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

John O. Brennan

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" The president's priority is to protect the safety and security of the American people. That's the physical security of the American people as well as the prosperity of the American people. "

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" To me, terrorists should not be able to hide behind their passports and their citizenship, and that includes U.S. citizens, whether they are overseas or whether they are here in the United States. What we need to do is to apply the appropriate tool and the appropriate response. "

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" Yes, war is hell. It is awful. It involves human beings killing other human beings, sometimes innocent civilians. That is why we despise war. "

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" I think the rule should be that if we're going to take actions overseas that result in the deaths of people, the United States should take responsibility for that. "

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" Since taking office, President Obama has worked to restore a positive vision of American leadership in the world - leadership defined, not by the threats and dangers that we will oppose, but by the security, opportunity and dignity that America advances in partnership with people around the world. "

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" Simply stated, the need for accurate intelligence and prescient analysis from CIA has never been greater than it is in 2013 - or than it will be in the coming years. "

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" We are in this business, whether it be intelligence or the government, to protect freedom, democracy and liberty, not to violate that. "

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" When we uphold the rule of law, our counterterrorism tools are more likely to withstand the scrutiny of our courts, our allies, and the American people. "

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" 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. "

John O. Brennan

" 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. "

John O. Brennan

" 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. "

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" Al-Qa'ida seeks to portray America as an enemy of the world's Muslims. But President Obama has made it clear that the United States is not, and never will be, at war with Islam. "

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" Why should a great and powerful nation like the United States allow its relationship with more than a billion Muslims around the world to be defined by the narrow hatred and nihilistic actions of an exceptionally small minority of Muslims? "

John O. Brennan

" The risk of just one terrorist with just one nuclear weapon is a risk we simply cannot afford to take. "

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

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" How you define a problem shapes how you address it. "

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" We know from the material that was recovered from the bin Laden compound that bin Laden was looking at the 10th anniversary of 9/11 as an opportunity to strike yet again at the U.S. homeland. "

John O. Brennan

" Sometimes there are actions that we are forced to take, but there need to be boundaries beyond which we are going to recognize that we're not going to go because we still are Americans, and we are supposed to be representing something to people in this country and overseas. "

John O. Brennan

" We are a nation of laws, and we will always act within the bounds of the law. "

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" The preservation of our national security and the laws that define us as the United States of America demand that we understand the intersection of the two - indeed, how they reinforce one another. "

John O. Brennan

" Poverty does not cause violence and terrorism. Lack of education does not cause terrorism. "

John O. Brennan

" Terrorism needs to be fought against and certainly delegitimized or attacked, but some of the underlying grievances that might in fact lead individuals astray to terrorism cannot be ignored. "

John O. Brennan

" 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. "

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" The United States does not view our authority to use military force against Al Qaeda as being restricted solely to 'hot' battlefields like Afghanistan. "

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" Jihad is holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one's community. "

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" U.S. computer networks and databases are under daily cyber attack by nation states, international crime organizations, subnational groups, and individual hackers. "

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" Our counterterrorism tools do not exist in a vacuum. They are stronger and more sustainable when the American people understand and support them. They are weaker and less sustainable when the American people do not. "

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" 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. "

John O. Brennan

" As a matter of international law, the United States is in an armed conflict with al-Qa'ida, the Taliban, and associated forces, in response to the 9/11 attacks, and we may also use force consistent with our inherent right of national self-defense. "

John O. Brennan