If China engages in a cyber attack upon the United States, do you believe it is legitimate under the Law of War for the United States to act offensively to counter any perceived cyber attack upon the United States?

So we would be devastating our military.

From a military commander's point of view, if our Nation is being attacked in a cyber fashion against our defense infrastructure, do you consider that a hostile act?

We would be shooting ourselves in the head. It would be a Navy without ships, without sailors, brigades without bullets, air wings without trained pilots.

If Congress does not get a handle on TRICARE and health care costs that are growing exponentially in the DOD budget, that you are going to have to make some draconian choices in the future between health care for our families and the…

Please let me know when 5 minutes elapses. I will try to keep my comments short. ____________________

I ask unanimous consent to speak in morning business. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

the topic I wish to address is the CLASS Act repeal being taken up by the House. I understand the HHS Secretary has indicated that from her point of view the CLASS Act will not work, and this is music to my ears. During the Obama health…

So from a South Carolina perspective, this is a nominee that we all can be proud of, a lot of bipartisan support.

I would not hesitate for 1 second to have any member of my family, someone I cared about, appearing before her, because I know she would be fair and apply the law as it should be applied.

could I ask for 30 seconds? The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there any objection?

The Senator is correct. But here is what we are doing. Here is what Lindsey Graham is doing, and Carl Levin, and an overwhelming number of the Members of this body are about to do. We are about to pass a defense authorization bill that…

I thank the Senator from New Hampshire who has been a great leader on this issue. Let me just tell my colleagues what drives my thinking. I think we are at war--I don't think it, I believe it. I hope my colleagues believe it too, and I…

This idea of civil liberties and the American way of life--if we do not fight for it, we are going to lose it. We are under siege and we are under attack. So let's fight back within our values. This bill allows us to fight back, and I am…

If anybody wishes to speak, speak now. All time is yielded back. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the question is on amendment No. 1126 offered by the Senator from California.

How much time do we have remaining? The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is 4\1/2\ minutes remaining.

To Senator Feinstein, I do believe the second provision is where we want to be, at least from my point of view. To my colleagues, I never intended by 1031 to change the law imposing a greater burden on American citizens or more exposure to…

How much time do we have? The PRESIDING OFFICER. Eight minutes. You were allotted 3 minutes.

I would say why I wanted to do that. I want to be able to say--and not to my political advantage. But I want to be able to tell people post-Abu Ghraib, post-early Guantanamo Bay, we have cleaned up our act. We are trying to get the balance…

In this case where somebody is worried about being picked up by a rogue executive branch because they went to the wrong political rally, they don't have to worry very long, because our Federal courts have the right and the obligation to…

May I add something. I want to respond to one of my good friends, Senator Paul, who said, Well, that is all good, but sometimes in democracies you let in very bad people and I don't want to give broad power to the executive branch that…

One of the things you learn in military law school is the Posse Comitatus Act, because if a military member or a unit is asked to assist in a law enforcement function, that is prohibited in this country. Why is that? We don't want to…

No one is going to be put in jail because they disagree with Lindsey Graham or Barack Obama. We are trying to fight a war. I would say something even more basic. It is in my political interest, quite frankly, being from South Carolina--a…

Right. Well, let's keep talking about it because the more we talk about it the more interesting the whole concept becomes. The last time I looked, there were no civilian jails overseas. So when we capture a terrorist overseas, the only…

Well, my belief is that most Americans would want our military being able to combat al-Qaida at home as much as they would abroad. I think most Americans would be very upset to hear that the military has no real role in combatting al-Qaida…