Kelly Ayotte

Are we doing all we can to defend the Homeland against long-range missile threats?

We must be better prepared to respond to threats that give us little to no advance warning

If you know someone is killing someone and committing murder... and you knowingly provide them with arms, you are not just standing silent; you are actually an accomplice to those killings.

Unfortunately, this is part of the pattern for Russia.

I was proud to join my colleagues... in writing a letter to Secretary Panetta to express our outrage regarding the Russian arms sales.

I hope that we act immediately on this on a bipartisan basis.

I can't imagine anyone on this committee would ever stand for hollowing out our force.

Secretary Panetta and Chairman Dempsey have said that sequestration will hollow out our force.

These are choices that we are certainly, we know from even Secretary Panetta's testimony, taking on some risk with.

How important will the Virginia payload module be in addressing at least a portion of this looming gap in undersea strike capabilities?

Admiral McRaven, looking well into the future, are you concerned about the projected 60 percent reduction in undersea strike volume?

Would it be accurate to describe the Persian Gulf and the seas adjacent to Iran as an increasingly anti-access and area-denial environment?

You specifically cite the threat that Iranian small boats and cruise missiles represent.

The Virginia-class submarine provides a critical platform for our special operators, especially in anti-access and area-denial environments?

I would hope that we would not bring those two individuals to the United States, because I'd have a hard time explaining that to my constituents when we have the availability of the GTMO detention facility.

But we don't have a designated facility, because we're essentially not taking anyone else in GTMO, as far as I understand it, pursuant to the administration's policy?

I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for our troops to reencounter someone we've had already in detention.

In my view, one terrorist reengaging us is one too many.

I had an amendment in that said even to go to reduced operating status, that the Commandant of the Marine Corps would do an assessment on the impact on readiness.

I think it has been a very effective and not only cost-effective but a very strong way for us to represent our interests in a collaborative way around the world.

General Fraser, what is the strategic rationale for no longer having a MPSRON in the Mediterranean?

General Fraser, was this proposed change developed in full collaboration with the Marine Corps?

We are certainly taking on additional risk with this.

With $15 trillion in debt, that is a really hard sell to my constituents, that we should allocate $400 million for a system that we will never procure or use.

One of the concerns that I have is it delays, for example, production of one Virginia-class submarine.