complement the increased forces, military forces, with civilian actors.

Admiral Roughead, as you are aware, the LCS program has had difficulties regarding cost overruns and changing capability requirements. What is your plan and timeline for determining requirements and total cost?