Richard Engel Quotes

I wanted to be a hostage negotiator.

I was quite intrigued by the idea of following the exploits of people who are often in the margins. You see the negotiators, but it's usually the SWAT team or the tactical team that draw our eye.

I don't think it's a matter of going back and having a review of our process. Our process is about as thorough as there can be. Is it imperfect? Yes. Is there risk? Yes, but we start with the fact that we have an American that's being held hostage and that American's life is in danger and that's where we start. And then we proceed from there.

Producers are so much better-educated in issues related to terrorism.

Panic plays no part in the training of a nurse.

Being a 911 operator means balancing seemingly contradictory skills. On one hand, operators have to be fanatically precise and well-organized. On the other, they must be able to establish rapport with panicky callers.

The occupant should take all due and needful measures to restore and ensure public order and public safety.

Terrorism and negotiations simply do not go together.

The approach of danger always lends precision to the diplomatic art.

The best way to avoid hostages being taken in the future is to devalue the hostages that exist.

The President has full responsibility, which cannot be shared, for military decisions in a world in which the difference between safety and cataclysm can be a matter of hours or even minutes.

If your plane is being hijacked by an armed man who, though prepared to take risks, presumably wants to go on living, there is room for bargaining.

Well, what every place needs is a security plan that protects it.

Security and safety are very important for us.

Since I'm a professional communicator, I think I instinctively cling to doing what I do best, even in times of crisis and turmoil.

In my years as the FBI's lead international kidnapping negotiator, I learned an important fundamental lesson: Hostage negotiation is often nothing more than a business transaction.

Collaborative decision-making is very poor in crises.

I would have promised those terrorists a trip to Disneyland if it would have gotten the hostages released. I thank God they were satisfied with the missiles and we didn't have to go to that extreme.

If you shoot, I will kill her before I die." Yes," Kitai said in a patient tone. "Which is why I have not shot you. Yet.

I want the tigard. (Varyk) And I want you to leave. Guess who’s going to win this argument? And in case you’re even denser than you appear, it’s not you. (Dev)

America has maintained a prohibition on negotiating with terrorists for good reason.

I’m not leaving,” Sam said, his eyes fixed on the boy he was holding. “Not until Disney Princess here apologizes, or his head comes off, one of the two.

I have a lot of problems understanding connections between people and how to negotiate that. It makes everything hard offstage.

When peace has been broken anywhere, the peace of all countries is in danger.

One ought to be afraid of nothing other then things possessed of power to do us harm, but things innoucuous need not be feared.