Michael Hayden Quotes

I didn't spend a lot of time on national security the American people will be glad to know.

I now sit at the table in a variety of ways with the House leadership... as we go through taking a look at threat assessments and hot spots around the world. It's a national position, but certainly I don't forget that New Jersey has a critical part of national defense.

You know, as director of the CIA, I got an awful lot of intelligence about all the horrible things that could go on across the world.

I'm very confident that the solutions that we are developing are going to be effective not only in application in Iraq, but also will be very helpful for potential homeland security situations as well.

The American people and our allies around the world can rely on CIA's vigilance, excellence, and determination to proudly serve.

Our top focus - protecting our Nation - must go beyond homeland preparedness; America will only be secure if we deal with threats before they happen, not just after they happen.

After the horrific attacks of September 11th, it was evident that our Government needed to be transformed to meet the new challenges of this dangerous world.

I'm going to be so much better a president for having been at the CIA that you're not going to believe it.

Our people are working overtime - I say our people; our federal agencies in this regard - and that I'm confident that the way that you can stop this and make Americans the most protected for this is to take it to the terrorist groups.

I would say national security is work in progress.

I am committed to ensure that our intelligence community, law enforcement, medical professionals, and military have the information and funding needed to protect the American people from threats at home and abroad.

Mistakes, after all, are endemic to foreign and military policy given the unpredictability of events and the difficulty of securing reliable information in a place like Iraq.

I used to have a little saying I used when people said, 'What are your priorities?' I'd give them a bit of government alphabet soup. I'd say 'CTCPROW: Counterterrorism, counterproliferation, rest of the world.'

As president of the United States, my top priority will be to keep America safe. We're going to go after the terrorist networks. We're going to go after Osama bin Laden. We are not going to live in fear in this country.

Global security can be formed or threatened by heads of state whose wisdom, folly and obsessions shape global events. But often it is the security practitioners, those rarely in the headlines but whose craft and energy quietly break new ground, who keep us safe or put us in peril.

And while the U.S. can never be 100 percent safe from a future strike, our government is working around the clock on measures to protect the American people.

Looking back over my more than a half century in intelligence, I have not experienced a time when we've been beset by more crises and threats around the globe.

Many threats to the homeland begin overseas, and that's where we need to be.

During my time as CIA Director and Secretary of Defense, Hillary was a strong supporter of our efforts to protect our homeland, decimate al-Qaeda, and bring Osama bin Laden to justice.

What I can do as the member of the United States Senate is try to do everything I can to keep America safe.

Our national security is not a partisan issue.

One of our pillars has to be national security - our nation's security both domestically and abroad.

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

There's so many things, when you're in national security, that you do that aren't perfect, but you do them because you think you're doing what the country needs to be safe.

No one wants to friend or follow covert info about Pakistan's nuclear policy.