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When cutting staff at the Pentagon, don't eliminate the thin layer that assures civilian control.
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
Civilians
Eliminate
Layers
Staff
Thin
Assures
Cutting
Civilian
Control
Pentagon
Layer
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If in doubt, don't. If still in doubt, do what's right.
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Is it likely that an aircraft carrier or a cruise missile is going to find a person?
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Preserve the President's options. He may need them.
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When business accepts help from the government, it can be like going to bed with a hippopotamus. It's nice and warm for the moment, but then your bedmate rolls over and crushes you.
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Our task, your task... is to try to connect the dots before something happens. People say, 'Well, where's the smoking gun?' Well, we don't want to see a smoking gun from a weapon of mass destruction.
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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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[on Osama bin Laden] He is either alive and well or alive and not too well or not alive.
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Certainty without power can be interesting, even amusing. Certainty with power can be dangerous.
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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.
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There will be good moments, and there will be less good moments.
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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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It's a difficult thing today to be informed about our government even without all the secrecy.
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Leave the President's family business to him. You will have plenty to do without trying to manage the First Family. They are likely to do fine without your help.
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General Boykin has requested that an inspector general review this matter. And I have indicated that if that's his request, I think it's appropriate.
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If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't I'll just respond cleverly.
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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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There are things that we know, and there are things that we don't know. Then there are the things that we don't even know that we don't know. Those are the things that are the hardest.
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Don't think of yourself as indispensable or infallible. As Charles De Gaulle said, the cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men.
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If you try to please everybody, somebody's not going to like it.
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The Cold War was a war, and we won it.
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