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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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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
Death
Make
Life
People
Cia
Suddenly
Realized
Decisions
Decision

More quotes by Leon Panetta

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Go forward, knowing that you are greater than the challenges of your time.
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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Obama really does recognize the threats that are out there I think he understands the world. He understands the role of America in that troubled world.
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'm not big on commissions.
Leon Panetta
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There's no question that the main location of al Qaeda is in tribal areas of Pakistan.
Leon Panetta
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The United States will do whatever we have to do to protect our forces.
Leon Panetta
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In this century, the 21st century, the U.S. recognizes our prosperity and our security depends even more on the Asia-Pacific region.
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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I want you and the people of Israel to know a few things that have not and will not change. The United States stands firmly with Israel, and we have a rock solid commitment to the security of Israel and to the security of its citizens.
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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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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An aggressor nation or extremist group could gain control of critical switches and derail passenger trains, or trains loaded with lethal chemicals.
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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I think a quality that a national security adviser must have is the ability to set up procedures.
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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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.
Leon Panetta
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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.
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'm going to give people the benefit of the doubt.
Leon Panetta