Dan Coats Quotes

The new century has brought on its own terrible dangers, which although not reaching the apocalyptic potential of the Cold War, still have the capacity to shake our world.

We all have to be concerned about the world being very dangerous.

After the Berlin Wall came down and Communism was on the run, I looked around and wondered what the next threat to the United States would be.

Since 2001, people have been scared. There's been some really scary stuff that's been happening - 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, anthrax letters, D.C. sniper, global warming, global financial meltdown, bird flu, swine flu, SARS. I think people really feel like the system's breaking down.

I worry about the world.

Since the end of the Cold War, Soviet aggression had been replaced by a number of particularly venomous threats, from Timothy McVeigh to Osama bin Laden.

The 21st Century has begun as an era of uncertainty, with a heightened focus on security and public safety.

When I was a boy we didn't wake up with Vietnam and have Cyprus for lunch and the Congo for dinner.

This century is going to be a very dangerous century.

The chief threats to security come from failed states.

I built a nuclear option to get peace, not to have bombs. Our enemies learned that they could not destroy us.

The world around us is constantly changing, and so do the threats that we face.

The U.N. has brought peace and order to many places around the world. However, terrorism, violent extremism, violations of human rights, natural disasters caused by climate change - they all threaten the lives of people today. Add migration, insufficient health care, lack of education, and the picture gets even bleaker.

Events keep happening that seem inexplicable and out of control. Donald Trump, Brexit, the War in Syria, the endless migrant crisis, random bomb attacks.

Mass migrations of climate refugees erode borders and nations, creating a global playground for terrorists and traffickers.

You look at Iran, you look at North Korea, you look at terrorists, we don't even know where to look. We don't know where to look. But believe me, you can look all over, so we are going to do that. We need a form of shield. We want to protect our country.

Now, here's a good question: should serious people focus on global political instability - terrorism, failing states, nuclear weapons - or should we focus on global climate instability - droughts, floods, extreme weather? Here's the correct answer: yes, both, because climate disruption will make every other national security problem worse.

At any rate, those problems [ non-proliferation regime for weapons of mass destruction ] would not be so acute, with numerous terror attacks and victims of those attacks in many areas of the world - in Europe and in the United States. We also never would have had such an urgent problem with refugees, I have no doubt about it.

We are much safer in the United States, but not yet safe.

The willingness to condone some form of interrogational coercion, including outright torture in particular extreme circumstances is directly related … to the degree that one takes seriously the threat that terrorists pose to entire cities.

The rise of terrorism and unconventional weapons will end the relative invulnerability of the U. S. homeland …. A direct attack against American citizens on American soil is likely over the next quarter of a century.

Biological terrorism poses the ultimate asymmetric threat but it should be considered in the same class as the nuclear threat.

When these attacks occur, as they likely will, we will wonder what more we could have done to stop them.

Either Al Qaeda is a threat worth acting against or it is not. CIA leadership has to decide which it is and cease these bi-polar mood swings.

If an unfriendly nation gets into a position to control the large-scale weather patterns before we can, the result could even be more disastrous than nuclear warfare.