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" We live inside a democracy, and you know, public will matters in a democracy. I just hope it's informed public will, and frankly, when the decisions are made, you understand the costs. "
Michael Hayden
Democracy
Decisions
Know
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" My personal view is that Iran, left to its own devices, will get itself to that step right below a nuclear weapon, that permanent breakout stage, so the needle isn't quite in the red for the international community. And, frankly, that will be as destabilizing as their actually having a weapon. "
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" 'End strength' - the total number of government employees you can have at the end of the year. That's a separate exercise and requires independent energy, independent effort with the Congress to get the ceiling of your government employees raised. "
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" Politicization - the shading of analysis to fit prevailing policy or politics - is the harshest criticism one can make of an intelligence organization. It strikes beyond questions of competence to the fundamental ethic of the enterprise, which is, or should be, truth telling. "
Michael Hayden
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" The point I wanted to make was, as we have moved forward on the war on terrorism, FISA has been increasingly effective in terms of results. "
Michael Hayden
Point
Forward
War
" This program has been successful in detecting and preventing attacks inside the United States. "
Michael Hayden
Inside
United States
Successful
" As much as we might look for opportunities to keep Iraq together, we need to be prepared for the reality that it's not going to stay together. "
Michael Hayden
Reality
Together
Opportunities
" Most of the 9/11 hijackers weren't married, none of them had families inside the United States, and there's no evidence that any family members moved before, during, or after 9/11. "
Michael Hayden
Family
Inside
Most
" Renditions before and since 9/11 share some basic features. They have been conducted lawfully, responsibly and with a clear and single purpose: Get terrorists off the street and gain intelligence on those still at large. Our detention and interrogation programs flow from the same inescapable logic. "
Michael Hayden
Intelligence
Street
Purpose
" My literal responsibility as director of the CIA with regard to covert action was to inform the Congress - not to seek their approval; to inform. "
Michael Hayden
Responsibility
Action
Congress
" For all of its well-deserved reputation for pragmatism, American popular culture frequently nurtures or at least tolerates preposterous views and theories. Witness the 9/11 'truthers' who, lacking any evidence whatsoever, claim that 9/11 was a Bush administration plot. "
Michael Hayden
Evidence
Reputation
Culture
" President Obama and his successors are dependent on the 100,000-plus people inside the American intelligence community - the people Edward Snowden betrayed. "
Michael Hayden
Intelligence
Community
People
" Responsibility demands action, and dealing with the immediate threat must naturally be a top priority. "
Michael Hayden
Dealing
Responsibility
Top
" At the end of the 30 Years War then, Europe broadly decided to separate the sacred from the secular in its political culture. I know that is an oversimplification, but it is instructive, and it led to a growth in religious tolerance that has characterized the best of Western life since. "
Michael Hayden
War
End
Growth
" Once you're in a network, you can do a whole bunch of things to that network. It's just that NSA doesn't have the authority to do that. "
Michael Hayden
Just
Authority
Things
" I know of no government official who would welcome an army of inspectors general combing through four years of emails on their unclassified accounts. That's why they use government accounts, where the government remains responsible for security, and they don't mingle personal correspondence with official. "
Michael Hayden
Government
Know
Why
" When I became director of CIA, it was just clear to me intuitively, without a whole lot of science behind it, that we had expanded rapidly and inefficiently. So I arbitrarily picked a number, 10 percent, and I said over the next 12 months, we are going to reduce our reliance on contractors by 10 percent. "
Michael Hayden
Me
Going
Said
" Our nation counts on us to have the expertise and the insight to flag the risks and the opportunities that lie ahead, and to keep our eye on all the critical international concerns that face our nation right now. "
Michael Hayden
Opportunities
Face
Lie
" I have spent my adult life working in American intelligence. It has been quite an honor. Generally well resourced. A global mission. No want of issues. And it was a hell of a ride. "
Michael Hayden
Life
Intelligence
Honor
" When I was at the CIA I asked my civilian advisory board to tackle some tough questions. Among the toughest: In a political culture that every day demands more transparency and more public accountability from every aspect of national life, could American intelligence continue to survive and succeed? That jury is still out. "
Michael Hayden
Intelligence
Day
Culture
" The Constitution defends all of us against unreasonable search and seizure. What constitutes reasonableness depends upon threat. "
Michael Hayden
Us
Search
Constitution
" Chairman Chaffetz was an enthusiastic supporter of the 'USA Freedom Act,' designed to rein in the allegedly renegade NSA and its wanton depredations of American privacy. "
Michael Hayden
USA
Act
American
" People don't question American power. What people need to be convinced of is American will. "
Michael Hayden
People
Power
Question
" The FISA Amendment Act of 2008 actually allows some of the things we were doing under the president's authority only against al Qaeda, it allows them for all legitimate foreign intelligence purposes. "
Michael Hayden
Doing
Against
Authority
" All enterprises and major players need to pay attention to the needs of the government of the country of which they are a part. At one level, it would be unconscionable for a company like Huawei not to be responsive to Chinese national-security needs. "
Michael Hayden
Country
Government
Need
" I've often said that the ISIS-Syria-Iraq mess is about as bad as it could be. "
Michael Hayden
About
Mess
Often
" I'm not hugging the Guantanamo location, but our right to hold people under the laws of war as enemy combatants, I think, is unarguable, and we need to stand up for that. "
Michael Hayden
War
Think
Stand Up
" There is no part of the executive branch that more exists on the outer edge of executive prerogative than the American intelligence community - the intelligence community, CIA, covert action. My literal responsibility as director of CIA with regard to covert action was to inform the Congress - not to seek their approval, to inform. "
Michael Hayden
Community
Responsibility
Intelligence
" Public discussion of how we determine al Qaeda intentions, I just - I can't see how that can do anything but harm the security of the nation. "
Michael Hayden
Discussion
Nation
Harm
" When asked if I miss being in government, I usually try to lighten the moment by responding that I awake most days, read the paper, and then observe that, 'It's yet another great day to be the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency.' "
Michael Hayden
Moment
Intelligence
Great
" I don't know if the European Union contributes a great deal to espionage. At the union level, they talk about commerce and privacy. But to keep citizens safe, that remains a responsibility back in national capitals. "
Michael Hayden
Responsibility
Privacy
Know