Michael Isikoff Quotes

Mr. Luskin also says that Rove did not knowingly disclose classified information and did not tell any reporters that Valerie Plame worked for the C.I.A.

One of my books, called 'Moscow Station,' revealed that a KGB archivist had defected from Russia to the FBI. And I knew that he was safe, and revealing this would not jeopardize him. But nevertheless, the FBI started a leak investigation.

The CIA was corrupted during the Reagan Administration.

Hillary Clinton exposed our nation's most sensitive national security secrets to foreign adversaries.

The Trump administration's assault against the FBI's efforts to assess a national security threat posed by suspected foreign agents only raises more questions about what went on in 2016.

Libby was advised by the vice president of the United States that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA in the counterproliferation division. Libby understood that the vice president had learned this information from the CIA.

There is a huge difference between gathering intelligence in foreign countries, even our allies, and secretly getting information on U.S. citizens.

As I have said in the past, revealing specific targets or successes of U.S. intelligence activities is not in the public interest.

To get a FISA warrant to spy on a suspected spy, the feds go before a super-secret court located in a sealed room in the Department of Justice. With no defense lawyers present, they need only show probable cause that the target is an 'agent of a foreign power' engaged in intelligence gathering against the United States.

A lot has changed since I first arrived at CIA, but our mission remains as relevant and important as ever. And this is what makes our officers excited to come to work each morning, including me.

As a former F.B.I. special agent who conducted counterintelligence investigations, I can attest that foreign intelligence services do not operate on the basis of explicit agreements or even actions that, standing alone, constitute criminal activity.

I know CIA like the back of my hand.

I call people who are covering up NSA crimes traitors.

Under the 1991 Intelligence Authorization Act, US intelligence agencies cannot engage in covert actions abroad without a presidential finding that these operations are important to US national security.

When a foreign adversary knows that an American official has deceived or withheld vital information from our government, it creates a fundamental counterintelligence vulnerability that can render that official irreparably compromised.

Rather than trying to find evidence of a crime, the FBI's counterintelligence goal is to identify, monitor and neutralize foreign intelligence activity in the United States.

There's a big part of me that would love to be a secret agent. But if I showed up to do an investigation and interrogate someone now, they wouldn't be able to take me seriously. I've ruined that for myself.

The CIA agent looked more dead than alive. Alex wondered if he had been hit, but there was no sign of any blood. Perhaps he was in shock.

I'm not a spy for Russia or China or any other country for that matter.

I delivered a clear and forceful message that although we recognize Russia's intelligence gathering will sometimes take place even if we don't like it, there's a difference between that than either meddling with elections or going after private organizations or commercial entities, and that we're monitoring it carefully, and we will respond appropriately if and when we see this happening.

I couldn't get a job with CIA today. I am not qualified.

Every responsible chief in the CIA knows that the more covert the action, the greater the need for a clear policy and a defined target.

I never would have agreed to the formulation of the Central Intelligence Agency back in forty-seven, if I had known it would become the American Gestapo.

There are people who in large measure have information that we need . . . so that we can track down the weapons of mass destruction in that country.

[I will] totally dismantle every intelligence agency in this country piece by piece, nail by nail, brick by brick