The president of the United States is the commander in chief, and the people who work with him at the National Security Council are his arm in working with the Defense Department. And, quite frankly, they have responsibility for all of the government. We are one component of the government.

This is a complicated time to govern in the world today because of so much going on and it's coming at us at such an unprecedented rate.

We live in a world where there are dangerous people, there are bad people.

Iraq was a war of choice, like Vietnam.

Institutions are imperfect. Governments surely are. People are.

You can have all the capabilities; if you don't have the quality people, you don't have much.

The recent wave of Taliban attacks has made clear that the international community must not waiver in its support for a stable, secure and prosperous Afghanistan.