Joe Lieberman

You mentioned the counterproductive role played in different ways by two of the neighbors, Pakistan and Iran, noting that the Taliban operates 'with impunity' in Pakistan and that 'Iran continues to support the insurgency and fan the…

The political decisionmakers are going to be guided by what's happening on the battlefield.

I think the reaction that I hear from the committee members is generally one of support, that we're doing well militarily, this is a situation that we've invested a lot of life and treasure into over a period of time, and it is winnable if…

These are the worst of the worst. These five have the blood of Americans and our allies on their hands.

I think it's much too, much too soon to give up five of these detainees.

The only calendar that matters to the fight in Afghanistan and to you, of course, is the calendar on the ground there.

Frankly, I don't know how Secretary Panetta could ever certify that these five would not be recidivists.

Whoever is elected in November to be our next President will go into office with a public demanding changes in government, elimination of waste, and movement back to a balanced Federal budget.

It would renew the requirement that the President submit an implementation plan along with any reorganization proposal.

I think that provides that focal point for the discussions between the Legislative and the Executive Branch.

The Executive Branch has been more hesitant to embrace significant reorganization, again, because there were people arguing within the Executive Branch against changing the status quo

I hope we are not thinking narrowly here because they came out of our Committee

I would not articulate OMB as the arbiter. I would articulate OMB as the entity that is required to provide policymakers

I can tell you that--perhaps this is saying the obvious--if the reorganization authority had been enacted already and the fast-track process was law, any presidential proposal--let us take this one--would be taken with a greater degree of…

There is a clear intent with the President's proposal and the program going forward to consult with Congress at every step of the way.

Well, that is a good answer, because we really aspire to both.

I think it would be a great thing for us at this moment in our government's history, with so much waste, so much debt, so much public exasperation, that if we could work together to get this done and then enact it, whoever is elected…

I do not think there would be any disagreement with the statement there is too much duplication and too little unity of effort in our Federal Government.

I believe that is a mistake.

That Secretary is very informed.

We have an obligation to look back and see if what you have done makes sense and whether we want to relook at the BCA.

A lot of these cuts are forced on you by the Budget Control Act, which we adopted.

I would like to work with you on it to see whether we can have an agreement where we as the authorizers will agree on how to deal with this problem that we both agree exists.

I think that most Members of the Committee agree that the US-VISIT's placement within the National Protection and Programs Directorate at DHS is problematic

The threat of homegrown extremism continues.