I Consider Myself A Republican.

It Has Become Clear That America's Civilian Institutions Of Diplomacy And Development Have Been Chronically Undermanned And Underfunded For Far Too Long - Relative To What We Spend On The Military, And More Important, Relative To The Responsibilities And Challenges Our Nation Has Around The World.

I Think That Vladimir Putin Is Certainly Getting A Lot Of Publicity For What The Russians Are Doing. And I'm Not Sure That's Unwelcome To Him. I Think This Is A Guy Who Saw The U.s. Basically Come Out Against Him In His Reelection Campaign In 2012. He Saw The U.s. Being Behind All Of The Color Revolutions In Eastern Europe And In Georgia And Ukraine And So On. So His View Is The West Has Been Interfering In His Politics For Years.

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.'

Congress Is Best Viewed From A Distance - The Farther The Better - Because Up Close, It Is Truly Ugly.

On The Foreign Policy Side, There's The Risk Of Being Too Spontaneous And Too Disruptive Where You End Up Doing More Harm Than Damage. And Figuring Out That Balance Is Where Having Strong People Around You Matters.