William S. Cohen Quotes

Look, we constantly live looking at the issue of the threat of terrorism.

Switzerland is part of the fight against terrorism. There is no neutrality against this threat.

I think a lot of programs, policies have been put in place since 9/11, have prevented a 9/11-style attack. On the other hand, I think the threat has become greater, not lesser.

The central role in the fight against terrorism is with national authorities.

I am committed to protecting our country against the threat of terrorism.

You can gesture at the transnational problem of Islamist terrorism all you like, but it's just hot air unless you invest in proper security on the ground in your own country, with the right safeguards to civil liberties.

There's no national strategy to deal with combating terrorism and foreign fighters.

We have to make sure we control who enters our country. And we have to sustain and increase our efforts to fight the terrorists at their source, both on the ground and in the battle for hearts and minds.

We fight terrorism. It threatens our sovereign, democratic, compassionate and decent way of life.

I think the American people believe in stopping and preventing terrorism pretty much at any cost.

It's very difficult to tell someone how to protect themselves from a terrorist attack, whether it occurs in the U.S. or on foreign soil, particularly when you have terrorists with no concern for human life.

We are in a war on terrorism. We need to conduct that war and take it to the terrorists, not here at home.

We are keeping New Jersey one step, several steps, ahead of terrorism.

With terrorism becoming the increasing tactic of choice, the military component would become a smaller component of our national security system.

We will pursue terrorists everywhere. At an airport – okay, at an airport. If we catch them in a lavatory, in an outhouse, we will take them out there with their pants down.

… the war on terrorism will serve as the justification for restraints on civil liberties.

I am ready to debate how we fight terrorism without giving up our liberty.

In 2001, terrorism was fought in a completely different way.

The numbers of terrorists that we have caught coming - we actually don't catch them coming across the border. We usually catch them in some other context.

The September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon prompted a fundamental shift in the American government's approach to Islamic terrorism.

I believe when the country feels threatened it is important that we are seen to be working together to find an appropriate structure for dealing with terrorists in our midst.

We must continue to ensure law enforcement has the necessary tools to combat terrorism here at home. We must also work with our allies and provide our military with the weapons and protective gear they need to defeat terrorism abroad.

To me, terrorists should not be able to hide behind their passports and their citizenship, and that includes U.S. citizens, whether they are overseas or whether they are here in the United States. What we need to do is to apply the appropriate tool and the appropriate response.

P of what al Qaeda tries to do, and terrorists, is disrupt. Americans should live their lives just as they have every day, but just be aware.

I believe the war on terror is the vital discussion of this decade and of our generation, probably. To win the war on terror, you need a good offense and a good defense. On defense, I regret to say, basically, this administration has not come close to doing what is necessary.