Make decisions about the President's personal security. He can overrule you, but don't ask him to be the one to counsel caution.

What will follow will not be a repeat of any other conflict. It will be of a force and scope and scale that has been beyond what has been seen before.

Don't be a bottleneck. If a matter is not a decision for the President or you, delegate it. Force responsibility down and out. Find problem areas, add structure and delegate. The pressure is to do the reverse. Resist it.

When I served as US Ambassador to NATO in the 1970s, the center of gravity in Europe was France and Germany.

There are a lot of people who lie and get away with it, and that's just a fact.

NATO member states vary dramatically in their capability and in their political steadfastness.

The United States isn't going to do anything that it's not capable of doing. And if we do something, we'll be capable of doing it.