Angus King

I am infuriated that we are in this situation. We are now seeing the fruits of--I do not know--25 or 30 years of disparaging Government employment, bureaucrats, and that kind of talk.

Just as the Department's senior leadership is focusing on realigning the overall defense budget, identifying and eliminating duplication and increasing efficiency, we must do the same in the intelligence budgets.

Eisenhower retook Europe in 9 months. I don't see any reason that this shouldn't be cleared up in 9 months.

I think what's going on around here is an insult to the word 'chaos'.

I think this current uncertainty and, as you said, chaos does threaten our national security.

I think is something that we ought to bend over backwards never to repeat again.

Lack of readiness, lack of training, lack of all those things that you just listed, put American lives at risk, do they not?

An unready force is a term that should strike fear into everyone that is listening to us today.

Korea is often characterized as 'the forgotten war'. But in looking at the situation where we have a very vigorous country of 50 million people in the south and a miserable despotism in the north, I cannot think of too many wars that made…

The strategy of deterrence may work with Russia but an Iranian terrorist cell who thinks that if they die in a holy war, they are going to go straight to heaven--deterrence is not necessarily a viable strategy.

What is our strategy for deterrence of madmen with nuclear weapons, people that are not necessarily rational...

Since the 1950s, our strategy with regard to nuclear weapons has been deterrence, mutually assured destruction...

I hope this gentleman will talk to you about the effect on our readiness, on our retention, and on our military.

I think it's important to emphasize that the sequester is not a 1-year deal.

I think it's going to be important for me, if confirmed, to keep pressure on not only defense investment, but to keep pressure on our ability to train together and keep the standard of excellence high so that we can remain interchangeable.

Execution is as important as vision. This is really how it is executed on the street with these guys, men and women, as they leave.

When I meet with veterans in Maine, particularly the recent people who have left the Service, one of the biggest problems they find is the lack of information.

Changing the subject slightly, what is your assessment of our logistical readiness for the drawdown in Afghanistan?

It is bad for the taxpayers because you lose the benefit of multi-year buys, and it is also terrible for the industrial base.

We can do better than this.

I think Chuck Hagel is a man of great integrity, great intelligence, and is the kind of person that, I think, will be a strong leader for the Department of Defense.

Will you review this policy and work to assure that compliant gear is purchased and U.S. jobs are protected?

I'm very concerned about an industrial base that would be able to adjust from sequestration.

I don't think we can adequately emphasize the importance of the cyber threat. That may well be the war of the future.

I think counterterrorism sort of spans, covers the gap or the relationship between traditional defense and the Intelligence Community.