Jack Reed

My hope is that no impediments for those who honestly seek the legitimate use of firearms with the right to do so and reasonable constraints on those people who have illicit motives.

This is not, as I say, an arbitrary decision. It is a reflection of the courts' view on the Second Amendment rights of the individual Americans.

This success, which was enabled by coalition airpower, gave a significant confidence boost to the Iraqi Security Forces, and I hope this momentum will continue.

While I share the President's hope for new opportunities, I also share concerns about Iran's destabilizing actions in the Middle East.

I hope the witnesses will provide their assessment of these events and what opportunities and cautionary notes they would present for consideration to the committee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, gentlemen, for your very, very thoughtful testimony.

Even in your concept of putting the Chairman in the chain, he would be still subordinate to the Secretary of the Defense.

I think we have to come up with a coherent, multifaceted strategy, and I think we can agree upon it and move forward.

You identified three principal areas that DOD needs to incentivize: speed, thrift and simplicity.

In your statement and testimony you expressed concern about DOD's increased use of lowest-price technically acceptable contracts.

In your testimony, you stated that government budgetary processes such as sequestration and continuing resolutions allow for funding instabilities that negatively affect and potentially jeopardize the viability of commercial companies.

Our defense budget is being cut significantly to help pay for the Nation's debt.

Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And let me also echo your comments about the defense authorization bill and make it clear that, without your leadership, it would not have been a bipartisan and innovative and important piece of…

It strikes me that the Department of Defense today is the--an industrial model, and we're in a post-industrial age.

I just wanted to second your comments and thank the witnesses' extraordinary insights.

It is appropriate that we take stock of what is and what is not working with regard to the organization and processes of the DOD.

Defense reform is not a partisan issue, and we will keep it that way.

The presumption that the decades' long technological superiority enjoyed by the United States and our allies will continue into the future may no longer be valid.

It seems to me that we are at a very critical point.

Thank you very much, Madam Chairman.

I am very glad that you are holding this hearing because the UAS (unmanned aircraft systems), or as most Americans know them, drones, have become an incredible phenomenon in our society.

The hearing is adjourned.

I must also apologize.

That neglect will be exacerbated by sequestration, and they will not--these agencies don't have a way to provide at least short-term funding

The account that's bearing the bulk of the differences, both budgetary and political, is the overseas contingency account