John M. Richardson: “China has taken a bit of a different approach, unilaterally constructing a series of islands and then militarizing those…”

It just doesn't make sense to have our entire economy based on one thing that is subject to these boom-and-bust cycles.

As the Secretary of Defense has said, we will continue to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, including in the Arctic region, to protect the U.S. national security interest in preserving global mobility.

We agree 100 percent. And as the Secretary said in his opening statement, you can recruit a sailor, but you are going to retain a family, and a lot of those decisions are going to be made based on childcare.

Continued sequestration-level defense spending puts American lives at greater risk.