John Ashcroft Quotes

Our folks at the FBI are working their tails off every day to stop and find criminals, terrorists, and nation-state adversaries.

Terrorists and criminals are increasingly adept at exploiting cutting-edge technologies to carry out or to mask their crimes. To counter current and emerging threats, the FBI actively deploys a wide range of technology-based tools, capabilities, and training that enable and enhance intelligence, national security, and law enforcement operations.

The federal government has not been effective enough monitoring and surveilling bad guys.

Despite constant vilifying by the media and congressional threats to take away the tools needed to uncover plots, FBI agents and CIA officers work silently around the clock and risk their own lives to keep us safe.

But we had - I think if you look at law enforcement 10 years ago, if you look at the challenges, the FBI was focused excessively on what was happening in the United States.

For the first time federal, state and local bureaus of investigation are coordinating their effort, to serve as eyes and ears and protect us against further attacks.

FBI Miami is one of the top five offices. Not only are they responsible for all the work that goes on here in South Florida, but they are one of my international offices, so they cover kidnappings or counterintelligence matters or counterterrorism matters in the whole hemisphere.

In all the years I've taught at the FBI Academy, I've only seen crime get easier, faster, and harder to detect.

The FBI is a field-based law enforcement organization, and the vast majority of our investigations should continue to be worked by our field offices.

Just as our adversaries evolve, so, too, must the FBI.

The work of the FBI, to put it mildly, is complex and covers just about every threat we face.

The men and women of the FBI are deployed around the clock, all over our country and around the world, identifying and disrupting threats, and pursuing those who would do us harm.

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.

The nature of Homeland Security is that no news is good news. And no news sometimes means somebody got interdicted at the border, somebody got interdicted before they could get on an airplane, somebody was arrested providing material support to terrorism. Homeland Security means very often something you never hear about.

I was a federal prosecutor when we exercised powers under the Patriot Act or under the FISA court.

The appropriate response to terrorist crimes is police work, which has been successful worldwide.

I have always had confidence in our front line F.B.I. personnel as well as the F.B.I. leadership.

Anyplace we go in the world, when someone asks us what we do, we feel an immense pride in saying, 'FBI.'

I am confident that every action we took as the FBI detained individuals in the wake of 9/11 was appropriately done.

I always had a lot of respect for the hard work and the hours and the dedication it takes to do these jobs but even more now, yes. The fact that we've gotten the opportunity to go to the FBI and meet the people who do this for real and also have consultations with them.

In the wake of the September 11 attacks, it became clear that the FBI's number one priority must be the prevention of another terrorist attack.

For the FBI and for the United States, the war on terrorism is a complex and perplexing issue. It is as complex and perplexing as any issue we have ever faced.

FISA is one of the most important investigative tools we've got in preventing our adversaries from harming our country.

The point is the country has got serious problems dealing with terrorism both domestic and international.

We, the FBI, don't investigate ideology, no matter how repugnant. When it turns to violence, we're all over it.