Ronald Reagan Quotes

A major power can afford a military debacle only when it looks like a political victory.

National Intelligence Estimates are perhaps the most important documents created in the intelligence mechanisms of our government… A national estimate is a statement of what is going to happen in any country, in any area, in any given situation, and as far as possible into the future…

It's one of the reasons [Vladimir Putin invitation to U.S] why 50 national security officials who served in Republican information - in administrations have said that Donald [Trump] is unfit to be the commander- in-chief. It's comments like that that really worry people who understand the threats that we face.

I think all governments engage in intelligence gathering vis-a-vis other governments.

Simply stated, the need for accurate intelligence and prescient analysis from CIA has never been greater than it is in 2013 - or than it will be in the coming years.

Richard M. Helms, the first director of Central Intelligence to rise from the ranks, was fond of saying that the CIA had been founded to make sure that there would never be another Pearl Harbor. Underlying this mission impossible was the wishful supposition that an America that knew everything could prevent anything.

The skills of the British intelligence community are a great national asset.

I was an intelligence officer, not a policy-maker.

Nothing is more important to national security and the making and conduct of good policy than timely, accurate, and relevant intelligence. Nothing is more critical to accurate and relevant intelligence than independent analysis.

China remains too important for America's national security to risk the relationship on the emotions of the moment.... No government in the world would have tolerated having the main square of its capital occupied by tens of thousands of demonstrators.

… weak nation strategy

The time must arrive when we will have to contend with some of the great powers of Europe; but let that period be put off as long as possible.

It is not important what the other side says or means. What is important are the military capabilities of the other side.

The United States has become geopolitically hobbled seemingly interested in grand strategic initiatives or transformative diplomacy, as its attention constantly dances from one crisis to another.

I have spent my adult life working in American intelligence. It has been quite an honor. Generally well resourced. A global mission. No want of issues. And it was a hell of a ride.

I believe we do have a great intelligence service. Is it good enough in all circumstances? Of course not. We live in the human condition. We try to make it better each day.

CIA will continue to pursue every lead; analyze the information we collect with critical, objective eyes; and brief reliable intelligence to protect U.S. forces deployed around the world.

Believe me, most of the people in Russia are seeing the West as a threat.

President Trump say that relations between the United States and Russia may be at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.

We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger.

The president sets the tone. He creates the atmosphere, and that can be enlightened, progressive, or it can be intimidating, depending on what the president's agenda is. I think the other dimension of this that I worry about is impacts overseas with friends and allies, many of whom are very, very concerned about America's position in the world and whether or not it's going to continue its leadership, which has been the prevalent condition since World War II.

China is ruthlessly pragmatic. It supports North Korea for its own selfish interests. And I believe that China no longer considers us an ally. The current president, Xi Jinping, cultivates close relations with South Korea. He has never met with me, the leader of North Korea, something that the leader of China has always done. At the grand celebrations in Beijing two years ago commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, he placed the president of Russia and the president of South Korea at his side. In North Korea, we pay a lot of attention to ceremonies and what they signal.

America is less safe today than it was the day that Barack Obama became president of the United States.

We are the only nation in the world that waits till we get into a war before we start getting ready for it.

I recognize the United States is a superpower. It has various interests. It has to balance various things.