48+ Leon Panetta Quotes On Education, War And Israel

Leon Panetta is an American politician who served as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2009 to 2011. He is also a former Secretary of Defense, White House Chief of Staff, and Director of the Office of Management and Budget. He has served in Congress and is currently the Chairman of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Leon Panetta on education, war, leadership.

Top 10 Leon Panetta Quotes

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. The potential for the next Pearl Harbor could very well be a cyber-attack.
4. 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.
5. If we don't do something to simplify the tax system, we're going to end up with a national police force of internal revenue agents.
6. My father said I was perfectly suited for Washington because I've always worked around nuts.
7. I think it's extremely important that the president Donald Trump himself indicate that he too wants to discover the full truth behind what the Russians did to elections 2016.
8. The United States has to be a leader in the world, because the problem is: If we are not leading, nobody else will.
9. 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.
10. Caution is an important quality in a leader, but it has to be caution followed by decision. Caution followed by ambivalence can be a weakness.

Leon Panetta Short Quotes

• The United States will do whatever we have to do to protect our forces.
• There's no question that the main location of al Qaeda is in tribal areas of Pakistan.
• You don't deploy forces into harm's way without knowing what's going on.
• The United States was attacked on 9/11/12, and we know who attacked us.
• The United States is going to defend itself under any circumstances.
• I think a quality that a national security adviser must have is the ability to set up procedures.
• The last thing I want to do is to make the mistakes of the past.

Leon Panetta Famous Quotes And Sayings

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

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

The reality is that the United States military alone cannot be all things to all nations. We will sharpen the application of our resources, better deploy our forces in the world and share our burdens more and more effectively with our partners. And frankly, all our allies need to do the same. — Leon Panetta

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

I have tremendous confidence in the ability of government institutions and the American people to do what is right to make sure that our democracy stays on the right track. — Leon Panetta

When you're smaller and leaner, you're not going to have that large a presence throughout the world. — Leon Panetta

Clearly, Russia has lied to the world about what's going on in Ukraine. They have clearly violated the cease-fire agreements. — Leon Panetta

The president is out there today trying to talk about health care, and the reality is nobody cares about what he's saying on health care because this news is consuming everything. No president could tolerate that or should tolerate it. — Leon Panetta

I think my best advice would be to separate Donald Trump, the president of the United States from whatever investigation is being conducted by the FBI. I mean, there is something to be said, frankly, about the need for the appointment of an independent prosecutor because the American people are entitled to have a full review of what happened as a result of what the Russians did during our election. — Leon Panetta

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

My impression is that Putin feels that he can basically manipulate the West to do what he ultimately wants to achieve, and that he feels he's gotten away with it so far, and that all he has to do is basically play the same game. — Leon Panetta

I want to reassert again the position of the United States that with regards to Iran, we will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, period. We will not allow them to develop a nuclear weapon, and we will exert all options in the effort to ensure that that does not happen...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

Throughout the 40 years I've been in Washington, I've always worked hard, particularly with regards to the budget issues. — Leon Panetta

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

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

The consequence could be that we would have an escalation that would take place that would not only involve many lives, but I think it could consume the Middle East in a confrontation and a conflict that we would regret. — Leon Panetta

I think soon after I became director of the CIA - President Obama pulled me into the Oval Office and said: 'Look, I just want you to know that your top priority is to go after Osama bin Laden.' — Leon Panetta

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

The one thing that I remember from all of my intelligence briefings and my dealings with the Russians is that when you deal with the Russians, you have to deal with them from strength, not from weakness. — Leon Panetta

People elected Donald Trump because he acts decisively. He fired James Comey. He didn't fire the entire FBI. If there's something there, the FBI is going to continue to investigate it. — Leon Panetta

The political and substantive reality is that the agenda has to change. I don't think they have any choice. — Leon Panetta

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

Russians understand strength, and if they feel that their opponents are weak, they will take advantage of it. — Leon Panetta

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

The United States has to have the capability to deal with more than one enemy at one time and be able to confront them and win. — Leon Panetta

The White House was so eager to rid itself of Iraq that it was willing to withdraw rather than lock in arrangements that would preserve our influence and interests. — Leon Panetta

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

My experience is that the director of the FBI is particularly important to just how aggressive an investigation will be into an issue. And once you remove James Comey, it creates a vacuum at the top. And the fundamental issue will be whether or not there is support at the highest levels within the FBI to continue to conduct that investigation. That's going to be the question mark. — Leon Panetta

When you cut a half-a-trillion dollars from the defense budget, it affects almost every area in the defense budget. — Leon Panetta

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

We have throughout our history been tested when it comes to the institutions of our democracy. And thank God our forefathers were smart enough to establish a government of checks and balances to make sure that power cannot be centralized in any one branch of government. And those institutions have proven themselves. — Leon Panetta

Life Lessons by Leon Panetta

1. Leon Panetta taught us the importance of strong leadership, collaboration, and communication in order to achieve success.
2. He also demonstrated the value of having an understanding of the complexities of the world and the need to be prepared to respond to any situation.
3. Lastly, he showed us the importance of having a clear vision and being decisive in order to make the right decisions for the greater good.