Leon Panetta

Yes. I believe that being a party to the Convention would help enlist support from other countries to get offending countries to drop their spurious claims.

We are pushing for a rules-based order in the region and the peaceful resolution of maritime and territorial disputes in the South China Sea, in the Strait of Hormuz, and elsewhere. How can we argue that other nations must abide by…

the end result of that is going to be conflict, and it could very well jeopardize our national security

It does put us at risk, and the risk is this, that if we face a situation that involves navigational rights...

That is a correct statement.

We attach the term 'lawfare' to these efforts to erode the protections of customary international law.

Critics claim we would surrender U.S. sovereignty under this treaty, but in fact, it is exactly the opposite.

It would give us the opportunity to be able to engage when it comes to navigational freedoms and navigational rights.

Hopefully by mid to the latter part of 2013, we will be able to make a transition from a combat role to a training, advice, and assist role.

the bottom line is that anything that takes the Assad regime down is a step in the right direction right now

Sequestration and the cuts involved in sequestration would be a disaster for the Defense Department and would truly hollow out our force and weaken our national defense.

we owe it to the taxpayers to be transparent and accountable for how we spend their dollars

they are going to get their financials in shape. They are going to be auditable not just by 2017; he wants to beat that date.

Let me be clear. You can't take a half trillion out of the defense budget and not incur additional risk. There is no margin for error.

Secretary Panetta has described the defense sequestration cuts as catastrophic, inflicting severe damage to our national defense for generations.

a smaller, ready, and well-equipped military is preferable to a larger, ill-prepared force.

sequestration, if military personnel costs are exempt, could hit an across-the-board cut in defense programs of as much as 23 percent in fiscal year 2013

The President's and Department of Defense's (DOD) 2012 Strategic Guidance states the military will defend U.S. territory...

Facing such large reductions, we would have to reduce the size of the military sharply.

It would be a disaster if sequestration happens, not only in terms of the amount of money that would be taken out of defense, but also in the way it would be taken out.

the United States should use its position in several regional organizations, including the East Asia Summit, the ASEAN Regional Forum, and the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus, to facilitate initiatives and confidence-building measures…

The strength of our Nation is our Army.

We place an enormous value on the experience provided by the Reserve component, but we don't want to shift the warfighting burden to a part-time force.

these cuts would do catastrophic damage to our military, hollowing out the force and degrading its ability to protect the country.

This subcommittee enables our All-Volunteer Army to be the most decisive land force in the world.