Bill Nelson Quotes

We will have to continue to improve our human intelligence system-something that was, unfortunately, lacking in the years which led up to September 11. This is going to be a continuing process of change.

As has been the case throughout the history of terrorism, government anxiety centres on what to do about those against whom there may be intelligence but no usable evidence.

We need to strengthen our analytic capacity in Washington, we need to centralize the anti-terrorism effort.

I did not want to provide a blueprint or roadmap for the terrorists, saying 'Here are our new security procedures'.

I do not - I never believed it's better to kill a terrorist than to detain him. We want to detain as many terrorists as possible so we can elicit the intelligence from them in the appropriate manner so that we can disrupt follow-on terrorist attacks.

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

Our task, your task... is to try to connect the dots before something happens. People say, 'Well, where's the smoking gun?' Well, we don't want to see a smoking gun from a weapon of mass destruction.

But it is equally incontrovertible that if our intelligence gathering process is seriously flawed, we had better find out and find out fast if we are to avoid another Sept. 11.

In the difficult fight against the new menace of international terrorism, there is nothing more crucial than timely and accurate intelligence

Producers are so much better-educated in issues related to terrorism.

But clearly, this is what this is about. It's about pushing the security bubble out. It's about rooting out every last guy, so that there's not even somebody who can fire a single, solitary RPG round from some little qalat out here.

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

Counterterrorism analysts have known for years that al Qaeda prepares for attacks with elaborate 'targeting packages' of photographs and notes.

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.

Since September 11th Congress has created the Department of Homeland Security, more than doubled the homeland security budget and implemented a bipartisan overhaul of our intelligence systems.

Terrorists always have the advantage of surprise.

Look, we constantly live looking at the issue of the threat of terrorism.

It is no coincidence that our country has not been attacked since 9-11. Our initiatives to protect the homeland and aggressively take the fight to the terrorists have been factors in that success.

It is necessary secretly ---and urgently---to prepare for terror. And on Tuesday we will decide whether it will be through the SNK or otherwise

This [counterterrorism] is a game of drag bunts and stolen bases, not home runs.

If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long …. The war on terrorism will not be won on the defensive.

Successful counter-terrorist strategies are based on accurate and detailed intelligence on terrorist networks and activities

In order to win the war on terrorism, we have to win the war of information. Information is so very, very valuable. This is an important tool in gathering up information.

Our intelligence community was extremely poorly prepared before 9/11.

The hard reality is that attacks by vehicles in public places are very hard to defend against in a free and open society. The best defense against such attacks is good intelligence, and that often comes from inside the Muslim community.