Are you satisfied with the Department of Defense's work on transitioning soldiers and sailors and marines into the private sector economy?

I do not understand why Government agencies have so much trouble getting systems running.

The sequester has nothing to do with that whatsoever, and we have to be having that discussion.

It is a disaster, and it is a self-imposed disaster that we do not have to do.

But it is not interoperable with the Department of Defense?

This whole thing is dumb. It is an arbitrary date. It means nothing.

It appears that as of today the greatest threat to American national security is the U.S. Congress.

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.

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

I think it's very significant.

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.

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.

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

We can do better than this.

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

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

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

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.

I find this question of chain of command and sexual assault a very difficult one.

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

We are going to look back and say what happened, why did we not have a ship available to go to the Gulf or whatever it was.

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

The most serious threat to national security right now is the U.S. Congress, and it is shocking that we cannot do this.

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

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…