Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta says the Hampton Roads region is a great example of the committed community partnerships that keep the American military the strongest in the world. The Pentagon chief traveled to Norfolk at Senator Warner’s request on Friday to speak to members of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.

“As Secretary of Defense, I want to do everything I can to keep this community strong in terms of its military future,” Secretary Panetta said. “Simply put, this region houses perhaps the greatest concentration of military might in the world.  And the support offered by this community to its service members, its veterans, to their families, is an incredibly important part of what makes this area the strategic national asset that it is. Your dedication, your commitment, your service, your patriotism, is critical to the military and, very frankly, critical to our national security,” Panetta said. 

Secretary Panetta joined Senator Warner in expressing cautious optimism that a divided Congress will act responsibly to prevent automatic Pentagon budget cuts from taking effect in January. The automatic cuts were never intended to happen but Congress added them to legislation as a threat to force action.

"They [Congress] put a gun to their head and said, 'If we don't do what's right, we'll blow our heads off.' And they didn't do what's right, and now the damn gun is cocked - to go off in January," he said. 

As The Virginian Pilot’s Bill Bartel reported, Secretary Panetta also pledged that the region's shipyards and other defense contractors need to be preserved even as the Pentagon adjusts to reduced defense funding following a decade of war. 

"We will continue to invest in the unique capabilities and military and industrial facilities like those in Hampton Roads," Panetta said. "The facilities help us protect the strongest military in the world."

You can read the full text of the Secretary’s remarks here.

Senator Warner told the business and military leaders that the national debt crisis is the fault of both major political parties in Washington, and it will require compromises on cuts and new revenue to get it under control.

"Anyone who thinks we can get there with simply a nip and tuck here, a cut here or there, either with defense or discretionary spending alone, cannot read a balance sheet," Senator Warner said. "Anyone that is running for office and takes a pledge that says ‘we will never look at revenue’ or ‘we will never look at entitlement spending’ is not a serious person about dealing with our debt crisis."

Secretary Panetta saluted Senator Warner’s leadership role in seeking common ground on the deficit and debt issue.

“Whatever I do in my job, whatever we do on national debt, if we don't have elected leaders who are willing to come together and solve the problems facing this country, our national security is in jeopardy,” Secretary Panetta said. “I really do commend [Mark] for his leadership -- his bipartisan leadership, which is so important, as Governor and now as United States Senator. He's in a critical role where he could play a very important part of trying to bring together the kind of consensus that's absolutely essential if we are going to be able to resolve this issue,” the Secretary said.