The White House was so eager to rid itself of Iraq that it was willing to withdraw rather than lock in arrangements that would preserve our influence and interests.

I suddenly realized at the CIA that I had to make life-and-death decisions about people.

Today, I think the attitude is that governing is not necessarily good politics, and the result is that it's much more partisan and much more divided.

China is a major power in the Pacific and I think we are dealing with some common threats in that region: the whole issue of Korea and the stability of Korea, the whole issue of nuclear proliferation, the whole issue of providing free access to our ships that are operating in that area.

The potential for the next Pearl Harbor could very well be a cyber-attack.

I have tremendous confidence in the ability of government institutions and the American people to do what is right to make sure that our democracy stays on the right track.

The reality is that the United States military alone cannot be all things to all nations. We will sharpen the application of our resources, better deploy our forces in the world and share our burdens more and more effectively with our partners. And frankly, all our allies need to do the same.