Vladimir Putin Quotes

Liberal Democrats in government will not follow the last Labour government by sounding the retreat on the protection of civil liberties in the United Kingdom. It continues to be essential that our civil liberties are safeguarded, and that the state is not given the powers to snoop on its citizens at will.

If the government and judiciary start working together then who will raise people's issues?

The Bill of Rights was not written to protect governments from trouble. It was written precisely to give the people the constitutional means to cause trouble for governments they no longer trusted.

I don't want to see this country ever go across the bridge. I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return.

I think it's always easy to be sympathetic to parts of the government in detail; in their concrete manifestations. Because obviously, we don't have government for no reason.

The NSA has the greatest surveillance capabilities in American history... The real problem is that they're using these capabilities to make us vulnerable.

I want to make one thing clear: I am proud to be a citizen of a country in which a prime minister can be investigated like any other citizen.

Our system of checks and balances requires policymakers to have accurate information about government actions.

The attorney general should be a watchdog for the rule of law, not a lapdog for the president - simple as that.

The promise I've tried to honor my entire career, that the rule of law and the design of the founders, right, the oversight of courts and the oversight of Congress will be at the heart of what the FBI does.

Governments regard their own citizens as their main enemy, and they have to be - protect themselves. That's why you have state secret laws. Citizens are not supposed to know what their government is doing to them.

Legal and bureaucratic impediments to surveillance should be removed.

We're a country of rule of law, and rule of law doesn't move fast, especially in an entity as big the U.S. government.

I see the job of attorney general as the single most important legal office in the country when you can't trust the federal government.

Congressional overseers and the public must be given appropriate insight into government activities as well as their legal rationale to ensure America's values are being upheld and our interests advanced.

The American people should not be footing the bill for federal employees who stonewall Congress or rewarding government officials' bad behavior.

It is every American's right to question any big event, especially when it's seized on to take the basic liberties of Americans.

These are issues we've been grappling with since the Constitution was written: how you hold your government to account for its words and deeds. It's all about power and the abuse of power.

Local law enforcement agencies, national police authorities, and other state-operated surveillance has created a hostile environment for communities at the margins.

We are a nation founded on distrust of government power, and questioning that power is essential to promoting transparency and accountability.

In a democracy, the citizens are supposed to have all the power, and the government is supposed to be the means by which the citizens exercise that power. But when you have a surveillance state, the state has all the power, and citizens have very little.

I don't have a problem with stepped-up surveillance as long as we follow the rule of law.

The best way to put the federal bureaucracy back on a leash is to make it obey the laws the people write.

I think most people accept that it is necessary to have some surveillance in a democratic society. I think most people accept that it's important to have limits and clear safeguards on that.

I think mass surveillance is a bad idea because a surveillance society is one in which people understand that they are constantly monitored.