Debate Needed on Defense.

• Position: Gen. James L. Jones, commandant of the Marine Corps., interview - Interview

Next year's quadrennial defense review (QDR) of military priorities offers an opportunity for the service chiefs to articulate a plan for executing the national security mission, rather than let the review became a exercise of "self-preservation, in an era of constrained finances," said Gen. James L. Jones, commandant of the Marine Corps.

"I believe, [the current chiefs] will try very hard to do that," Jones said.

The commandant's "biggest concern about the QDR, however, is not inter-service feuding, but rather the lack of overall support from the American public for higher defense budgets, said Jones.

"If we don't understand that a proper...