Quotes from Robert C. O'Brien

Relations between the United States and Iran can improve but will not get better so long as innocent Americans are held hostage.

Like Reagan, President Trump strives for good relations with all nations, including Russia. But no nation, including Russia, should doubt the president's commitment to defending the United States and our allies.

Freedom of navigation, as ensured by the Navy, is critical to America's ability to project power by moving men and equipment over 70 percent of the earth's surface and to maintaining world trade and commerce.

America and the world have been great beneficiaries of the forward presence of the United States Navy around the globe since the end of World War II. The U.S. Navy has been a key foundation of this Pax Americana.

In World War II, America was the Arsenal of Democracy, providing war materiel to our Allies that ultimately led to victory over tyranny.

After World War II, defending America in the modern world required new intelligence agencies, the unification of the armed services under a massive new Defense Department, and later the creation of new civilian organizations with some defense functions, such as NASA and the Energy Department.

When the Jewish state of Israel is strong, Jewish communities worldwide are also strong.

Under Marxism-Leninism, the self-proclaimed ideology of the Chinese Communist Party, individuals do not possess inherent value. People are merely a tool to achieve the ends of the collective nation-state. The idea may sound inhumane, but it is as fundamental to the CCP as the Bill of Rights is to Americans.

Ventilators are life-saving tools in the fight against COVID-19. They are durable medical devices intended to control or assist a critically ill patient's breathing by mechanically delivering them a predetermined percentage of oxygen.

We are not a banana republic.

I think 99.9% of our law enforcement officers are great Americans. Many of them are African American, Hispanic, Asian, they're working the toughest neighborhood, they've got the hardest jobs to do in this country and I think they're amazing, great Americans.

I think the Russians have gotten a great return on investment for a very small amount of, of election interference.

In the rare cases where our servicemen and women violate laws and norms, they are held to account. The United States military justice system is far more effective at holding Americans accountable for alleged wrongdoing than the ICC has ever been.

Without command of the seas ensured by the Navy, it will become more difficult to project American power where necessary to defeat terrorists, interdict WMDs and illegal arms trading and deter nations, including the new super power China, that might do America and its allies harm.

I'm old enough to remember Bush v. Gore, and the transition there didn't start until mid-December, and yet it got done.

Rubio rode his skill as a high school quarterback to college in Florida, followed by law school.

We've made it very clear that when Iranian proxies that are directed by Iran attack Americans, that we're going to hold the Iranians responsible.

As the Navy gets smaller, the world's oceans are becoming more dangerous.

While air bases and logistics hubs remain important, the Cold War-style garrisoning of troops makes less military and fiscal sense than it did in the 1970s.

The Cold War practice of garrisoning large numbers of troops with their families on massive bases in places like Germany is now, in part, obsolete.

President Trump stands with Interim President Juan Guaido and the Venezuelan people.

Israel is an inspiration, a trusted ally and a cherished friend. The United States will always stand by its side.

The average daily income of a Venezuelan is 72 cents, which isn't enough to purchase daily food. This grinding poverty is a result of a socialist experiment in a country that is home to one of the largest oil reserves in the world - a grim irony.

Our message to the Russians is stay out of the U.S. elections.