"The actions that we take on the counterterrorism front, again, are to take actions against individuals where we believe that the intelligence base is so strong and the nature of the threat is so grave and serious, as well as imminent, that we have no recourse except to take this action that may involve a lethal strike.“

-John O. Brennan

posted in intelligence

John O. Brennan quote about intelligence: "The actions that we take on the counterterrorism front, again, are to take actions against individua..."

Other Quotes

Discover more inspiring quotes from our collection

"Why should a great and powerful nation like the United States allow its relationship with more than a billion Muslims around the world to be defined by the narrow hatred and nihilistic actions of an exceptionally small minority of Muslims?"

-John O. Brennan

relationshipView Quote

"As a former career intelligence professional, I have a profound appreciation for the value of intelligence. Intelligence disrupts terrorist plots and thwarts attacks. Intelligence saves lives."

-John O. Brennan

intelligenceView Quote

"I will not, nor will I ever, publicly divulge sensitive intelligence sources and methods. For when that happens, our national security is endangered and lives can be lost."

-John O. Brennan

intelligenceView Quote

"We are in this business, whether it be intelligence or the government, to protect freedom, democracy and liberty, not to violate that."

-John O. Brennan

intelligenceView Quote

"I do not - I never believed it's better to kill a terrorist than to detain him. We want to detain as many terrorists as possible so we can elicit the intelligence from them in the appropriate manner so that we can disrupt follow-on terrorist attacks."

-John O. Brennan

intelligenceView Quote

"While the intelligence profession oftentimes demands secrecy, it is critically important that there be a full and open discourse on intelligence matters with the appropriate elected representatives of the American people."

-John O. Brennan

intelligenceView Quote

Same Category

More quotes in this category

"I wasn't privy to all of the intelligence that was coming in about Guatemala, but I did see the traffic that was coming in from Guatemala City, because it was very relevant to me, and of course I exchanged what I had with the chief of station in Guatemala City."

-E. Howard Hunt

intelligenceView Quote

"Foreign Ministry guys don't become agents. Party officials, the Foreign Ministry nerds, tend not to volunteer to Western intelligence agencies."

-Aldrich Ames

intelligenceView Quote

"We had periodic crises in this country when the technical intelligence didn't support the policy. We had the bomber gap, the missile gap."

-Aldrich Ames

intelligenceView Quote

"The resistance of policy-makers to intelligence is not just founded on an ideological presupposition. They distrust intelligence sources and intelligence officials because they don't understand what the real problems are."

-Aldrich Ames

intelligenceView Quote

"There are so many things a large intelligence espionage organization can do to justify its existence, that people can get promotions for, because it could result in results."

-Aldrich Ames

intelligenceView Quote

"Our Soviet espionage efforts had virtually never, or had very seldom, produced any worthwhile political or economic intelligence on the Soviet Union."

-Aldrich Ames

intelligenceView Quote