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I don't engage in hypotheticals.

Leon Panetta

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Leon Panetta
Age: 86
Born: 1938
Born: June 28
Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Lawyer
Political Scientist
Politician
Monterey
California
Leon Edward Panetta
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More quotes by Leon Panetta

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These days, it takes only seconds - seconds - for a picture, a photo, to suddenly become an international headline.
Leon Panetta
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I'm not big on commissions.
Leon Panetta
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The terrorism from 9/11 has metastasized. It's metastasized in Iraq and Syria, in Nigeria, in Somalia, in Yemen and in other places in North Africa. We need a very comprehensive strategy to deal with that threat.
Leon Panetta
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Rising sea levels, severe draughts, the melting of the polar caps, the more frequent and devastating natural disasters all raise demand for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
Leon Panetta
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I don't usually comment on columnists' ideas of what I'm thinking. That's a dangerous game to get into.
Leon Panetta
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I think the primary message to the world is that the United States is going to remain the strongest military power in the world.
Leon Panetta
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One demonstration of extremists, any more than a Ku Klux Klan demonstration in the United States, is not necessarily reflective of what the rest of the country feels.
Leon Panetta
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The United States has to be a leader in the world, because the problem is: If we are not leading, nobody else will.
Leon Panetta
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One of the principal qualities that you need as national security adviser is trust, the trust of the president. And that depends on truth and it depends on honesty.
Leon Panetta
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Clearly, Russia has lied to the world about what's going on in Ukraine. They have clearly violated the cease-fire agreements.
Leon Panetta
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Throughout the 40 years I've been in Washington, I've always worked hard, particularly with regards to the budget issues.
Leon Panetta
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You don't deploy forces into harm's way without knowing what's going on.
Leon Panetta
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I suddenly realized at the CIA that I had to make life-and-death decisions about people.
Leon Panetta
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Frankly, my fundamental beliefs have not changed.
Leon Panetta
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The reason we've always had a civilian in that job [Secretary of Defence] is because we really believe that it is policymakers who ought to control the military and not have the military control the military.
Leon Panetta
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I know that young people sometimes, caught up in the moment, make some very foolish decisions.
Leon Panetta
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Red lines are kind of political arguments that are used to try to put people in a corner.
Leon Panetta
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We are a nation at war. This is also a time for hard choices. It's about ensuring that we are able to prevail in the conflicts in which we are now engaged. But it's also about being able to be strong and disciplined in applying our nation's limited resources to defending America.
Leon Panetta
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You know, as director of the CIA, I got an awful lot of intelligence about all the horrible things that could go on across the world.
Leon Panetta
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I'm going to give people the benefit of the doubt.
Leon Panetta