The U.S. should support the historic Gaza withdrawal as a first step toward a final settlement: a permanent Palestinian state in Gaza and nearly all of the West Bank.

U.S. officials and outside experts agree that China is undertaking a comprehensive modernization of its military. The Chinese military has gotten smaller but smarter.

When you're talking with a person at this level of the government, at the very highest level, I think you have to be very discreet because he, President Clinton, is very aware that anything he says publicly can have a profound impact on American politics and on world politics.

I can assure you, public service is a stimulating, proud and lively enterprise. It is not just a way of life, it is a way to live fully.

Our democracy is not a product but a continual process. It is preserved not by monuments but deeds. Sometimes it needs refining; sometimes it needs amending; sometimes it needs defending. Always, it needs improving.

We should insist that governments receiving American aid live up to standards of accountability and transparency, and we should support countries that embrace market reforms, democracy, and the rule of law.

You'll remember Dr. Rice said that several times: It was not a warning about the place and the method and the time - it was a general warning. And that points out the imperfection, if you would, of our intelligence.

A likely source for terrorists seeking to buy or steal nuclear materials is the former Soviet Union.

Addressing global resentment cannot be put off. If we do not learn to use our predominant power with great restraint, we will antagonize the world.

But despite this breathtaking pace, I believe in the capacity of our democracy to meet these challenges.

But in the end our government usually - not unfailingly - is responsive to the people; and usually - not always - will try to do what is right.

China's ability to deliver nuclear warheads on American cities is expanding.

Democracy fascinates me.

Democracy makes us articulate our views, defend them, and refine them.

Events often move faster than our ability to comprehend them.

For decades the American people have had an addiction to oil and gas.

Now the difficulty with those warnings is that they were not specific.

One half of the world's people live on less than two dollars a day. This should concern our national security policy as well as our conscience.

Protecting Americans from nuclear terrorism rises above politics.

So much of our attention is trained on the Middle East these days, but we cannot ignore East Asia.