John Brennan Quotes

White House leaks of classified information put the lives of U.S. service members, intelligence officers, and civilians at risk. That's why I support a measure passed by the Senate Intelligence Committee to crack down on such leaks.

Given the scope of these programs, it's understandable that many would be concerned about issues related to privacy. But what's difficult to understand is the motivation of somebody who intentionally would seek to warn the nation's enemies of lawful programs created to protect the American people. And I hope that he is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

I do not want to respond to leaks that concern things that have to do with state secrets of the first degree.

I worked with people like Edward Snowden. Well, not people who took stuff home.

Leaking of classified material is a concern.

The United States strongly condemns the illegal disclosure of classified information. It puts people's lives in danger, threatens our national security, and undermines our efforts to work with other countries to solve shared problems.

Our agency (the Central Intelligence Agency) is the last refuge of organizational privacy available to the U. S. Government.

I can't take classified information that I get as a senator and give it to someone with no consequence.

President Obama and his successors are dependent on the 100,000-plus people inside the American intelligence community - the people Edward Snowden betrayed.

We cannot have people leaking classified information at any level, and we certainly take that very seriously and would not ignore that.

I was in the CIA for nine years. I am intimately familiar with the information classification system. I used it every day on the job. Like every other one of my colleagues at the agency, I approached the handling of classified information with immense care because I understand the ramifications.

In the case of someone sharing classified information with foreign intelligence, for example, the FBI could surreptitiously ensure that they are no longer able to obtain sensitive information.

My real issue is that the woman [Hillary Clinton] exposed thousands and thousands of classified documents, which, if I exposed one of them when I was in the Justice Department, they would have put me in jail. That's what I know.

I think anybody in our - in the, in the national security apparatus has, has got to take full cognizance of their responsibility for the safeguarding of classified information.

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.

The U. S. press has become a major source of unauthorized intelligence information. Classified information disclosed in the press is the equivalent of information obtained by enemy espionage.

Some things simply cannot leak. And if they do leak, the government has to do something about it.

Regarding Wikileaks, I have profound ambivalent feelings about it. I am a firm believer in a strong intelligence service. There's a need for classified information.

It borders on inconceivable that Clinton didn't know that the emails she received - and, more obviously, the emails that she created, stored and sent with the server - would contain classified information.

I've long maintained during my 50-plus year career in intelligence that leaks endanger national security, they compromise sources, methods, and tradecraft, and they can put assets' lives at risk.

For the record, in my long career, I've never knowingly exposed classified information in an inappropriate manner.

I do not agree with what Mr. Snowden did. He has damaged American international relations and compromised our national security. He leaked classified information and may have jeopardized human lives. That must be condemned.

Here's my problem: Hillary Clinton has been found grossly negligent of classified information. Period. She should not have any security clearance. That should be taken away from her.

The U.S. government places considerable trust in those given access to classified information, and we are committed to prosecuting those who abuse that trust.

If my son or your son handled classified information the way that Hillary Clinton did, they'd be court marshaled.