Joe Manchin

I think all of our hearts go out to the families of the marines who lost their life in Chattanooga.

I would agree with General Dunford that Russia has the most increasing-capable force, and their actions... make them the greatest potential threat.

Providing an improved direct fire weapon system to support infantry at a greater range and improving lethality against a wide array of targets is urgently needed.

The recent aggression against Ukraine presents a significant security challenge to the stability of Europe and impacts all of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies.

I think you would understand the concerns that we have with the procurement system that we have right now, and it does not seem to work very functionally as far as effective or cost-effective especially.

I think our Guard could be used more effectively than what they are right now, other than private contractors that we are using.

Russia is the only country on Earth that retains a nuclear capability to destroy the United States.

I have no doubt has the will to fight, and that are the Kurds.

I think it kind of caught a lot of us by surprise, if you will.

We're not hearing an awful lot of dialogue about this relationship or lack of a relationship.

The greatest threat--and I think you all identified Russia--is that opinion held by most of our military higher echelon, if you will?

General, I again want to thank you. You do have my support and I think the confidence of the American people, definitely the West Virginians.

I have spoken many times about the lack of an audit. The only agency in the Federal Government that we do not audit is the Pentagon.

Did we have an option to stay?

I think it is important that we attempt to maintain a military-to-military relationship, an effective military-to-military relationship, with our Russian counterparts.

If you want to talk about a nation that could pose an existential threat to the United States, I would have to point to Russia.

My assessment today, Senator, is that Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security.

This is not the Guard that we knew. This is not the Guard of 20 years ago.

We are a superpower and we want to remain that superpower and we want to make sure that our people are the best trained, best equipped, and have the latest technology.

Thank you for the service you have given to this body in the Senate and to this committee for many, many years.

Let me tell you why the audit is so important and why I am so committed to having an audit of the Defense Department.

I am very concerned about the cost of our military and if it is being spent efficiently.

There is not a person in West Virginia, not a person in the country that won't sacrifice for a person in uniform.

This is not a partisan thing. This is basically an American thing we want to get done.

About the red tape, I just couldn't believe what I heard yesterday, all the red tape that they have to go through to get something on the front lines to help them defend themselves.