John Yoo Quotes

Governments in countries across the world have a duty to do everything possible to keep the public safe from terrorist attacks.

Preventing terrorist attacks is of the highest important, but trashing the Constitution is not the right way to do it.

The use of these techniques against these terrorists made us safer. It really did work.

We want our government to protect us, to make sure something like 9/11 never happens again. We quickly moved to give law enforcement more power to do this. But that now begs the question, did we move to fast? Did we give too much power away? I don't have the answer.

Since the tragedies, the Department of Homeland Security was established to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, and most importantly, to share intelligence information among government agencies and departments.

The prompt assimilation of that intelligence will be essential if we are to avoid another September 11th.

There is no priority higher than the prevention of terrorism.

We have to think outside the box, inside the Constitution, find ways to do things that will elevate our security, reduce the risk of the incidence of terrorist attack.

We have no more fundamental obligation in government than to ensure the safety of our citizens.

We do not take away the powers of surveillance. We do not take away the right and the power of the government to go after those who would do us wrong.

Well the first order of government is to preserve the public order and safety.

The Blue and White government, led by me, will assemble the strongest security cabinet against terrorism and restore deterrence.

We have to argue forcefully and demand that the government recognise that these programmes do not prevent - mass surveillance does not prevent acts of terrorism.

The intelligence activities undertaken by the United States government are lawful, necessary and required to protect Americans from terrorist attacks.

We have to find ways in which, collectively, we agree there's some things that government needs to do to help protect us, that in this age of non-state actors who can amass great power, I want my government - and I think the German people should want their government - to be able to find out if a terrorist organization has access to a weapon of mass destruction that might go off in the middle of Berlin.

When we uphold the rule of law, our counterterrorism tools are more likely to withstand the scrutiny of our courts, our allies, and the American people.

Once the attacks occur, as we learned on Sept. 11, it is too late. It makes little sense to deprive ourselves of an important, and legal, means to detect and prevent terrorist attacks while we are still in the middle of a fight to the death with al Qaeda.

Left to me, the whole purpose of government is for the security of the citizens, like the security of lives and property.

And so every one of us in the FBI, I don't care if it's a file clerk someplace or an agent there or a computer specialist, understands that our main mission is to protect the public from another September 11, another terrorist attack.

I think the American people believe in stopping and preventing terrorism pretty much at any cost.

2008 was to the American economy what 9/11 was to national security. Yet while 9/11 prompted the U.S. government to tear up half the Constitution in the name of public safety, after 2008, authorities went in the other direction.

The new rule says that the FBI has the right to go to public places on the same terms and conditions as other members of the public for counter-terrorism purposes.

Remaining vigilant toward this ever-present threat means constantly learning how better to protect ourselves. But primarily it reminds us that we must fight and win the war on terror, so that we do not have to fight it here in America.

I want a counter-terrorism regime that is proportionate, focused and transparent.

The FBI. is a massive culture. It's been a culture that served America well, and it's been focused on prosecution. But what we need in terms of terrorism is prevention.