Lloyd Austin

As I stated then, this is a leadership issue--and we will lead.

There are no guarantees in any of this.

China is, in fact, our pacing challenge, and it is my priority focus.

I absolutely agree with you.

What will happen to women and girls? And not only that, but many, many others, and they are probably going to be at risk.

I think these are both critical capabilities that we will need going forward.

I certainly support my President's decision, Senator.

There is no place for politics in our Military.

The Department faces a growing climate crisis that is impacting our missions, plans, and capabilities and must be met by ambitious, immediate action.

No, I do not believe that. And that is -- that is why we have diversity, equity, and inclusion focused in the military.

Well, I won't give you a yes or no answer on that, Senator, because it deserves more than a yes or no. The military, like any organization, will have its challenges, but I do not believe it is a fundamentally racist organization.

For the loved ones of those who have fallen, let me simply say, we know the depth of your sacrifice, but we can never truly know the depth of your loss. What we can do is honor the memory of those who lost by caring for those who mourn…

Let me assure you, from my perspective our effort is not to make the Army be the bill payer for the Air Force or Navy.

The President has decided to end America`s involvement in our longest war. And we`re going to do just that.

I think if you look at--and I know you have looked at--the President's interim national security strategy guidance, you will see that, you know, the fundamental elements in that guidance reflect the areas or the issues that the current…

Climate change is an essential element of our national security, and I absolutely agree with that.

We`re confident in the target that we went after. We know what we hit. And we`re confident that target was being used by the same Shia militia that conducted the strikes.

It was my recommendation. As we said a number of times we will respond on our timeline.

We`re confident that that target was being used for the same Shia militia that conducted the strikes. We`re very deliberate about our approach, as you would expect us to be.

We're confident in the target that we went after we know what we did.

These tears at the fabric, very fabric of cohesion. And it's important for us to be able to trust the men and women on our left and right.

There is little about what the Department does to defend the American people that is not affected by climate change.

We will obey the Constitution.

To answer your question as to whether or not there was intervention from a higher level of the White House in this particular incident, the answer is absolutely not.

We clearly want to leverage all of the capabilities that exist in the entire system, Senator.