Joe Lieberman

I think it is critically important that at some level, there be that independent review by people outside of the Pentagon.

To support and maintain public and congressional support for the troops and the mission, it seems to me that we have to guarantee that there is the widest and most unfettered investigation of how the prison abuse scandals happened…

This was horrific, unacceptable, damaging behavior.

We're heading down a road to an unnecessary fight in a circumstance where that battle may do damage to our cause.

I believe we're heading into a situation that is already conflicted enough and difficult enough.

Would you consider reshaping this request as a more traditional request for supplementary funding for the war in Iraq?

Is there also a requirement for additional training of SOCOM linguists?

Is it your opinion that SOCOM currently has sufficient input into the requirements definition, planning, and acquisition of major defense programs?

General Eberhart, does your intelligence center produce intelligence products that analyze the threat to our homeland?

Secretary McHale, the DOD is in the process of expanding the number of Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Teams.

General Eberhart, does NORTHCOM maintain a list of suspected terrorists who might be operating inside or outside the U.S.?

General Eberhart, in your written testimony, you point out that NORTHCOM has established a Combined Intelligence and Fusion Center...

Secretary McHale, are National Guard Bureau requirements being considered in any of these projects?

General Eberhart, what is your center's relationship with State and local governments and local law enforcement...

General Eberhart, what issues have you identified that relate to how these centers might complement, rather than compete with, one other...

Is our intelligence on the enemy there improving? It is not an enemy in a conventional sense, obviously.

In a country that I guess is about as large as California, with a lot of vulnerable targets obviously, and an enemy that wants to frustrate the progress, stop it, turn it around, and create chaos, how do we stop them?

If I caught your opening statement, you said that your forces in some sense were stressed, but that the OPTEMPO was manageable.

The question really for us as the authorizers, knowing that everybody would always like more, is to urge you to be very direct with us in telling us if you are not getting the kind of personnel and support you need.

That is a relatively small percentage of our overall active duty personnel, in an area where you are really being asked to do a lot.

I would appeal to all of you to do what I am sure you will do anyway.

I must say it is reassuring as I hear your testimony to see how much we have done.

I worry, as my colleagues have, that there may be a proliferation of intelligence-gathering and fusion operations.

I am concerned that in the near future a single high-technology missile launched by a State or organization may have the capability to defeat our defenses.

This year's budget request for missile defense is substantial.