admiral winnefeld himself chairs a meeting with the vice chiefs of services. we meet in the tank. we are concerned because although we have prioritized care for wounded warriors, families and mental health service in the face of declining resources, how that is implemented in the field can sometimes be missed. and so we're ammeter to it. >> okay. -- alert to it. >> okay. >> i was in afghanistan a few months ago and met with our commanders. and at the time we were on all of our metrics. everything was being, we were right where we wanted to be as we head toward the end of 2014. and to admiral and to general, are we still meeting the plan that we had laid out? are we still being able to hold the towns that we've started to hold, are we able to turn the taliban back? is the plan moving along on schedule? has it, is it going faster or lesser? are we meeting the numbers we were hoping to meet as we head toward the end of 2014? >> i'll, i'll start and see if the vice wants to add. besides speaking with general dunford be on a weekly basis and visiting him about quarterly, i also reach o

admiral winnefeld do you agree with that analysis? >> as i mentioned earlier i certainly would agree -- >> is there any doubt in your mind that this guy is actually a moderate? >> we are looking for the elusive iranian moderate. >> this will determine how i vote for you. do you believe the current president of iran is a moderate? >> he doesn't have a history of being a moderate. >> i will take that as no. the united states should ratchet up sanctions and if sanctions don't work they have to know that you will be prepared, us the united states, to take military action. that's the only thing that will get their attention. do you agree with the israeli prime minister about the threat of military force against the iranian nuclear program may be the only thing to get the attention admiral -- general dempsey? >> that has been our approach all along. >> great, so we are all on the same sheet of paper there. if they don't believe we are going to hit them they are going to move. here's what he said about all the problems and it may be summed u

admiral winnefeld, in response to the policy questions given financial downtrend we must balance the need for soft capabilities and address other capability demand in the light of financial pressure. do you belief the growth should be maintained despite budgetary pressures and how should capabilities be prioritized compared to the other capability demands that you referenced? >> if we get into the full bca caps, what we equal sequester forever in the department we'll probably have to level off soft growth because there are some other programs that will be shrinking in size. it is sort of, if you're level, then you're doing pretty well in this budget environment. if you're growing, it is really unusual. the only thing i know that will grow will be the cyber forces of the everything else will be coming down in size. i think keeping it in perspective leveling off soft is probably about as good as we can do if we get to the full bca cuts. >> even with the demands we see around the world today? >> even with the demands. our soft forces are very important and doing great work around the wo

i have had frequent occasions to seek the view of admiral dempsey -- general dempsey and admiral winnefeld. wheren the few instances i have disagreed, i find their positions to be thoughtful and well reasoned. if confirmed, our nominees will face a series of continuing challenges. in syria, a saud is using airstrikes, yours, tanks, all to attack the people -- assad is attacking the people. he is using chemical weapons against insurgents. he is increasingly relying on foreign fighters run iran and hezbollah to sustain his grip on power. his actions have killed more than 100,000 syrians leaving thousands to flee the country and forcing more than 4 million more to be internally displaced ,he malevolent -- displaced leveling villages. i look forward to hearing the nominees views on increasing the pressure on saud in support of the administration's goal in persuading that the current administration cannot last that has the support of both the syrian people and an international coalition and a political settlement that will translation -- transition syria to a post-saud regime. assad regime. the