I find him to be a very hard-hitting, a very intelligent, and a very reputable person.

I think the best thing we can do is, obviously, ask some very tough questions about what happened, why it happened, and what we can do to try to move forward.

I had absolutely nothing to do with the assignment of staff to the Board, sir, absolutely nothing.

But the focus should be on lessons learned and moving forward, not focusing on perceived imperfections with and assigning political blame for the highlights of the day.

I believe the U.S. Congress should call on Senegal's President, Macky Sall, to take action to improve the conditions of mining-affected communities in eastern Senegal.

In closing, Ambassador, I want to urge you to continue to pursue an interagency process that calls on all relevant departments and agencies to address this issue, like I described a minute ago.

I have been generally impressed by the work of the Interagency Task Force to develop a comprehensive strategic action plan on victim services here in the U.S.

We have a right to defend ourselves without assuming the obligation to make sure that every country that harbors terrorists ends up as prosperous and as democratic as our World War II adversaries.

What can we do to make sure that our treasure is spent wisely and we are matching the commitment that our service members are making abroad?

A unified world community sending a consistent message caused four states already, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and South Africa, to give up possession of nuclear weapons.

I just wanted to thank you for calling an important hearing, and look forward to what our witnesses have to say on the issue.

I express our appreciation for Saudi Arabia's leadership within the region. We believe that the best solution is a political solution. And we believe that every minority can be respected. There can be diversity and pluralism.