barbara shaheen will chair the hearing from that point forward. and i appreciate everybody's understanding of that. yesterday we had the opportunity to have very healthy and broad discussion with secretary-general rasmussen. he laid out for us the general expectations of the summit and the road forward as we continue to really define this new role and the new parameters of nato. this is our fourth hearing on nato since 2009. and it's not an accident that we are having it now. i think all the members share the belief that the reliance remain vital to american security and its effectiveness as an institution concerns our focus and attention. but, needless to say that focus has changed. europe has changed. the world has changed. and later this month when the allies meet in chicago to discuss its future in afghanistan and elsewhere, a lot of that redefining will be on the table. so this summit is about how do you make nato stronger? how do we learn from our shared experiences? in my judgment nato is, and i think this is a shared judgment, a fundamenta