Leon Panetta

“Red lines are kind of political arguments that are used to try to put people in a corner.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

“You don't deploy forces into harm's way without knowing what's going on.”

“I know that young people sometimes, caught up in the moment, make some very foolish decisions.”

“China is a major power in the Pacific and I think we are dealing with some common threats in that region: the whole issue of Korea and the stability of Korea, the whole issue of nuclear proliferation, the whole issue of providing free access to our ships that are operating in that area.”

“Al Qaeda still remains a threat.”

“There's no question that the main location of Al Qaida is in tribal areas of Pakistan.”

“I don't engage in hypotheticals.”

“I don't think there's any question that America is safer as a result of the bin Laden operation.”

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

“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.'”

“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.”

“Iran is isolating itself from the rest of the world.”

“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.”

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

“Companies should be able to share specific threat information with the government without the prospect of lawsuits hanging over their head.”

“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.”

“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.”