Rising sea levels, severe draughts, the melting of the polar caps, the more frequent and devastating natural disasters all raise demand for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

I think a quality that a national security adviser must have is the ability to set up procedures.

I don't think there's any question that America is safer as a result of the bin Laden operation.

Iran is isolating itself from the rest of the world.

Caution is an important quality in a leader, but it has to be caution followed by decision. Caution followed by ambivalence can be a weakness.

If the Iraqis fail to implement the reforms, if they fail to get a handle on the violence, there's nothing the United States can do, militarily or otherwise, that can solve those problems. They have to assume the primary responsibility to govern themselves.

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.