Robert Gates: “I think the other audience, frankly, is the American people, who are weary after 8 years of war, and to let them know…”

I think part of the problem is that at the end of the Cold War, we were affected by triumphalism or hubris, whatever you want to call it.

Without proper and predictable funding, no amount of reform or clever reorganization will provide America with a military capable of accomplishing the missions it's assigned to.

I think that it's still a problem for the Saudis.

I think the president is — based on what I read — is getting the sense that, as he put it, that Putin is 'tapping' him along.