Gentlemen, it's very interesting to hear your comments, and thank you for joining us today.
I have a quick comment just to put Mr. McCallum's comments into context. He was in fact the Canadian minister of defence when Canada entered the joint fighter program under the Paul Martin government. So it has been an ongoing political issue up here with the Liberals taking a stand and a certain track in government, and then in opposition having second thoughts about it and conveniently forgetting their role in the F-35 debate.
Professor Doran, I think it was in your remarks that you mentioned, albeit briefly, the sequestration impact. I'm curious to get your sense of what the impact actually was on the U.S. armed services. We hear all kinds of stories in Canada. Some say the reductions in U.S. government spending were great and negative in terms of spending cuts. Other corners suggest that this was a trim, a budget slowdown.
I'd like to get your comments on both the overall impact and then specifically what it means for U.S. readiness in its posture to its armed services.