Joe Lieberman

None of us want to have more conflict, but we are not asking for it by our behavior.

It seems to me it is fair to say that the drawdown of our end strength, how many people we have in uniform, ought to be conditions based as well.

To me, it is, after all is said and done, the first responsibility of our National Government, which is to protect our security.

Admiral Winnefeld, Joint Task Force (JTF)-North is the sole Department of Defense (DOD) organization tasked to support the Nation's Federal law enforcement agencies in the identification and interdiction of suspected transnational threats.

The U.S. must maintain its nuclear deterrence capability and continue extended deterrence for the Republic of Korea (ROK) until such time as North Korea verifiably dismantles its nuclear program.

I think if they do not stop, our credibility with them and a lot of others in the region, if not the world, is going to go down if we do not do something about it.

I wish I could say that as you look at the U.S. Congress. I cannot quite say that at this moment, but they can look at the military.

As Admiral Mullen said a while ago, our national debt has become a national security problem, and, therefore, we have to work together to cut it down.

I will ensure that I give forthright and prompt advice to the chain of command.

I see that as an important responsibility, sir.

I will constantly monitor and assess the situation on the ground, and should I determine the situation has changed, I will so advise my chain of command through the proper channels.

The President was presented recommendations by the Commander of ISAF, forwarded by the CENTCOM Commander.

I think the Asia-Pacific remains the strategic center of gravity for the 21st century.

Our fathers must have come out of the same cloth, which is to value the freedom that America provides is our unique and distinguishing contribution to governance, but to understand that without security, there is no freedom.

Is it fair to say that if you are confirmed as Secretary of Defense, that the goal that you see is to turn responsibility for security of Afghanistan over to the Afghans at the end of 2014 and not to jeopardize our capacity to do that…

As President Obama has said, all options have to remain on the table.

We can't simply--if I can use probably a poorly phrased metaphor here--but, if we were a rubber band and have been stretched over the last 10 years, we can't let ourselves simply contract back to our previous shape, because they won't…

I hope they do, because I think it's necessary to protect all that we've given there to achieve what has been achieved.

All of us are haunted by the phrase 'hollow Army'. We don't want to go through that again.

I, too, have felt that the no-fly zone ought to be under active consideration, premised on a request from the opposition.

I thought the President made not only a correct, but a courageous decision in 2009 in deciding to raise the number of our forces in Afghanistan by 30,000 plus.

I have the greatest confidence in your ability and your principles.

Another alternative, obviously, is to try to help the opposition and stop Gaddafi.

The enemy--I am paraphrasing, of course, here--is not just al-Qaeda, they said; and it is certainly not the religion of Islam. It is a politicized ideology, a corruption of the religion, which is violent Islamist extremism.

The ideologues have used religion to fuel their belief system and somehow we are unwilling to confront it.