One prominent candidate who is reported to be under consideration for the role of U.S. defense secretary in the coming Trump administration would shore up the nation’s nuclear triad, replace aging B-52 bombers with the new B-21 Raider and take a hard line against Iran.

U.S. Sen. Thomas Cotton (R-Ark.), who served as an Army infantry officer in Iraq and Afghanistan, fielded questions from New York Times journalist David Sanger during the Defense One Summit on November 17 in Washington, D.C. At the time, he was one of several contenders, including retired generals, that president-elect Donald Trump was said to be considering to lead the Pentagon. Cotton currently serves on the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees.

In his Senate role, Cotton has proposed that Congress pass a $26.4 billion emergency supplemental spending bill to bolster the Department of Defense (DOD) in the current fiscal year and stem “eight years of neglect” under the Obama administration. The money would be distributed to pay for overseas contingency operations, readiness and outstanding “unfunded requirements” of the military services. The unfunded wish-list includes F-35 fighters and Apache and Chinook helicopters “they would have liked to buy if OMB [the White House Office of Management and Budget] didn’t take a pencil to their budget,” he told the conference.

During the one-on-one discussion with Sanger, Cotton advocated rapidly expanding the land-based intercontinental ballistic missile network, while also modernizing the strategic bomber fleet and the submarine-launched ballistic missiles that make up the U.S. nuclear triad. He said aging B-52H Stratofortress bombers should be replaced with the new Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider long-range strike bomber.

When Sanger asked if the budget-cutting that Congress mandated through “sequestration” was responsible for depriving the military of resources, Cotton said that he came to Congress (as a member of the House of Representatives in 2013) before the Budget Control Act of 2011 that produced sequestration and would have voted against the legislation.

Cotton said that U.S. relations with Russia, a country that Trump appears to sympathize with, can improve only if Russian president Vladimir Putin recognizes established national boundaries. “They have to recogize that we are going to stand by our alliance structures, that we are going to support countries that support us,” he added.

“I know that some people disagree with Donald Trump’s words, but it’s Barack Obama’s actions and policies that have allowed Vladimir Putin to achieve so many of his national objectives,” Cotton observed. “I believe that Donald Trump will be viewed, not just by Vladimir Putin, but by many of our other adversary leaders, as someone who is going to take a tougher line and defend America’s core interests in a way that Barack Obama has not.”

Cotton advocates dismantling the “disastrous” nuclear non-proliferation agreement concluded in July 2015 between Iran and the U.S., UK, Russia, China, France and Germany. “They have the blood of over 500 American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan on their hands…so I’m not a big fan of Iran or the ayatollahs,” he said. “I think America would be much safer if president-elect Trump unwinds that deal.”