Sebastian Gorka Quotes

Everything the CIA does is secret and it is secret particularly from the Congress.

The desire of appropriations committee members to protect their prerogatives prevent Congress from effectively monitoring the intelligence community.

While the interests of the Intelligence community should not be taken lightly, we must remember that they exist to serve, not dictate.

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.

Intelligence is a sacred cow. We’ve done nothing since we’ve been here about it. The CIA isn’t worth a damn.

[William J.] Casey was guilty of Contempt of Congress from the day he was sworn in.

I've yet to meet a President who controlled the CIA.

So you represent Congress, what the fuck is that to the CIA. You’ll be gone in a few years and the CIA will still be here.

First, I have the privilege of being Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. It is not an oxymoron I assure you.

I think cleaning house at the CIA needed to happen.

The 33 different intelligence systems paid for by 15 different agencies need to be brought together…. A national debate on intelligence is necessary! … I am going to continue to fight a system that doesn’t want to hear the word “reform.”

There should be a mass purge of the CIA for incompetence…. There were 3,000 people killed on September 11, and not a single CIA operative has been fired. They missed that; they missed the weapons of mass destruction.

An urgent need exists for regular and responsible Congressional scrutiny of the Central Intelligence Agency. Such scrutiny is essential… Our form of government…is based on a system of checks and balances. If this system gets seriously out of balance at any point the whole system is jeopardized and the way is opened for the growth of tyranny…CIA is freed from practically every ordinary form of Congressional check. I agree that an intelligence agency must maintain complete secrecy to be effective. However, there is a profound difference between an essential degree of secrecy to achieve a specific purpose and secrecy for the mere sake of secrecy.

As the CIA is set up neither you, the National Security Council, nor anyone else will be in a position to know what it is doing or control it.

Congress has chosen to recognize that a president may be forced to pursue legitimate foreign policy objectives by covert means. Such recognition, however, does not mean it surrenders the right to be informed of covert measures so that it can express its views as to the legitimacy of the goals or the wisdom of seeking to achieve them.

Intelligence, like any other aspect of national security, has to be under civilian control.

The only way we can do oversight is if people tell the truth.

The trust that was reposed in the CIA has faded. The agency is so battered that its utility for espionage is subject to question

If Adam Schiff is able to review covert operations and intelligence, and if we have to be able to rely on his representations, our whole system is broken.

As both a career intelligence officer and as an American citizen, I am a strong believer in the importance of oversight. Simply put, experience has taught us that CIA cannot be effective without the people's trust, and we cannot hope to earn that trust without the accountability that comes with Congressional oversight.

Obama found a lot of people that think just like he does, and he put them in the intelligence community. Can you imagine? When you think of the intelligence community, don't you think of super patriots, don't you think of people out there even risking their lives to defend and protect the Constitution and the people of this country and this country itself as founded? No. That's not the kind of people Obama put at the CIA.

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.

I don't want to talk about intelligence matters. I will say, however, that intelligence-community estimates should not become public in the way of this city and in the way of Congress.

My experience is the White House is not a very good place to coordinate intelligence, much less to integrate it.

As a member of Congress, I believe Congress must provide oversight of actions by the Executive Branch as our system of checks and balances requires.