Leon Panetta Quotes

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Leon Panetta

Profession : Public Servant

Birth : June 28, 1938

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

The Taliban is resilient.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 last thing I want to do is to make the mistakes of the past.

Leon Panetta

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

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

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

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

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

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

I don't engage in hypotheticals.

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

Frankly, my fundamental beliefs have not changed.

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