David R. Brower Quotes

We can't simply blame the engineers when things go wrong because, no matter how well they plan, things don't always go according to plan.

It would be normal for anybody running a high-profile, politically controversial operation in China to anticipate worst-case scenario, and to do everything possible to guard against them.

No altered system will work a miracle. Any wild experiment will only add to the confusion. Our best assurance lies in efficient administration of our proven system

I worked at the crossroads of policy and operations. I kind of bring all that experience together because homeland security is a team sport, and I've played almost every role, every player, every team.

It turns out that we can build perfectly secure software, and yet people can still get hurt.

I spent my whole career thinking about risk, markets, infrastructure, and regulation. I had seen the financial crisis unfold, and I had seen the credit derivatives market get operationally ahead of itself, which resulted in systemic risk counterparty exposures. I began to believe that distributed ledgers had the capability to tackle that problem.

People often represent the weakest link in the security chain and are chronically responsible for the failure of security systems.

They simply don't know that much about what they're doing. There isn't enough control. There isn't enough capability in ordinary people to tinker with such a complicated piece of machinery.

Admiration takes on a whole new level when you appreciate just how complex it is to run a modern business.

NARA must provide security at our facilities to protect our public patrons, our staff, and our holdings.

The safety of the people is the first and foremost responsibility of government… We are not as prepared as we should be with our public safety network…. The margin for error is exceedingly and uniquely low.

We… need to recalibrate our expectations for what we access as actionable intelligence. We need to lower that threshold to the appropriate level and we need to have a higher threshold tolerance for pain in the event that we miscalculate or things go wrong or people get caught or something happens.

Privacy and confidentiality have always been among our core values. So the question is how to remain true to them in a changing technological and legal environment

With its present organization, staff and attitudes, the NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] is unable to fulfill its responsibility for providing an acceptable level of safety for nuclear power plants.

Chemical plants should not be allowed to regulate their own security.

The biggest risks posed by nuclear power come not from the technology but from the human institutions that govern how we use it.

I think there is a sort of box-ticking mentality. Not just in the teaching profession. You hear about it in medicine and nursing. It's a lawyer-driven insistence on meeting prescribed standards rather than just being a good doctor.

As we were growing retail, and it was a huge growth phase, it was very important to keep our quality under control. Therefore, it was not just distribution, not just back-office operations, but also the risk-management practices. And these we learned together, supported by technology.

There's no such thing as a foolproof system. That idea fails to take into account the creativity of fools.

I don't want to have to do production, which is very technical. I don't enjoy that.

Government's first duty and highest obligation is public safety.

Well, what every place needs is a security plan that protects it.

Operational risk is the risk of loss resulting from bank operational failures, such as rogue traders, fraudulent sales practices, and cyber risks. Operational risk capital is money or assets that banks have to hold to shield the economy from the consequences of these kinds of failures.

Safety is top priority for us, and all our drivers are fully certified; all of them are checked. Their addresses are checked. Backgrounds are checked. To whatever extent the Indian system makes it possible to check.

We've always operated under the belief that you could run a video game business as professionally as you could run a consumer packaged goods business, and you wouldn't diminish creativity.