Robert M. Gates

"If there's ever an example that military power alone cannot be successful in Afghanistan, I think it was the Soviet experience."

"I have always that there ought to be some kind of mandatory national service, not necessarily in the military but to show everybody that freedom isn't free, that everybody has an obligation to the nation as a community."

"Health care costs are eating the Defense Department alive."

"When I was the director of Central Intelligence in the early '90s, I tried to get the Air Force to partner with us in building drones. And they didn't want to, because they had no pilots."

"There is no international problem that can be addressed or solved without the engagement and leadership of the United States and everybody in the world knows that, its just fact of life. So sometimes I think we could conduct ourselves with a little more humility."

"Well, I've ruffled a few feathers at all the institutions I've led. But I think that's part of leadership."