Douglas Lute

We're in a new relationship with a newly aggressive, newly assertive Russia, it's brought us back to the primacy of our initial core task: collective defense, our immediate neighborhood.

We are not meddling in anything that could perceived as potential... by Douglas Lute

We are not meddling in anything that could perceived as potentially destabilizing.

We are deploying at sea, on the ground and in the air across the eastern flanks of the alliance ... to deter any aggressor.

In practical terms I don't there's much additional room in the near term, the next several years perhaps or maybe even longer, for additional NATO expansion, i think Russia plays an important part in the strategic environment and the strategic environment will put a brake on NATO expansion.

There's no way we're going to get consensus any time in the near future on adding... Georgia or Ukraine.

We may not need a reinforced land brigade for the south, you could easily see how maritime, air or special operations forces might be useful.