John O. Brennan Quotes

It’s not that the system is broken, but clearly there are ways to improve the system, strengthen it, to make sure that we can put together the various bits and pieces of information in a way that allows us to stop every single terrorist out there.

I’m neither Republican nor Democrat. I’ve worked for the past five administrations.

I will not, nor will I ever, publicly divulge sensitive intelligence sources and methods. For when that happens, our national security is endangered and lives can be lost.

I think we do have to take off the gloves in some areas, but within balance, and at the right time and the right way, and for the right reason and with full understanding of what the consequences of that might be.

I have a reputation for speaking my mind. I like to think my candor and bluntness will give you the answers.

I go to bed at night worrying that I didn’t do enough that day to make sure I protect the American people.

I do not – I never believed it’s better to kill a terrorist than to detain him. We want to detain as many terrorists as possible so we can elicit the intelligence from them in the appropriate manner so that we can disrupt follow-on terrorist attacks.

How you define a problem shapes how you address it.

As a former career intelligence professional, I have a profound appreciation for the value of intelligence. Intelligence disrupts terrorist plots and thwarts attacks. Intelligence saves lives.

As we’ve seen, deploying large armies abroad won’t always be our best offense. Countries typically don’t want foreign soldiers in their cities and towns.

Any American who joins al Qaeda will know full well that they have joined an organization that is at war with the United States. Any American who did that should know well that they in fact are part of an enemy… and that the U.S. will do anything that is possible to destroy that enemy to save American lives.

A lot of things look good on an academic’s blackboard in terms of the actions that need to be taken. It’s almost like a football coach, when you draw the X’s and O’s: Every play that is chalked on that board goes for a touchdown. Well, there are a lot of yards to be made between the line of scrimmage and the touchdown.