Ben Nelson: “What confidence do you have in the capacity of these troops to both 'clear' and 'hold'?”

We have made conscious decisions to have a balanced program, and part of those decisions has been to accept a higher risk and to manage that risk.

U.S. forces will be capable of deterring and defeating aggression by any potential adversary.

Hard choices had to be made.

the approach that places top priority on movement towards nuclear zero and other arms reductions will dominate those considerations