Michael Chertoff Quotes

We are in a war on terrorism. We need to conduct that war and take it to the terrorists, not here at home.

The primary goal of the War on Terror is to prevent an attack from happening.

In 2001, terrorism was fought in a completely different way.

We have an authorization to use military force against terrorists. We passed it after 9/11.

We do not create terrorism by fighting the terrorists. We invite terrorism by ignoring them.

We face now an era where we're going to be fighting the terrorist threat. I mean, that's simply a reality we are going to have to address that one.

I think the important thing to remember here is that we haven't been attacked again at home since September of 2001.

I believe the war on terror is the vital discussion of this decade and of our generation, probably. To win the war on terror, you need a good offense and a good defense. On defense, I regret to say, basically, this administration has not come close to doing what is necessary.

I am encouraged by the news today that United States special operations personnel found, identified and killed the terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the operational commander of the al-Qaeda led insurgency in Iraq. Al-Zarqawi was the public face of the insurgency.

The central role in the fight against terrorism is with national authorities.

I think the American people believe in stopping and preventing terrorism pretty much at any cost.

There is no doubt ISIS poses a clear, direct threat to the United States, and decisive action is badly needed.

I believe, based on the activities, and I am not an expert on terrorism by any stretch, but I believe that when they attacked the United States and they attacked New York and Washington, D.C., they thought they could defeat us.

The War on Terror is one of the most critical national security efforts in our history.

We must fight and win the battle against terror overseas so we never have to fight it here at home.

I think, as a nation, we didn't learn our lessons from the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. We should have been more careful in a whole host of areas.

Remaining vigilant toward this ever-present threat means constantly learning how better to protect ourselves. But primarily it reminds us that we must fight and win the war on terror, so that we do not have to fight it here in America.

With those attacks, the terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States. And war is what they got.

The relevance for 9/11 is that what 9/11 marked was the beginning of a struggle in which the terrorists come at us and strike us here on our home territory. And it's a global operation. It doesn't know national boundaries or national borders.

I think what we've learned is that the terrorist threat is serious, but it shifts. You cannot make a single person the sole focus of your counterterrorism.

The anguish in London is a vivid reminder of why we cannot relent in taking the steps necessary to defend our homeland from the present terrorist threat.

We're told another large-scale terrorist attack is inevitable by those people who have committed so many resources to preventing it. They likely know what they're talking about.

If it is terrorism, if it is war on terror, then the Afghan people will join you on terror.

It does surprise me that intelligent people in the 21st century could claim that if you respond to the terrorists with force, you spawn terrorism, but if you appease them, you somehow tame them. This argument, as I said, is very interesting, and very surprising.

We don’t intend to live with terrorism forever. We will do whatever is necessary …