Just last week former Secretary of Defense William Perry testified before this committee that the agreement with our citizen-soldiers had been shattered.

Should we also be looking at improving the benefits for National Guard and reservists?

I think it is simply wrong for us to send troops into harm's way without fully equipping them.

Are we not asking too much of our National Guard?

You have said many times that you do not want to send one more American soldier to Iraq than is necessary to perform the mission.

If you are confirmed, will you continue to advocate for a 313-ship fleet?

I hope to increase awareness and improve care for TBI, PTSD, and other psychological effects of war.

the National Guard and Reserves are no longer Strategic Reserves but are instead now Operational Reserves.

Yes, absolutely--the Army Guard and Reserve will receive the exact same education and training as the Active Force.

I am concerned about consolidation trends which have had an adverse impact on competition opportunities for the DOD.

I believe that the men and women of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard warrant greater support from the Navy in modernizing the shipyard's dated facilities.

If you are confirmed, will you evaluate the imposed workforce levels at the public shipyards, including Portsmouth, to ensure that they're sufficient to handle emergency and other unforeseen work on Navy ships and submarines?

I believe industry consolidation through mergers or acquisitions can limit the number of competitors and thus the opportunity for competition.

I hope that Hurricane Katrina has illustrated to you the risks that a one-shipyard acquisition strategy would have entailed.

From the Iranian point of view, do you consider, based on what you know now, that the Iranian involvement in Iraq is counterproductive to developing a democracy in Iraq?

Is it fair to say that one of the reasons that we have the highest rate of reenlistment among those who have served in Iraq is that they believe it is part of the global struggle, the war on terror?

The point I am trying to make is it is clear to me that we have never had the force levels to be claiming we have been fighting a counterinsurgency.

General Petraeus said that a resolution passed by Congress disapproving of the mission that he's about to embark on, in his opinion, would be detrimental to morale.