Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

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

John O. Brennan

Related Quotes:

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

John O. Brennan

" Where terrorists offer injustice, disorder and destruction, the United States and its allies stand for freedom, fairness, equality, hope, and opportunity. "

John O. Brennan

" Our democratic values also include - and our national security demands - open and transparent government. Some information obviously needs to be protected. And since his first days in office, President Obama has worked to strike the proper balance between the security the American people deserve and the openness our democratic society expects. "

John O. Brennan

" The men and women of the CIA are a national treasure. "

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

" 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

" Al-Qa'ida does not follow a traditional command structure, wear uniforms, carry its arms openly, or mass its troops at the borders of the nations it attacks. Nonetheless, it possesses the demonstrated capability to strike with little notice and cause significant civilian or military casualties. "

John O. Brennan

" The CIA has acknowledged that it has detained about 100 terrorists since 9/11, and about a third of them have been subjected to what the CIA refers to as 'enhanced interrogation tactics,' and only a small proportion of those have in fact been subjected to the most serious types of enhanced procedures. "

John O. Brennan

" You know, President Obama feels very strongly that the government has a responsibility to engage with the American people, as well as with the world community. "

John O. Brennan

" Throughout my career, I had the great fortune to experience firsthand as well as to witness what it means to be a CIA officer. "

John O. Brennan

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

John O. Brennan

" 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. "

John O. Brennan

" In full accordance with the law - and in order to prevent terrorist attacks on the United States and to save American lives - the United States government conducts targeted strikes against specific al-Qa'ida terrorists, sometimes using remotely piloted aircraft, often referred to publicly as drones. "

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. "

John O. Brennan

" By the time President Obama took office, Guantanamo was viewed internationally as a symbol of a counterterrorism approach that flouted our laws and strayed from our values, undercutting the perceived legitimacy - and therefore the effectiveness - of our efforts. "

John O. Brennan

" We will never abdicate the security of the United States to a foreign country or refrain from taking action when appropriate. But we cannot ignore the reality that cooperative counterterrorism activities are a key to our national defense. "

John O. Brennan

" Obviously, the death of Usama Bin Laden marked a strategic milestone in our effort to defeat al-Qa'ida. Unfortunately, Bin Laden's death, and the death and capture of many other al-Qa'ida leaders and operatives, does not mark the end of that terrorist organization or its efforts to attack the United States and other countries. "

John O. Brennan

" 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

" We need to make sure that leaks of classified information, of national security secrets, needs to be rigorously pursued and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. "

John O. Brennan

" 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. "

John O. Brennan

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

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

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

John O. Brennan

" 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

" The actions that we take on the counterterrorism front, again, are to take actions against individuals where we believe that the intelligence base is so strong and the nature of the threat is so grave and serious, as well as imminent, that we have no recourse except to take this action that may involve a lethal strike. "

John O. Brennan

" If a person is a U.S. citizen, and he is on the battlefield in Afghanistan or Iraq trying to attack our troops, he will face the full brunt of the U.S. military response. "

John O. Brennan

" 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. "

John O. Brennan

" The United States is the first nation to regularly conduct strikes using remotely piloted aircraft in an armed conflict. Other nations also possess this technology. Many more nations are seeking it, and more will succeed in acquiring it. "

John O. Brennan

" We're trying to be very careful and precise in our use of language, because I think the language we use and the images we project really do have resonance. It's the reason why I don't use the term jihadist to refer to terrorists. It gives them the religious legitimacy they so desperately seek, but I ain't gonna give it to them. "

John O. Brennan

" Al-Qa'ida is the antithesis of the peace, tolerance and humanity that is at the heart of Islam. "

John O. Brennan