We need, from time to time, to use military force or all of the resources at our command in order to defend the nation and defend our friends. Sometimes, that requires us to take actions that generate controversy. I think there are probably some who actually believe, if we just go talk nice to these folks, everything is going to be OK. I don't think the world works that way.

After 9/11 we were prepared to use military force. We were prepared to go after not only the terrorists, but those who sponsor terror and provide sanctuary and safe harbor for them. We were prepared to use our intelligence assets the way we would against an enemy that threatened the United States itself, to put in place, for example, things like the Terror Surveillance Program and to have a robust interrogation program on detainees. Those are the acts you take when you feel you're at war and that the very existence of the nation is threatened.

As I think about the future, I'm back where most people live their lives. Which is, death is not imminent, and that's different.

The issue is that [Saddam] has chemical weapons.

You got to have people at the top who respond to and are selected by presidents.

I wake up every morning literally with a smile on my face, grateful for another day I never thought I would see.

I can't think of a time when we've had a region emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian.