Passes, it is resolution passes, with the president signe tjhahat . \ i havent asked the president because he is hopeful we can work through the differences that do exist and the president wants to have once the preserve the flexibility that he believes we need and within the prerogative of the president but he is prepared to work with you to say we are all prepared to work to try to arrive and understanding of how we can do that. We have some disagreements in that regard. If he believes the 2001 solution gives him the authority, we have a basic disagreement and thats why i think it gave us the first branch of government to do this. I guess the question, what would be your opinion as to whether or not the president signed the senators resolution if we pass this this week . Im not going to suggest that i share the advice with respect to what his choice is if it came to the president. I think we are missing the point that thats the road we go. From the moment i opened my mouth, and i mea
I cant imagine that as i said, the administration is prepared to work with you and see whats doable. I appreciate that and it is very important to have this debate for the committee to act and work and see if we can find an acceptable language in a way that is not open ended so that but to do it ommittee said in the past, we rare waiting for language that may never come. Let me ask whats going on with the Current Operations with the fight and recognizing that you may more may not be able to answer this. Can you talk about the extremists and the reports that that opposition is in the process of totally collapsing . Is there intention to expedite the training and assistance to the moderate Syrian Opposition groups . The answer is yes, but the opposition in the south is actually doing fairly well right now. Its a problem for the regime because the fight is critical in the north. They are a challenge and its that we are very, very well aware of. We are, wooing with the turks right now havi
A communist in their parliament in ukraine. So we have that problem at the same time as the others youre addressing. What do you think about our european strength as it is right now . Are we adequate . Are we becoming inadequate . I think that our strength in europe is our alliance with nato and the political solidarity that that represents, which is very important when it comes to the Baltic States and also the response in ukraine, which while not a nato nation is certainly a european nation and european unity is an important part of that. So one of our strengths is that. Another strength is our military strength. And there i understand that we are adding forces Rotational Forces to the Baltic States as a presence there as a deterrent to any russian kind of adventurism on the part of russia. In those states i certainly support that, and if im confirmed, id want to look into what more we can do. I wish the european states and secretary of defenses have said this were investing in their
I think we need to do both and can do more in the way of securing fiscal materials and the wherewithal with Nuclear Weapons and also biological weapons around the world. And i also believe that the United States needs a safe, secure and reliable nuclear deterrent, because as much as we would like to see Nuclear Weapons and other weapons of mass destruction rid from the earth, that doesnt look like its something thats going to happen soon and its important that the american deterrent that we provide to our own country, but also to friends and allies who rely upon him is safe, secure and reliable. I think we need to do both and can do both. You wrote an article last year for Foreign Affairs and you talked about two lessons from iraq and afghanistan. First, that the pentagon was not prepared to fight a nontraditional enemy and, second, that the length of those wars was underestimated. There was little incentive to pursue acquisitions tailored to the specific fights. Can you talk about how
Our air power and other kinds of assistance inflict defeat onnist skpis then make it a lasting defeat. Thats how i would characterize what i see. Im not in the counsels of government, but thats what i infer. I appreciate that very much. When you were in my office we talked about having just returned from ukraine and also when i first walked in senator heinrich was talking about lithuania and that area. Their concern was all of our attention seemed to be in that part of the world concentrated on ukraine. Its true, we have never had i happen to be there when they had their election for the first time in 96 years they dont have a communist in their parliament in ukraine. So we have that problem at the same time as the others youre addressing. What do you think about our european strength as it is right now . Are we adequate . Are we becoming inadequate . I think that our strength in europe is our alliance with nato and the political solidarity that that represents, which is very important