Leon Panetta quotes

Leon Panetta is an American public servant and politician recognized for his leadership in government and national security. His distinguished career includes serving as Secretary of Defense, Director of the CIA, and White House Chief of Staff. He continues to influence public policy and mentor future leaders. Here are 81 of his quotes:

The last thing I want to do is to make the mistakes of the past.

Leon Panetta

The United States is going to defend itself under any circumstances.

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

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

The area of climate change has a dramatic impact on national security.

Leon Panetta

We either believe in the dignity of the individual, the rule of law, and the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, or we don't. There is no middle ground.

Leon Panetta

Go forward, knowing that you are greater than the challenges of your time.

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

I'm going to give people the benefit of the doubt.

Leon Panetta

After every major conflict - World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the fall of the Soviet Union - what happened was that we ultimately hollowed out the force, largely by doing deep across-the-board cuts.

Leon Panetta

Well, the United States is a Pacific power. And we have always had a presence in the Pacific.

Leon Panetta

An aggressor nation or extremist group could gain control of critical switches and derail passenger trains, or trains loaded with lethal chemicals.

Leon Panetta

You know, one thing I've learned over 40 years is that when you have jobs in Washington, you do it day by day and that's what I'm doing as secretary of defense.

Leon Panetta

I don't think I should penalize people who were doing their duty.

Leon Panetta

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

The Taliban is resilient.

Leon Panetta

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

If the Iraqis fail to implement the reforms, if they fail to get a handle on the violence, there's nothing the United States can do, militarily or otherwise, that can solve those problems. They have to assume the primary responsibility to govern themselves.

Leon Panetta

The United States will do whatever we have to do to protect our forces.

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

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

Leon Panetta

Iran is isolating itself from the rest of the world.

Leon Panetta