He told The Times-Dispatch that his vision includes a strong military.

“The basic philosophy here is peace through strength in addition to maintaining our values ... The greater your strength, the less frequently you have to deploy it,” he said. “Especially from a Navy perspective, one of the reasons it matters that we maintain decisive, global sea power superiority through the U.S. is that the more decisive it is, the less likely we’re going to be drawn into conflicts. And what concerns me is that we’ve seen the U.S. drawn into what amounts to a forever war, with very little attention from Congress, and I think, frankly, an abdication of Congress’ duties and war powers that has led to tremendous cost in life and treasure of the country.”

He said it was a mistake for the Trump administration to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, which was preventing nuclear development.

“I think that also set off a pretty destabilizing chain reaction that we may be seeing reflections of right now as we’re waiting for more information to come in about what’s going on in the gulf,” he said. “The current approach is not one that seems likely to lead to stability or peace in the region.”