Leon Panetta quotes

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)
The last thing I want to do is to make the mistakes of the past. View quote
Leon Panetta
The United States is going to defend itself under any circumstances. View quote
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. View quote
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. View quote
Leon Panetta
The area of climate change has a dramatic impact on national security. View quote
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. View quote
Leon Panetta
Go forward, knowing that you are greater than the challenges of your time. View quote
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. View quote
Leon Panetta
I'm going to give people the benefit of the doubt. View quote
Leon Panetta
You don't deploy forces into harm's way without knowing what's going on. (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. View quote
Leon Panetta
Well, the United States is a Pacific power. And we have always had a presence in the Pacific. View quote
Leon Panetta
An aggressor nation or extremist group could gain control of critical switches and derail passenger trains, or trains loaded with lethal chemicals. View quote
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. View quote
Leon Panetta
I don't think I should penalize people who were doing their duty. View quote
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. View quote
Leon Panetta
The Taliban is resilient. View quote
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. View quote
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. View quote
Leon Panetta
There's no question that the main location of Al Qaida is in tribal areas of Pakistan. (Leon Panetta)
The United States will do whatever we have to do to protect our forces. View quote
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. View quote
Leon Panetta
Throughout the 40 years I've been in Washington, I've always worked hard, particularly with regards to the budget issues. View quote
Leon Panetta
Iran is isolating itself from the rest of the world. View quote
Leon Panetta