Leon Panetta Quotations

I think the primary message to the world is that the United States is going to remain the strongest military power in the world.

One demonstration of extremists, any more than a Ku Klux Klan demonstration in the United States, is not necessarily reflective of what the rest of the country feels.

These days, it takes only seconds - seconds - for a picture, a photo, to suddenly become an international headline.

Rising sea levels, severe draughts, the melting of the polar caps, the more frequent and devastating natural disasters all raise demand for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

The United States, and the president's made this clear, does not want Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. That's a red line for us. And it's a red line obviously for the Israelis so we share a common goal here.

The last thing I want to do is to make the mistakes of the past.

The United States has to have the capability to deal with more than one enemy at one time and be able to confront them and win.

When you cut a half-a-trillion dollars from the defense budget, it affects almost every area in the defense budget.

Go forward, knowing that you are greater than the challenges of your time.

Well, you know, any defense force worth its salt has to be able to deal with uncertainty, has to be able to deal with events that we may not have planned for.

We either believe in the dignity of the individual, the rule of law, and the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, or we don't. There is no middle ground.

The area of climate change has a dramatic impact on national security.

You know, as director of the CIA, I got an awful lot of intelligence about all the horrible things that could go on across the world.

After every major conflict - World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the fall of the Soviet Union - what happened was that we ultimately hollowed out the force, largely by doing deep across-the-board cuts.

I know that young people sometimes, caught up in the moment, make some very foolish decisions.

Unfortunately these days, there is a hell of a lot that keeps me awake.

I mean, the Taliban, my view is that they have been weakened. We have not seen them able to conduct any kind of organized attack to regain any territory that they've lost. We've seen levels of violence going down.

When you're smaller and leaner, you're not going to have that large a presence throughout the world.

Today, I think the attitude is that governing is not necessarily good politics, and the result is that it's much more partisan and much more divided.

An aggressor nation or extremist group could gain control of critical switches and derail passenger trains, or trains loaded with lethal chemicals.

I don't usually comment on columnists' ideas of what I'm thinking. That's a dangerous game to get into.

My whole life has been dedicated to public service.

Throughout the 40 years I've been in Washington, I've always worked hard, particularly with regards to the budget issues.

Well look, CIA is an agency that has to collect intelligence, do operations. We have to take risks and it's important that we take risks and that we know that we have the support of the government and we have the support of the American people in what we're doing.

Companies should be able to share specific threat information with the government without the prospect of lawsuits hanging over their head.

One of the things that has made Iraq such a tragedy is you've got the administration, which is kind of locked into its view; you've got Congress, which is scrambling all over the place; and politics, which has invaded this issue on all sides. The good thing here is we can stand back and assess this.

None of this is being paid for. At some point, all of that borrowing comes back to haunt you.

My conclusion is that at this late date, it's just not realistic to expect that I could put together an effective campaign,

On the Democratic side, it's an uphill battle for anyone who runs. I don't think it's a slam dunk at all. Schwarzenegger has huge name identity, and that counts for a lot.

I was at the White House at that time. We were concerned that when the president vetoed these things, he would bear responsibility for the shutdown. But Congress in the end became the vocal point for public anger. And that could be the case with this Congress as well.

If these are baseless charges, it'll be OK. On the other hand, if there's something there, and it leads to him having to step out of office, it may be time to do some repair work and that may not have the consequences you would expect,

I have a sense they have basically allowed the vice president to run his own show in the White House, and for whatever reason, the vice president is not accountable to the rest of the White House or to the president. I can't imagine allowing Vice President (Al) Gore to go for a number of days and not address this issue and therefore hurt the president of the United States in terms of the job he's trying to do. The first priority in the White House is not the vice president. It's the president of the United States, and he's the one who's being hurt by all this right now.

He was always graceful in the way he handled his guests, ... He always talked about substance. He never made snide remarks.

He gets a pass, they don't. And that's obviously created a lot of nervousness on Capitol Hill.

There is growing distrust we see from the investing public. There is a responsibility of the New York Stock Exchange that we address those issues.

He obviously has to go through Congress to get things done. But he can't be seen as tied to its failings. He has to use the bully pulpit effectively and confront Congress effectively.

Just when we should be getting ready for the 21st century, our education system is beginning to fall down in terms of preparing our students for that future.

I think the bottom line is, this is one of the few BRAC rounds in history where California comes out doing very well.

I think the most important thing for this president to do is to focus on trying to get some things done -- limited things done -- over these next 100 days, ... If he can get education reform accomplished, if he could do something on campaign reform in a bipartisan way, then that could send a very important signal to the American people that he's going to try to get things done.

Over the last 10 or 15 years, there's almost been a deliberate strategy to push all the tough decisions to the very end of a Congress, with the hope that you can ram them through as members try to get away for the holidays.

That confrontation, I think, clearly was in the minds of those who were sitting down at the table,

I think they're facing the largest challenge I've seen in recent history, in terms of an administration having to decide whether they continue to borrow and spend, or whether they face up to very difficult choices that have to be made to discipline the budget. I think we'll find out in the next few months what that decision is going to be.

There is a tremendous lack of leadership in both parties to address this issue.

Both sides of the spectrum are really going to use the opportunity provided by Katrina to really begin to test some ideas that they otherwise couldn't test.

The public does not translate the deficit into something that really bites them. We are going to have to get public support for action on the deficit.

You have to have a good relationship with the president, but you also have to be a tough SOB to get things done. And that means not only being tough with the staff, but, occasionally, tough with the president.

disciples of balanced budgets. ... And at some point, they'll be proven right.

I've spent the last several hours in an appearance before the grand jury largely detailing the operations of the White House and the physical setting of the White House during the time in which I was chief of staff. I believe I've answered all of the questions that were asked of me. And I will not comment any further on my testimony,

People start doing it by the numbers. They don't have that kind of excitement you had in the first term, dealing with issues, dealing with the country,

As a result of the kind of partisan trench warfare that's going on in Washington, the special interests on both sides basically drive the agendas based on those issues that increase their membership, and that's what's going on here.

You're talking about a real problem facing this country at the very moment when we're expecting something like 70 to 80 million baby boomers to retire and to add additional costs to Social Security and Medicare. We're headed towards a fiscal cliff,

You've got to sit down with all of the special-interest groups on your side before you announce that decision and walk them through it. You need to determine if they're going to support it.

You really ought to think twice before you appoint a staff member to a position like Supreme Court justice. You have to ask whether that person really has the experience you need to be a justice. Usually, it will make more sense to go outside the White House.

The United States was attacked on 9/11/12, and we know who attacked us.

They feel confident that we will be able to bring the person responsible for this outrage to justice,

They are the one area of hope that has really made progress. They have passed at the state level what we want at national levels.

It is tough enough for the Secret Service to do its job without this. If I were still chief of staff, I would order the damned site (to) pull it down.

It's more a signal to the outside world. It's their way of saying they're paying attention.

The oceans continue to be in crisis and little progress has been made. We are loosing our fisheries. Ninety percent of big fish are already gone.

It seemed to me there was an opportunity to bring new life into the White House. You can't operate on a 24-7 clock and not lose energy. I'm not saying replace Card, but bring in some new people. He (Bush) is a loyal guy, likes his comfort zone and doesn't like to make changes. But it doesn't give the president any new ideas.

In this century, the 21st century, the U.S. recognizes our prosperity and our security depends even more on the Asia-Pacific region.

If he continues to behave in a way that is aggressive and continues to use force in that part of the country, we will continue to extract prices, ... Late Edition.

if Gore became president and you had a new message and new individual up there.

I don't think there is any question but that the indictment of Tom Delay gives another boost to the Democrats in terms of their argument that the GOP leadership doesn't pay attention to ethics requirements.

I am personally not aware of any improper relationship, sexual or otherwise, by this president with any of the White House interns or anyone else for that matter,

The consequence could be that we would have an escalation that would take place that would not only involve many lives, but I think it could consume the Middle East in a confrontation and a conflict that we would regret.

You don't deploy forces into harm's way without knowing what's going on,

The fundamental premise is that neither the United States or the international community is going to allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

China is a major power in the Pacific and I think we are dealing with some common threats in that region: the whole issue of Korea and the stability of Korea, the whole issue of nuclear proliferation, the whole issue of providing free access to our ships that are operating in that area.

If you're a terrorist, you're a terrorist.

In this century, the 21st century, the U.S. recognizes our prosperity and our security depends even more on the Asia-Pacific region.

Iran is isolating itself from the rest of the world.

Red lines are kind of political arguments that are used to try to put people in a corner.

The Taliban is resilient.

Sexual assault has no place in the military. It is a violation of everything that the U.S. military stands for.

I'm not big on commissions.

I'm going to give people the benefit of the doubt.

It doesn't make a lot of sense for us to borrow money from the Chinese to go give to another country for humanitarian aid. We ought to get the Chinese to take care of the people.

Al Qaeda still remains a threat.

Frankly, my fundamental beliefs have not changed.

I don't engage in hypotheticals.

I don't think I should penalize people who were doing their duty.

I don't think there's any question that America is safer as a result of the bin Laden operation.

I mean, the Taliban, my view is that they have been weakened.

I suddenly realized at the CIA that I had to make life-and-death decisions about people.

If the Iraqis fail to implement the reforms, if they fail to get a handle on the violence, there's nothing the United States can do, militarily or otherwise, that can solve those problems. They have to assume the primary responsibility to govern themselves.

The one thing that I remember from all of my intelligence briefings and my dealings with the Russians is that when you deal with the Russians, you have to deal with them from strength, not from weakness.

Rather than undermining the Palestinian Authority, it is in Israel's interests to strengthen it by... continuing to transfer Palestinian tax revenues and pursuing other avenues of cooperation.

The United States will do whatever we have to do to protect our forces.

The terrorism from 9/11 has metastasized. It's metastasized in Iraq and Syria, in Nigeria, in Somalia, in Yemen and in other places in North Africa. We need a very comprehensive strategy to deal with that threat.

There's no question that the main location of Al Qaida is in tribal areas of Pakistan.

Caution is an important quality in a leader, but it has to be caution followed by decision. Caution followed by ambivalence can be a weakness.

I think soon after I became director of the CIA - President Obama pulled me into the Oval Office and said: 'Look, I just want you to know that your top priority is to go after Osama bin Laden.

Obama really does recognize the threats that are out there; I think he understands the world. He understands the role of America in that troubled world.

I think what both Republicans and Democrats need to do and the leaders on both sides is to recognize that if sequester takes place, it would be disastrous for our national defense and very frankly for a lot of very important domestic programs. They have a responsibility to come together, find the money necessary to de-trigger sequester.

Iran's continued drive to develop nuclear capabilities, including troubling enrichment activities and past work on weaponization documented by the IAEA, and its continued support to groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist organizations make clear that the regime in Tehran is a very grave threat to all of us.

The White House was so eager to rid itself of Iraq that it was willing to withdraw rather than lock in arrangements that would preserve our influence and interests,

My father said I was perfectly suited for Washington because I've always worked around nuts.

The United States was attacked on 9/11/12, and we know who attacked us.

The United States is going to defend itself under any circumstances.