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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
People
Cia
Suddenly
Realized
Decisions
Decision
Death
Make
Life

More quotes by Leon Panetta

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It doesn't make a lot of sense for us to borrow money from the Chinese to go give to another country for humanitarian aid. We ought to get the Chinese to take care of the people.
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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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 most important thing we can do is prosecute the offenders, deal with those that have broken the law and committed this crime. And if we can do that then we can begin to deal with this issue and send a signal this is not a problem that we are going to ignore in the United States military.
Leon Panetta
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Winning in Afghanistan is having a country that is stable enough to ensure that there is no safe haven for Al Qaida or for a militant Taliban that welcomes Al Qaida. That's really the measure of success for the United States.
Leon Panetta
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I'm going to give people the benefit of the doubt.
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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In the zero-sum budget game, every dollar spent on this problem [illegal immigration] must be taken from somewhere else....No, we should not tolerate people immigrating illegally. But we need to treat this issue honestly and fairly.
Leon Panetta
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I'm not big on commissions.
Leon Panetta
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Well, the United States is a Pacific power. And we have always had a presence in the Pacific.
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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There's no question that the main location of al Qaeda is in tribal areas of Pakistan.
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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The fundamental premise is that neither the United States or the international community is going to allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.
Leon Panetta
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I think what both Republicans and Democrats need to do and the leaders on both sides is to recognize that if sequester takes place, it would be disastrous for our national defense and very frankly for a lot of very important domestic programs. They have a responsibility to come together, find the money necessary to de-trigger sequester.
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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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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I mean, the Taliban, my view is that they have been weakened. We have not seen them able to conduct any kind of organized attack to regain any territory that they've lost. We've seen levels of violence going down.
Leon Panetta
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The last thing I want to do is to make the mistakes of the past.
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