Quotes about Casey

Mickey Mantle

My views are just about the same as Casey's.

Richard Lehman

He was amenable to argument, but it took a hell of a lot of argument

George Schultz

The CIA and Bill Casey were about as independent and a hog on ice and could be as confident as they were wrong.

George W. Bush

[William J.] Casey was an inappropriate choice.

Bush was Reagan’s Vice President, but had little influence on top level appointments. Bush would have been particularly helpful with this appointment as he had previously served as a very successful CIA Director. Others also disagreed with this Regan appointment. See {637469}. See {637470}, {613419} and {623500} for Casey quotes that support Bush’s judgment

Mickey Mantle

There were things that would irritate Casey, but trying too hard or getting mad at sitting on the bench weren't among them.

Barry Goldwater

I am pissed off!

Gerald R. Ford

I was absolutely surprised when President Reagan selected [William J.t] Casey. He was not qualified to be head of the CIA.

Casey was a disaster for the CIA. In addition to having the usual problems, Casey did not believe that the CIA should be constrained by law, and on numerous occasions his CIA broke the law—so much so that the distrust spilled over for the decades into the future. See {637470}, {613419} and {623500} for Casey quotes that support Ford’s judgment, and {636743} for another who agreed with Ford.

Abraham Sofaer

When I blew the whistle on the whole thing, it was [William J.] Casey who, I felt, regarded what I had done as treason.

If Casey had listened to Sofaer as the State Department did, President Reagan would have been spared the worst Scandal of his Presidency—Iran Contra. Casey had a great antipathy to lawyers. See {637470}.

Robert M. Gates

[William J.] Casey was guilty of Contempt of Congress from the day he was sworn in.

Casey frequently withheld information from Congress that he was legally required to report, did things without Congressional authorization and often lied in his testimony and reports to Congress.

Robert M. Gates

I learned serving under William J. Casey, that the Clandestine Service is the heart and soul of the agency [the CIA]. It is also the part that can land you in jail.

Casey continuously violated the law and lied to the President and Congress.

George Schultz

The CIA’s intelligence was in many cases simply Bill Casey’s ideology.

Bill Casey had an individual ideology of the world and being a strong administrator imposed that on most of intelligence analyses that the agency did during his tenure.

Casey Quotes