Defense Is Not Like Other Discretionary Spending.

I'm A Big Advocate Of Drones.

No President Is Well-served By Groupthink Or By Everybody Singing From The Same Sheet Of Music They Think He's On.

My Last Visit To China As Secretary, January Of 2011, I Told President Hu Jintao, Just Like This, "president Of The United States Wanted Me To Tell You That We Now Consider North Korea A Direct Threat To The United States." And It Had No Effect Whatsoever.

Power... Military Success Is Not Sufficient To Win: Economic Development, Institution-building And The Rule Of Law, Promoting Internal Reconciliation, Good Governance, Providing Basic Services To The People, Training And Equipping Indigenous Military And Police Forces, Strategic Communications, And More Of These, Along With Security, Are Essential Ingredients For Long-term Success.

If Possible, To Be In A Position To Announce Who Is Going To Step In As The Interim Immediately. And If Possible, To Announce Who You're Going To Nominate To Replace That Person. For That To Be Somebody Of Impeccable Integrity And Reputation Disarms A Lot Of The Worst Criticism That It's Some Kind Of A Power Play. It's A Professional Approach To Replacing A Senior Official, Which Is Always Going To Get A Lot Of Attention.