On the Obama administration’s anti-terror policies:

What we are seeing is a collapse of the Obama policy — [closing] Guantanamo, Mirandizing [terrorists] and [granting] trials in a place like New York with all the constitutional protections of a civilian.
These are untenable in terms of logic and national security, and they are increasingly untenable in terms of politics, especially after Massachusetts. That’s why Democrats are retreating on this.
All three elements of this [policy] are going to collapse in the end.

On repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell”:

I think it is a good idea and I think the administration’s approach, as a gradual approach, is the right one, which is to study how to do it over a year and then to implement it over years.
Remember: When the armed forces were racially integrated in ‘48, it was over five years. I don’t think these are equivalent entities [racial identity and sexual orientation], but in terms of adaptation, I think you will want a period of time.
The mores in the country have changed, certainly in the last 16 years, and certainly among the young. I think it is a form of discrimination that [has] outlived itself.
The British and Australians and Canadians, who have serious armies, have already done this. I think we ought to study how it should be done in the most reasonable way, but I think it’s a good idea to get it underway and get it started. . . .
I respect the opposition of John McCain today and the opposition of Colin Powell 16 years ago on this question, and I understand the concerns in the military about issues of cohesion. But I do think that the president has made a commitment on an issue of principle, and I think it’s a political decision in the end.
There is the issue of doing it in the middle of [ongoing] wars. You don’t want disruption in the middle of wars. But unfortunately we may be involved in these wars for a long time, and I don’t think you want to suspend this issue indefinitely as a result.