i also want to thank some others for organizing today's event. too often, we think about and approach arms sales in terms of the input to the partner and the output for the united states. we have seen congressionally mandated reforms for security cooperation that are underway at the state department and department of defense that encourage the whole community to think more and drive towards more outcomes. indeed, if we want to compete and win in the ways that have been framed by this administration, it hinges on our ability to articulate and achieve those outcomes. the fact is, as ambassador kaidanow stated in her remarks, arms sales or a foreign-policy -- are a foreign-policy tool that might reap u.s. strategic and economic benefits, but are fundamentally, a political act .ith political outcomes and in shaping the monopoly of the use of force within the partner country that we are working with, and how that force is used. so as we are thinking about the outcomes that we are seeking to achieve politically, we have to take into consideration that