Defense Policy Quotes

It is a ridiculous notion to assert that because the United States is on the offense, more people want to hurt us. We are on the offense because people do want to hurt us.

We do not want a single foot of foreign territory; but of our territory we shall not surrender a single inch to anyone.

My first responsibility is to keep America safe.

A powerful Navy we have always regarded as our proper and natural means of defense; and it has always been of defense that we have thought, never of aggression or of conquest. But who shall tell us now what sort of Navy to build? We shall take leave to be strong upon the seas, in the future as in the past; and there will be no thought of offense or provocation in that. Our ships are our natural bulwarks.

Senator Clinton is very knowledgeable about national security and is probably going to be strong on defense. I have no doubts whatsoever that if she were president in January '09, she would not act irresponsibly and issue orders to conduct an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, regardless of the consequences, and squander the gains that have been made.

We owe it to our troops to make policy that strengthens America now and in the future.

The no-first-use policy for nuclear weapons was a well thought out stand... We don't intend to reverse it.

The time has passed in America when this party can be the party of compassion and let the executive branch run foreign policy. It won't work. We have to be the party that can stand toe to toe with George W. Bush on national security, as well as the party of compassion.

I can only say this, a very, very important element of any country, but our country, and in my opinion, the single most important thing that a president can do is the defense of our country.

The political system must listen to the military.

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.

We have the smallest navy since 1916, we have the lowest number of troops since the end of the Second World War. We've got to work with the congress and Donald Trump will, to rebuild our military and project American strength in the world.

I think the United States military is operating under rules of engagement that are too strict and that do not allow us to pursue victory. When I'm president, that will change.

The Military Industrial Complex. President Eisenhower had it wrong. It’s the Military Industrial Congressional Complex.

Military action without politics is like a tree without a root.

Pakistan has made no mention of ending our tests. We have a missile program, and it is in the national interest whatever we want to do.

War is just a racket... I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else.

The Cold War provided justification for a larger peacetime military, since we were never really at peace, or so the argument went.

We see a missile here, a bomb there - looks good on CNN. This is nonsense. This is not a strategy of a serious commander in chief.

The Army War College has been a tradition in central Pennsylvania for years.

For Americans war is almost all of the time a nuisance, and military skill is a luxury like Mah-Jongg. But when the issue is brought home to them, war becomes as important, for the necessary period, as business or sport. And it is hard to decide which is likely to be the more ominous for the Axis -- an American decision that this is sport, or that it is business.

Brainy folks were also present in Lyndon Johnson's administration, especially in the Pentagon, where Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's brilliant 'whiz kids' tried to micro-manage the Vietnam war, with disastrous results.

A nation with a goofy foreign policy needs a very serious policy of defense.

The United States is going to defend itself under any circumstances.