We Live In A World

It's Critically Important That We Have Governments To Work With, That We Have Entities To Work With. President Hadi Has Been A Good Partner In That, And We Would Hope That The Next Set Of Leaders That Govern Yemen Will Also Take The Same Approach To Cooperation With The United States.

I'm The First Secretary Of Defense That's Had To Deal With Sequestration. I've Prepared Two Budgets That Deal With Sequestration. And You Bring The Chiefs Together, The Leadership Of This Enterprise Together, To Work Through, How Do We Then Take These Cuts? Where Do We Apply Those Cuts? Readiness Is The First Thing That Suffers.

The United States Can't Impose Democracies. We Can't Impose Our Will. The Russians Found That Out In Afghanistan.

If We Have To Continue To Live Under Sequestration, It Will Have A Maximum Impact On Our Ability To Fulfill The President's Strategic Guidance. We Can't Do It All. It's As Simple As That, With The Limitations Of The Budget As Severe As They Are. These Deep, Abrupt Cuts Have Forced Us To Make Decisions That Are Not In The Interest Of America.

Alliances And International Organizations Should Be Understood As Opportunities For Leadership And A Means To Expand Our Influence, Not As Constraints On Our Power.