Even when I was at CIA, I'd go to visit foreign leaders and I'd say, 'You know, I'm not a diplomat. I'm just an old CIA guy'... I said, 'If I wanted to be diplomatic, I'd have been a diplomat.'

I had no difficulty as Secretary of Defense moving from the Bush administration to the Obama administration.

I think that - that the disruptive nature, the tough talk on North Korea, the military deployments, sending the missile defense system to South Korea, I think these are all good things to have done.

A wild and crazy weekend involves sitting on the front porch, smoking a cigar, reading a book.

I have always voted for who I believed was the best person.

The reality is, the United States has global interests. Our defense budget is about the same as the defense budgets or military budgets of every other country in the world put together.

I'm a big advocate of drones.