"I think that is very, very damaging to the Pentagon."
"I think that is a violation of our constitutional responsibility and significantly undercuts the Department of Defense."
"If our NATO allies cannot even rely on us to come through on a... MILCON project... how much can they rely on us?"
"This effort to keep stealing money for the wall is really undermining the Department of Defense."
"I am deeply concerned about the precedent being set by the Secretary's submission to the Administration's political agenda."
"Put most directly, Russia and China are now aggressively pushing an alternative view of the world, and of governance."
"That alternative view is based on autocracy, the idea that democracy doesn't work, freedom doesn't work, you need to have a strong man."
"Their economic model, I think, can best be described as kleptocracy, basically the folks at the top control all the money."
"I think a priority needs to be how we handle other theaters and other contingencies, including through deterrence."
"I would argue that nuclear deterrence is likely to be more rather than less important."
"The Defense Department needs to invest boldly in new concepts of operations and the capabilities to carry them out."
"That is a way to stand up to China because together we have half the world's GDP and we are dealing from strength."