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Work continuously to trim the White House staff from your first day to your last. All the pressures are to the contrary.

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
Firsts
Continuously
First
Staff
Work
Contrary
Pressure
Lasts
Last
White
Trim
House
Pressures

More quotes by Donald Rumsfeld

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Many people around the President have sizeable egos before entering government, some with good reason. Their new positions will do little to moderate their egos.
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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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Treat each federal dollar as if it was hard earned it was - by a taxpayer.
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Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.
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Don't be a bottleneck. If a matter is not a decision for the President or you, delegate it. Force responsibility down and out. Find problem areas, add structure and delegate. The pressure is to do the reverse. Resist it.
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Any country on the face of the Earth with an active intelligence program knows that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.
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There will be good moments, and there will be less good moments.
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Inspectors do not have the duty or the ability to uncover terrible weapons hidden in a vast country. The responsibility of inspectors is simply to confirm evidence of voluntary and total disarmament. Saddam Hussein has the responsibility to provide that evidence, as directed, and in full
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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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Plan backwards as well as forward. Set objectives and trace back to see how to achieve them. You may find that no path can get you there. Plan forward to see where your steps will take you, which may not be clear or intuitive.
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I tend over the years to have developed a certain hesitancy about believing that headlines tell the whole story.
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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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We don't seek empires.We're not imperialistic.
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I think it's very useful for you folks (reporters) to try your damndest to be precise. And don't repeat things that are inaccurate if you can possibly avoid it. And when you see things that are inaccurate, knock them down -- because there's a bucket of it floating around.
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And there is, I am certain, among the Iraqi people a respect for the care and the precision that went into the bombing campaign.
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Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin's still learning.
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There's another way to phrase that and that is that the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. It is basically saying the same thing in a different way. Simply because you do not have evidence that something does exist does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist.
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Amidst all the clutter, beyond all the obstacles, aside from all the static, are the goals set. Put your head down, do the best job possible, let the flak pass, and work towards those goals.
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When I served as US Ambassador to NATO in the 1970s, the center of gravity in Europe was France and Germany.
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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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