You don't deploy forces into harm's way without knowing what's going on.

I think the primary message to the world is that the United States is going to remain the strongest military power in the world.

When you cut a half-a-trillion dollars from the defense budget, it affects almost every area in the defense budget.

Well, you know, any defense force worth its salt has to be able to deal with uncertainty, has to be able to deal with events that we may not have planned for.

You know, as director of the CIA, I got an awful lot of intelligence about all the horrible things that could go on across the world.

China is a major power in the Pacific and I think we are dealing with some common threats in that region: the whole issue of Korea and the stability of Korea, the whole issue of nuclear proliferation, the whole issue of providing free access to our ships that are operating in that area.