Porter Goss Quotes

Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.

Able Danger was a top-secret military planning operation, established in '99 by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to identify cells of al-Qaida worldwide and to take out al Qaida terrorists. They identified five cells worldwide, one of them in Brooklyn.

The safety and security of the nation depends more so than ever before on intelligence.

Are there topics of sufficient import to the nation's well-being to replace the Soviets as the focus of U.S. intelligence?

I think it's important for the president of the United States to be aware of the intelligence information that we have.

Because of the terrorist threat, the FBI and CIA have become as important as the military in preserving our freedom. Yet while thanking our military is standard practice in American life, no one thinks of thanking the FBI, the CIA, or the rest of the intelligence community for keeping us safe since 9/11.

As a nation we have, over the past seven years, been rebuilding our intelligence with powerful capabilities that many thought we would no longer need after the Cold War. We have been rebuilding our clandestine service, our satellite and other technical collection, our analytical depth and expertise.

It is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for the purposes of spying, and thereby they achieve great results.

The skills of the British intelligence community are a great national asset.

I had been involved in U.S. intelligence in Berlin, Germany, while in the military and had worked with a contact with the Central Intelligence Agency office there.

Intelligence is our first line of defense against terrorism, and we must improve the collection capabilities and analysis of intelligence to protect the security of the United States and its allies.

Looking back over my more than a half century in intelligence, I have not experienced a time when we've been beset by more crises and threats around the globe.

National Intelligence Estimates are perhaps the most important documents created in the intelligence mechanisms of our government… A national estimate is a statement of what is going to happen in any country, in any area, in any given situation, and as far as possible into the future…

The purpose of an intelligence service is to avoid war, not to promote one.

There are more foreign intelligence officers inside the US now, working against US interests, than there were at the height of the cold war.

There is an urgent need to develop the highest possible intelligence on the USSR in the shortest possible time.

I am unable to tell a quarter of a billion Americans what we are doing on their behalf, because if I did, it would become the table of contents of the training manual of the enemy.

Bill Stephenson taught us all we ever knew about foreign intelligence.

The security [of European national is dependent on the effective intelligence of their neighbors.

I have spent my adult life working in American intelligence. It has been quite an honor. Generally well resourced. A global mission. No want of issues. And it was a hell of a ride.

As a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, I know that the CIA, Treasury Department, National Security Agency, and others work closely to keep tabs on the IRGC's operations.

When I was first elected to the Senate, I was fortunate to be appointed to the Intelligence Committee. There, I saw up close the dedication and commitment of the men and women of our intelligence agencies.

National security, both internal and external, is a challenge.

SIS, the Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6, also has no executive powers and operates abroad on CIA lines, but with a tiny percentage of the budget and a tiny percentage of the personnel.

The human spy, in terms of the American espionage effort, had never been terribly pertinent.