Michael T. Flynn

We want, certainly, the threats around the world, those that don't like our way of life, we want them to wonder what options we still have.

The historic lesson is that it was a strategic failure to go into Iraq. History will not be and should not be kind with that decision.

Trump has a bigger, longer-term vision for this country than just sitting as a president for four years. He really does. And that's what I was impressed by.

I think what - I think what the American people is looking for is they are looking for moral and intellectual courage and clarity, and not a sense of passivity or confusion.

We have to face the fact that ISIS and its army of like-minded jihadists are determined to win that war and believe they are on the path to victory. They may well be right.

Is there going to be a peace in the Middle East? Not in my lifetime.

Given its Internet sophistication and the attraction the group has with vast numbers of potential recruits from among disaffected populations around the globe, ISIS has the realistic potential to eventually swell its ranks of jihadists waging a 'holy war' to hundreds of thousands in both the western and eastern hemispheres.

We are in a global war with a radical and violent form of the Islamic religion, and it is irresponsible and dangerous to deny it.

The tactical issue is ISIS or ISIL in the greater Levant area, which is essentially Syria, and Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, et cetera. But the wider problem is not just trans-regional in that part of the world, but it's also global. I mean, 40 to 50 countries supplying fighters to this current fight in the Middle East? Come on.

The Arab nations must be on our side. And if we catch them financing, if they funnel money to IS, that's when sanctions and other actions have to kick in.

What people do in their private lives, these are not big issues that our country's dealing with.

The lack of trust between the federal government and the American citizens of this country is such a wide gap, we have to renew that trust for the people of this country going forward.