Jim Webb

You can't renegotiate the front end once the back end is done. This is an obligation that has been made to people whose military careers are now done.

I would respectfully submit that the series of exchanges that we have had with China where they have insisted on only bilateral solutions is perhaps the strongest argument for us proceeding forward in this sort of way where we can continue…

Those are basically tactical questions. It also affects issues of sovereignty. Those are strategic questions.

It is clearly apparent in the South China Sea.

I believe that the indisputable starting point in this discussion really is that the international rules of the road for security and also for commercial exploration have never been more complex.

We had a unanimous vote by the Senate that had two very important pieces in it, I think, in terms of the expression of the Senate.

If I have to face questions about whether this is a critical firefight in the defense of American sovereignty, or a self-inflicted wound in a rapidly emerging global theater where our competitors are taking advantage of our absence, that…

I believe it is well past the time when the questions and concerns raised here today were compelling.

I think we should be more open-handed. I think we should move more quickly, not because I approve of the people who have run that government for the last 40 years, but because I want to see them ushered out the door more rapidly.

My impression was this is not the situation you would have in many of these other historic evolutions, where you have the desire of the people on top simply to perpetuate a system of the past.

I think that a number of people here in the political process tend to, quite frankly, overreact to the word 'sanctions' in terms of lifting sanctions.

Just to be clear in our understanding, that conceivably could be done and still separate out the bad actors that you were discussing in your testimony?

Secretary Yun, what's the position of the administration on the actions that the EU just took?

I understand the administration's present policy.

The subcommittee will come to order. This afternoon the East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee will examine U.S. policy toward Burma.

I think that we are pretty good at working with opposition groups, as well we should be, in many parts of the world in order to help create a better understanding of democratic systems.

Right. So they could be separated out if an Executive decision were made on these other areas you're talking about.

I'm never going to be Cal Ripken anyway in terms of consecutive votes, so I guess if I'm going to miss one this is a good reason to be missing it.

I think that the two most important factors right now from my own personal point of view would be to get as many people from the international community to interact with the average citizen on the street in a positive way...

I would say that we have zero tolerance for that. We are going to continue our audits and reviews to ensure, with additional training of scheduling practices, that this is not occurring.

This was likely a modern era turning point for the fleet.

Is the continued drift toward a smaller and smaller Navy troubling? Yes, it is.

Dividing budget cuts equally between nondefense and defense expenses as in last year's sequester will neither resolve our finances nor assure our security.

The Nation's debt is the greatest threat to our security.

We do not want contracts that exceed 3 years.