Mark Begich

I would suggest, as a former mayor who dealt with many designs of buildings, that the users need to be part of the equation.

If you're going to do business, because I'll tell you one thing that changes businesses habits is when they're suddenly publicly noticed.

If I turned on your page and went to the front page of it, is there a list of these companies and individuals that own or are a part of these companies that is in a way that I can easily access it?

Thank you again, Chairman Bingaman and Ranking Member Murkowski and my colleagues on the committee.

I can think of no other Alaskan or American who is better qualified or more capable of handling this task.

General Petraeus, some experts have suggested increasing the size of the Afghan National Army (ANA) to as large as 250,000 and the Afghan National Police (ANP) to 150,000, respectively.

The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) are not yet fully capable of protecting themselves from external threats.

What steps are you taking to enable Iraq to defend itself from external threats?

Afghanistan cannot financially support its security forces.

The U.N. Law of the Sea Treaty is something that is critical to give us a seat at the table.

I think 30 is the right number.

I just want to echo that, please, whatever he could do to keep that moving along, because the mobilization of the equipment and the people are working.

I think U.S. sovereignty is something we hold and protect very dearly, and I don't believe we would give that up.

Are you dealing with that and understanding--and I know it's a very small--but, I know we're starting to hear some concerns that it may interfere with the mission and airspace.

Kodiak is a great investment that the military has made and we would encourage you to continue to look at that as an asset.

How are we going to accomplish the mission that the F-15s have been so successful at...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I want to underline my concern still because of the capacity and the amount of responsibility that our units have up there.

Can you walk me through the force restructuring?

There is a lot of discussion ongoing about utilization of air space and making sure we have enough air space and uninterrupted air space.

The amount of dwell time is critical for the long-term health of the military.

What deficiencies and readiness are achieved by continuing completion of Missile Field 2 in a 14-silo starting capacity?

Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen, has DOD taken any measures to preserve deployment capacity as a hedge against the increasing threat in the event more than 30 operational interceptors are required?

The administration made significant changes to the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element of Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD).

Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen, how does the budget and the QDR budget reflect a move towards energy security?