The reason we've always had a civilian in that job [Secretary of Defence] is because we really believe that it is policymakers who ought to control the military and not have the military control the military.
I think the primary message to the world is that the United States is going to remain the strongest military power in the world.
Sexual assault has no place in the military. It is a violation of everything that the US military stands for.
The reality is that the United States military alone cannot be all things to all nations. We will sharpen the application of our resources, better deploy our forces in the world and share our burdens more and more effectively with our partners. And frankly, all our allies need to do the same.
The most important thing we can do is prosecute the offenders, deal with those that have broken the law and committed this crime. And if we can do that then we can begin to deal with this issue and send a signal this is not a problem that we are going to ignore in the United States military.
![The reason we've always had a civilian in that job [Secretary of Defence] is because we really believe that it is policymakers who ought to control the military and not have the military control the military.](http://cdn.quoteddaily.com/images/leon-panetta/the-reason-weve-always-had-a-civilian-in-that-job-secretary-of-defence-is-because-we-really-believe-that-it.jpg)
