Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana. We appreciate your being here.

The subcommittee will come to order.

None of this is your fault, but I don't know a single area of government that is more widely misunderstood back home or more widely criticized because lots of constituents think that somehow the, quote, 'foreign aid budget,' is almost half…

One-third of our economy is tied up in world trade. We don't realize that, and now we're slowly realizing it.

The Armed Services Committee has banned the Pentagon from even thinking about another BRAC round.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would also like to welcome the witnesses, and in particular, wish General Robinson the best of luck.

How do we tell our friends in New York or Boston or Norfolk, Newport News, or South Florida, they get less protection than we do here?

I think it is pretty clear in your paragraph at the bottom of page 2, the top of page 3, that the National Capital Region comes first, at least as far as aircraft or cruise missile threats are concerned.

I would hope that you and the Department of Energy would have a proposed termination date for that program in the relatively near future.

It is vitally important that we get it right because, literally, the survival of our Nation, and of the planet, is at stake if we get it wrong.

Nuclear deterrence is our number one priority defense mission.