Quotes By Leon Panetta

I don't think there's any question that America is safer as a result of the bin Laden operation.

The United States, and the president's made this clear, does not want Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. That's a red line for us. And it's a red line obviously for the Israelis so we share a common goal here.

If the Iraqis fail to implement the reforms, if they fail to get a handle on the violence, there's nothing the United States can do, militarily or otherwise, that can solve those problems. They have to assume the primary responsibility to govern themselves.

I don't engage in hypotheticals.

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

Winning in Afghanistan is having a country that is stable enough to ensure that there is no safe haven for Al Qaida or for a militant Taliban that welcomes Al Qaida. That's really the measure of success for the United States.

When you're smaller and leaner, you're not going to have that large a presence throughout the world.

Well look, CIA is an agency that has to collect intelligence, do operations. We have to take risks and it's important that we take risks and that we know that we have the support of the government and we have the support of the American people in what we're doing.

Well, you know, any defense force worth its salt has to be able to deal with uncertainty, has to be able to deal with events that we may not have planned for.

Go forward, knowing that you are greater than the challenges of your time.

I'm not big on commissions.

Red lines are kind of political arguments that are used to try to put people in a corner.

I think the primary message to the world is that the United States is going to remain the strongest military power in the world.

Iran's continued drive to develop nuclear capabilities, including troubling enrichment activities and past work on weaponization documented by the IAEA, and its continued support to groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist organizations make clear that the regime in Tehran is a very grave threat to all of us.

If you're a terrorist, you're a terrorist.

The area of climate change has a dramatic impact on national security.

In this century, the 21st century, the U.S. recognizes our prosperity and our security depends even more on the Asia-Pacific region.

The United States will do whatever we have to do to protect our forces.

Frankly, my fundamental beliefs have not changed.

I mean, the Taliban, my view is that they have been weakened.

The United States was attacked on 9/11/12, and we know who attacked us.

After every major conflict - World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the fall of the Soviet Union - what happened was that we ultimately hollowed out the force, largely by doing deep across-the-board cuts.

I think soon after I became director of the CIA - President Obama pulled me into the Oval Office and said: 'Look, I just want you to know that your top priority is to go after Osama bin Laden.'

It doesn't make a lot of sense for us to borrow money from the Chinese to go give to another country for humanitarian aid. We ought to get the Chinese to take care of the people.

Throughout the 40 years I've been in Washington, I've always worked hard, particularly with regards to the budget issues.

The last thing I want to do is to make the mistakes of the past.