I never wanted Mark Esper's job. I just wanted to see Mark…

“Davy, Didn't you realize that the only thing I wanted from Mark was his version of the night you, well, removed him from the party? I know Mark is a sleaze. I'm not involved with him in any way, but when you vanished from in front of me, what was I to think? I don't know if you're even human. For all I knew you fly around in a flying saucer kidnapping humans left and right. If this sort of jumping to conclusions bothers you, think how much alternative explanation you offered. I know you're hurt, and I guess you were hurt even more when you thought I was getting involved with Mark again. But, dammit, you are doing your share of lashing out, yourself. Millie P.S. I still don't know if you are human, but I know that I care for you enough that you can hurt me. You did.”

— Steven Gould

“I wanted...to own you. I wanted a part of me in you." He cringed. "I wanted to mark you, make you mine.”

— S.C. Stephens

What we want to make sure happens going forward is that I am not the last African-American secretary of defense, that we create those…

— Lloyd Austin

In my seven years as Secretary, we came within a hair's breadth of war with the Soviet Union on three different occasions! Twenty-four hours…

— Robert McNamara

I find it disturbing that no member of the Senate Armed Services Committee is willing to acknowledge that record of failure and to ask…

— James Mattis

“The organizational consequence of this highly quantitative image of defense decision-making is an independent and high-level office of systems analysis (or program analysis) reporting…

— Walter Slocombe

As a former secretary of defense, I think Donald Rumsfeld is the best secretary of defense the United States has ever had.

— Dick Cheney

It's rare in an administration for a secretary of state and a secretary of defense to get along really well.

— David Brooks

The Secretary of Defense is not a super General or Admiral. His task is to exercise civilian control over the Department for the Commander-in-Chief…

— Donald Rumsfeld

In fact, in 2002, the Secretary of Defense authorized such support on a reimbursable basis to organizations formerly components of the Department of Justice…

— Solomon Ortiz

You know, one thing I've learned over 40 years is that when you have jobs in Washington, you do it day by day and…

— Leon Panetta

Secretary Perry became the 19th secretary of defense and the first enlisted man to serve in that role. He had time in the highest…

— Richard Lugar

“The Obama administration submitted a budget request to Congress in 2012 that called for cutting in half U.S. funds for Israeli missile defense—this at…

— Reed Ralph

I had no difficulty as Secretary of Defense moving from the Bush administration to the Obama administration.

— Robert M. Gates

We've learned something about President-elect [Donald] Trump's choice for secretary of defense. Lawmakers in Congress intend to proper debate over whether retired General James…

— Steve Inskeep