Fred Ikle Quotes

The nature of Homeland Security is that no news is good news. And no news sometimes means somebody got interdicted at the border, somebody got interdicted before they could get on an airplane, somebody was arrested providing material support to terrorism. Homeland Security means very often something you never hear about.

But I warn my colleagues that we will fail in our efforts to protect the homeland if we do not take additional steps to avoid a trade-off between protecting ourselves against terrorists attacks and preparing for and responding to natural disasters.

It's very difficult to tell someone how to protect themselves from a terrorist attack, whether it occurs in the U.S. or on foreign soil, particularly when you have terrorists with no concern for human life.

As the third anniversary of the September 11th attacks draws near we must ensure our nation is prepared to handle the continued threat of violence and terrorism on our country.

On September 11, 2001, we thought we were going to be attacked many, many times between then and now. We haven't been. I believe we had a president who made the right decision at the right time... to put us on offense against terrorists.

For the first time federal, state and local bureaus of investigation are coordinating their effort, to serve as eyes and ears and protect us against further attacks.

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

We are keeping New Jersey one step, several steps, ahead of terrorism.

The administration points out that no major terrorist acts have occurred on American soil since 9/11. Clearly, we must be doing something right, they say, and maybe we don’t need to do much more--- at least not at home.

We have not yet, as a nation, made a generation-long commitment to this terrorist threat.

The terrorists are racing and we are moving at somewhere between a walk and a crawl, depending on the day of the week.

If terrorists attacked New York, Washington, or San Francisco with a weapon of mass destruction, the next day we will all be asking what steps we might have taken to prevent it. So the question is, “Why do we not take those steps now?”

Fighting terrorists does not require half a trillion dollars worth of conventional and nuclear forces.

The counterterrorism strategy known as CONTEST aimed to reduce the risk to the UK and its interests overseas from terrorism, so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence.

We protect the American people from a staggering range of threats. But make no mistake, securing the homeland against terrorism remains our top priority.

C'mon now, I'm not going to make it easy for the terrorists to get me.

Our folks at the FBI are working their tails off every day to stop and find criminals, terrorists, and nation-state adversaries.

The bottom line is we are pursuing every single possible action to keep our country safe from terrorism.

The greatest threat now is a 9/11 occurring with a group of terrorists armed not with airline tickets and box cutters, but with a nuclear weapon in the middle of one of our own cities...there's a high probability of such an attempt.

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.

Increased and better screening for explosives is necessary - and Congress should fund it and TSA should implement it as quickly as possible - however that screening doesn't reduce the risk posed by a trained terrorist with an unconventional weapon.

P of what al Qaeda tries to do, and terrorists, is disrupt. Americans should live their lives just as they have every day, but just be aware.

He can fight terrorists overseas, but he leaves our borders so they can come in here and do their thing.

Since September 11, the U.S. has significantly improved its security to prevent another attack.

Fighting a war on terrorism is like fighting against crime. We can never hope to eradicate crime, so we shouldn't bother fighting it.