Lee H. Hamilton Quotations

Foreign aid is neither a failure nor a panacea. It is, instead, an important tool of American policy that can serve the interests of the United States and the world if wisely administered.

Aid can work where there is good governance, and usually fails where governments are unable or unwilling to commit aid to improve the lives of their people.

I can assure you, public service is a stimulating, proud and lively enterprise. It is not just a way of life, it is a way to live fully.

One half of the world's people live on less than two dollars a day. This should concern our national security policy as well as our conscience.

Our democracy is not a product but a continual process. It is preserved not by monuments but deeds. Sometimes it needs refining; sometimes it needs amending; sometimes it needs defending. Always, it needs improving.

Putting together a counter- terrorism policy, it's very easy to look at law enforcement or defense, military action or stopping the money flows or whatever, but the really difficult part is integrating all aspects of the policy, and I think she put a lot of emphasis on that.

You'll remember Dr. Rice said that several times: It was not a warning about the place and the method and the time - it was a general warning. And that points out the imperfection, if you would, of our intelligence.

President George W. Bush is the first American president to call openly for two-states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.

But despite this breathtaking pace, I believe in the capacity of our democracy to meet these challenges.

We should insist that governments receiving American aid live up to standards of accountability and transparency, and we should support countries that embrace market reforms, democracy, and the rule of law.

Democracy makes us articulate our views, defend them, and refine them.

For decades the American people have had an addiction to oil and gas.

So much of our attention is trained on the Middle East these days, but we cannot ignore East Asia.

China's ability to deliver nuclear warheads on American cities is expanding.

Events often move faster than our ability to comprehend them.

Protecting Americans from nuclear terrorism rises above politics.

This nation is never finished. It has to be re-created in each generation.

Now the difficulty with those warnings is that they were not specific.

A likely source for terrorists seeking to buy or steal nuclear materials is the former Soviet Union.

The temptations are great to simply retreat to the domain of private life and give up on our public problems.

Addressing global resentment cannot be put off. If we do not learn to use our predominant power with great restraint, we will antagonize the world.

But in the end our government usually - not unfailingly - is responsive to the people; and usually - not always - will try to do what is right.

We cannot do everything in Africa, but doing nothing is not an option.

What's lacking here is a sense of urgency, a political will to get these things done.

U.S. officials and outside experts agree that China is undertaking a comprehensive modernization of its military. The Chinese military has gotten smaller but smarter.

Look, we want a bill on the desk of the president as soon as possible.

She's told us she's happy to have us come back, so we're going to get the information that we want in the commission,

Some 18 months after that terrifying day, we still have no comprehensive analysis of 9/11, no authoritative record of the many forces that led to the attacks, no definitive narrative of the events of the day.

I am impressed by the number of intelligence warnings, the spiking of the threats that occurred during, particularly the summer of the year 2001.

But there's another whole dimension here, and that dimension is the public dimension -- and I think the American public would benefit from hearing Condi Rice testify under oath.

Had we learned of it obviously it would've been a major focus of our investigation.

He certainly has kept his agenda in front of us,

There are so many competing priorities. And it's awfully hard to keep people focused on something like this.

Reforms are at risk from inertia and complacency. Reforms must be accelerated or they will fail.

It is fair to ask how long the FBI will take to reform itself ... The terrorists will not wait,

I was personally kind of discouraged with that statement. This is not a new problem.

We have thought about what to do, a global strategy, and how to do it: A different way of organizing our government.

The president has a lot at stake here. This is the first major test of his political clout after the election, ... He's said over and over again, 'I support this bill.' Now, if he fails to get that bill through, he has to be worried about the signal that sends about his own political clout with his own party. I think the Congress has a lot at stake. But aside from politics, what is really important here is the safety of the American people.

When I get on an airplane, I am less worried about the passengers than what is going into the hole below. I worry about containers being shipped into this country. I worry more about rail security than I do air security.

wants to make it more difficult for national security officials to carry out their responsibilities.

We believe that another attack will occur and we had better get to it and protect the American people. It's not a question of if.

Without question, women are leading the charge. Has sex appeal helped? Sure ... But we're going to maintain reasonable tastes.

We want to understand what went wrong and what steps have been taken to make the American people safe and more secure.

The president needs to articulate very clearly again what the targets are of our war on terrorism, ... It is terrorism with a global reach, particular terrorist organizations? Is it countries that harbor or develop weapons of mass destruction? Is it only countries that harbor terrorists? What really are the targets that we're aiming at in this war on terrorism. I think there has been a loosening if you will of the objectives the president originally stated and it's become less clear just what are our targets. .... Now if you want to take on another whole objective, which is to stop weapons of mass destruction from being developed in countries, you better spell out exactly what you are planning to do and how you plan to get there. The administration is a long way from doing that.

The defense of America should rise above partisan political concerns,

We don't really have an ethics process any more in the Congress, so that these things are not exposed or considered until this becomes a criminal law case.

What struck me after Katrina was we were not as safe as I thought we were,

We are a mobile, dynamic society. We depend upon open, accessible transportation systems. Terrorists know that. It's the reason they target transportation, and it's why we must stop them.

Is it countries that harbor or develop weapons of mass destruction? Is it only countries that harbor terrorists? What really are the targets that we're aiming at in this war on terrorism?

The status quo failed us. Reform is an urgent matter, and reform must not wait until the next attack.

The structure of the intelligence community has not changed since 9/11. The commission believes the status quo is unacceptable, ... This legislation is necessary to make the American people safer and more secure. We believe it must be enacted before the 108th Congress adjourns.

Our sense is that the commission supports reform of the intelligence community, but we have come to no judgment about the nature of reform that we will recommend.

depression that we haven't done better, that we didn't learn more than we did from 9/11.

A number of our recommendations were in the area of emergency preparedness. Had they been executed, the death toll would have been lower.

The U.S. should support the historic Gaza withdrawal as a first step toward a final settlement: a permanent Palestinian state in Gaza and nearly all of the West Bank.

A member of an intelligence committee who hears of some activity he disapproves of has no real way to bring that public because if he does, he's breaking the law.

They have become quite a strong ally for the United States in terms of the war on terrorism.

It's very disappointing, and even depressing, to see that four years after 9/11 we have not done many of things we should have done to get ready for a disaster. Things are moving, but they're just moving slowly.

The U.S has acquired reservoirs of goodwill around the globe over many years. But it is clear - from polling data and ample anecdotal evidence - that America is losing its allure in much of the world.

Anyone watching that storm knew it was going to affect Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. This is not a disaster for the mayor of New Orleans to deal with.

I hope the product is being sharpened from what we saw. We saw a lot of things that were unsubstantiated, that were almost in the rumor category.

I cannot remember a national security advisor testing in public, under oath, talking at length about policy matters, and that's an unusual event.

When you're talking with a person at this level of the government, at the very highest level, I think you have to be very discreet because he, President Clinton, is very aware that anything he says publicly can have a profound impact on American politics and on world politics.

Foreign policy always has more force and punch when the nation speaks with one voice. To remain secure, prosperous, and free, the United States must continue to lead. That leadership requires a president and Congress working together to fashion a foreign policy with broad, bipartisan support. A foreign policy of unity is essential if the United States is to promote its values and interests effectively and help to build a safer, freer, and more prosperous world.

The U.S has acquired reservoirs of goodwill around the globe over many years. But it is clear - from polling data and ample anecdotal evidence - that America is losing its allure in much of the world.

Democracy fascinates me.

The U.S. should support the historic Gaza withdrawal as a first step toward a final settlement: a permanent Palestinian state in Gaza and nearly all of the West Bank.