“My view is the American toolbox should contain something other than hammers,” Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said during an interview and conversation with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at George Washington University on Monday night. Led by CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, the event was billed as a conversation on “American power and persuasion” and focused largely on the working relationship between Clinton and Gates (the Secretaries “spend a lot of time together,” Clinton said, whereas “most of my career, secretaries of state and defense weren’t speaking to one another,” Gates quipped), as well as the situations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Iran.