I took an oath of office to the Constitution, I didn't take an oath of office to my party or my president.

There has to be a reason and objective (to air strikes). What does it do to move the effort down the road for a political conversation?

I have said many times that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism.

We live in a world of absolute immediacy. It is an interconnected, combustible world, where technology and many other actions have given nonstate actors a reach, into countries and societies, for both good and evil, that we have never seen before. So it isn't a matter of just state versus state challenges or conflict. The bigger problem is nonstate actors.

It is easy to get into war, not so easy to get out.

Foreign policy is all about a universe of bad decisions, imperfect decisions; every situation is different. The dynamics, the atmospherics, the people, the pressures, the geopolitical realities shift.

I don't get into the book-telling business of conversations I have with the president. That's not my style, and I don't think that's a responsible thing to do.