Leon Panetta: “The right-sizing of Eielson AFB is tied to DOD's strategic goal of reducing the 'cost of doing business.'”

It just -- it strikes me that what the chairman was trying to do perhaps was to try to send a wake-up call to both the Speaker and his Republican colleagues, that Russia still remains very much a threat to the United States.

The message that went out from this meeting to the world is that United States credibility in dealing with our allies has taken a real hit.

And ... we’re going to have to respond. And right now, because our missile systems and our supply of weapons being down, this is a vulnerable period for the United States.

Autocrats that once operated in their own spheres of influence have now joined together in an axis of mutual support and aggression.