Leon Panetta Quotes & Sayings

Russians understand strength, and if they feel that their opponents are weak, they will take advantage of it. — Leon Panetta

Well, the United States is a Pacific power. And we have always had a presence in the Pacific. — Leon Panetta

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. — Leon Panetta

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

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. — Leon Panetta

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

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. — Leon Panetta

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. — Leon Panetta

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

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

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

During my time as CIA Director and Secretary of Defense, Hillary was a strong supporter of our efforts to protect our homeland, decimate al-Qaeda, and bring Osama bin Laden to justice. — Leon Panetta

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

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. — Leon Panetta

The political and substantive reality is that the agenda has to change. I don't think they have any choice. — Leon Panetta

You don't deploy forces into harm's way without knowing what's going on. — Leon Panetta

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

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

If you're a terrorist, you're a terrorist. — Leon Panetta

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

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

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

The United States has to be a leader in the world, because the problem is: If we are not leading, nobody else will. — Leon Panetta

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, — Leon Panetta

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. — Leon Panetta

The reality is that the United States military alone cannot be all things to all nations. We will sharpen the application of our resources, better deploy our forces in the world and share our burdens more and more effectively with our partners. And frankly, all our allies need to do the same. — Leon Panetta

The potential for the next Pearl Harbor could very well be a cyber-attack, — Leon Panetta

In the zero-sum budget game, every dollar spent on this problem [illegal immigration] must be taken from somewhere else ... No, we should not tolerate people immigrating illegally. But we need to treat this issue honestly and fairly. — Leon Panetta

If we don't do something to simplify the tax system, we're going to end up with a national police force of internal revenue agents. — Leon Panetta

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

The Taliban is resilient. — Leon Panetta

Iran is isolating itself from the rest of the world. — Leon Panetta

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. — Leon Panetta

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

The American Dream has been defended, in every generation, by the brave men and women willing to fight and die for America. They are our greatest national treasure. They deserve a serious Commander-in-Chief. — Leon Panetta

My impression is that Putin feels that he can basically manipulate the West to do what he ultimately wants to achieve, and that he feels he's gotten away with it so far, and that all he has to do is basically play the same game. — Leon Panetta

Clearly, Russia has lied to the world about what's going on in Ukraine. They have clearly violated the cease-fire agreements. — Leon Panetta

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

Winning in Afghanistan is having a country that is stable enough to ensure that there is no safe haven for Al Qaida or for a militant Taliban that welcomes Al Qaida. That's really the measure of success for the United States. — Leon Panetta

I don't engage in hypotheticals. — Leon Panetta

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. — Leon Panetta

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. — Leon Panetta

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

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. — Leon Panetta

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. — Leon Panetta

She is smart. She is principled. She is tough, and she is ready. Hillary is the single most experienced and prepared person who has ever run for president. — Leon Panetta

The president is out there today trying to talk about health care, and the reality is nobody cares about what he's saying on health care because this news is consuming everything. No president could tolerate that or should tolerate it. — Leon Panetta

I'm not big on commissions. — Leon Panetta

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

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

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. — Leon Panetta

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. — Leon Panetta

Frankly, my fundamental beliefs have not changed. — Leon Panetta

We are a nation at war. This is also a time for hard choices. It's about ensuring that we are able to prevail in the conflicts in which we are now engaged. But it's also about being able to be strong and disciplined in applying our nation's limited resources to defending America. — Leon Panetta

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

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.' — Leon Panetta

When the president went around the table to the country's national security leadership, Hillary was clear: We have to go get bin Laden. And our Special Operations Forces did just that. — Leon Panetta

I want you and the people of Israel to know a few things that have not and will not change. The United States stands firmly with Israel, and we have a rock solid commitment to the security of Israel and to the security of its citizens. — Leon Panetta

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

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

You know, one thing I've learned over 40 years is that when you have jobs in Washington, you do it day by day and that's what I'm doing as secretary of defense. — Leon Panetta

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

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

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. — Leon Panetta

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

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. — Leon Panetta

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

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. — Leon Panetta

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. — Leon Panetta

My whole life has been dedicated to public service. — Leon Panetta

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

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. — Leon Panetta

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. — Leon Panetta

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

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. — Leon Panetta

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. — Leon Panetta