Leon Panetta

We cannot predict where the next crisis will occur. But we know we are stronger when we confront these threats together.

the sequestration process would have significant consequences due to the uncertainty surrounding the process

That Strait is extremely important to free commerce and to shipping and to the shipping lanes.

No. DOD did not assess the impact of a BRAC in the next few years on the economy and unemployment rates.

Secretary Panetta expressed his unequivocal support for the multi-year procurement plan for the DDG-51 destroyer program.

national security is dependent on all of the things you just cited, but frankly, it's dependent on more.

We've directed them to specific sites. We've urged them to take steps.

We do think there's value here, but this needed a major restructuring, and there is statutory language that would need to be adjusted for us to change course, and that's what we have proposed.

If sequestration occurs, automatic percentage cuts are required to be applied without regard to strategy, importance or priorities, which would impact almost every program within the Department.

Absolutely no decisions have been made along this line.

Senator, if I could, I share your concern deeply.

DOD's force structure changes drove both this proposal and the request for BRAC authorization.

All Services will play integral roles in addressing future U.S. security challenges across all domains.

our goal is that by the end of 2014 the Afghans will have the responsibility to govern and secure themselves

Our goal is to complete all of the transition to a training, advisory, and assistance role in 2013.

this violence is not going to alter our commitment to get this job done

We live in a world of growing danger and uncertainty, where we face threats from violent extremism, nuclear proliferation, rising powers, and cyber attack.

the conflict in Afghanistan is an Afghan war, and it will be up to the Afghan forces to win it.

Secretary Panetta, given the remote locations of two aforementioned hazing cases, what systems are in place to protect a victim of hazing when their chain of command is either the perpetrator of the hazing or implicit to the acts of hazing?

I strongly support the United States' accession to the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Any amount of sexual assault is unacceptable.

The United States remains committed to both NATO and Europe.

I think we can do it under the plan we've presented, but it clearly is an additional risk.

About two-thirds of DOD's annual officer accessions graduate and are commissioned each year in May/June from the Service Academies and Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) programs.

We must develop options to respond to and impose costs on cyber threat actors to deter future exploitation and attack.