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Don't automatically obey Presidential directives if you disagree or if you suspect he hasn't considered key aspects of the issue.

Donald Rumsfeld

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Donald Rumsfeld
Age: 88 †
Born: 1932
Born: July 9
Died: 2021
Died: June 29
Author
Businessperson
Diplomat
Former U.S. Secretary Of Defense
Military Officer
Politician
Chicago
Illinois
Donald Henry Rumsfeld
Considered
Automatically
Issue
Suspect
Keys
Obey
Aspect
Suspects
Issues
Aspects
Hasn
Disagree
Presidential
Directives

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Oh, Lord. I didn't mean to say anything quotable.
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Now, settle down, settle down. Hell, I'm an old man, it's early in the morning and I'm gathering my thoughts here.
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Arguments of convenience lack integrity and inevitably trip you up.
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I don't believe anyone that I know in the administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons.
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One of your tasks is to separate the 'personal' from the 'substantive.' The two can become confused, especially if someone rubs the President wrong.
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Make decisions about the President's personal security. He can overrule you, but don't ask him to be the one to counsel caution.
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At 78 years old, I am not surprised at much anymore. Germany has taken divergent positions before, so has France, so has England, so has the US.
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A terrorist can attack any time, any place using any technique and you can't defend everywhere against every technique at every moment.
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Preserve the President's options. He may need them.
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In our system leadership is by consent, not command. To lead a President must persuade. Personal contacts and experiences help shape his thinking. They can be critical to his persuasiveness and thus to his leadership.
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... something under $50 billion for the cost. How much of that would be the U.S. burden, and how much would be other countries, is an open question.
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If a person is determined to fight to the death, then they may very well have that opportunity.
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Most of the 50 or so invitations you receive each week come from people inviting the President's Chief of Staff, not you. If you doubt that, ask your predecessor how many he received last week.
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When starting at the bottom, be willing to learn from those at the top.
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Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.
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We do have a saying in America: if you're in a hole, stop digging ..... erm, I'm not sure I should have said that.
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It is unknowable how long that conflict [the war in Iraq] will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.
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Control your own time. Don't let it be done for you. If you are working off the in-box that is fed you, you are probably working on the priority of others.
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I don't know anybody that I can think of who has contended that the Iraqis had nuclear weapons.
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Pieces of intelligence, scraps of intelligence...you run down leads and you run down leads, and you hope that sometimes it works.
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