National Security, National Defense Quotes

Spying on the prime minister of Israel and Congress has nothing to do with national security - only politics.

The American people deserve a blueprint for policymaking that is built upon the Constitution of the United States and the principles of fiscal discipline, limited government, accountability, and a strong national defense.

The CIA was completely different from its image; it was liberal, nonviolent and honorable.

The dependence of one people upon another, even for the benefits of legislation, is the deepest source of national weakness.

As Director of the FBI, I am sworn to ensure that my special agents have what they need to protect themselves and the citizens of this country, and that they are trained to properly use and properly deploy that equipment in the right times and places.

Even as we are a nation of immigrants, we’re also a nation of laws. Undocumented workers broke our immigration laws, and I believe that they must be held accountable – especially those who may be dangerous. That’s why, over the past six years, deportations of criminals are up 80 percent. And that’s why we’re going to keep focusing enforcement resources on actual threats to our security. Felons, not families. Criminals, not children. Gang members, not a mom who’s working hard to provide for her kids. We’ll prioritize, just like law enforcement does every day.

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

Civilizations die from suicide, not murder

A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the highest duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of a high obligation.... To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law, would be to lose the law itself ... absurdly sacrificing the end to the means.

Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.

Don’t any of you realize that there is only one life between this madman and the Presidency.

The Constitution is not a suicide pact.

Government has three primary functions. It should provide for military defense of the nation. It should enforce contracts between individuals. It should protect citizens from crimes against themselves or their property.

Our Presidents should not be able to conduct secret operations which violate our principles, jeopardize our rights, and have not been subject to the checks and balances which normally keep policies in line

A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.

All you have to do is tell them they're being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to greater danger.

In vain do they worship peace at home, who cannot defend themselves against foreigners.

In history, nothing happens by accident. If it happened, you can bet someone planned it.

I have a personal belief that you never have to give up liberty for security. You can still provide security without sacrificing our Bill of Rights.

The only proper functions of a government are: the police, to protect you from criminals; the army, to protect you from foreign invaders; and the courts, to protect your property and contracts from breach or fraud by others, and to settle disputes by rational rules, according to objective law.

The Constitution of the United States is not a suicide pact.

We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in ten years. Either we do it, or they will crush us.

It [the CIA] was not intended as a Cloak & Dagger Outfit. It was intended merely as a center for keeping the President of what was going on in the World…I never wanted the CIA to act as a spy organization. That was never the intention when it was organized.

I think one of the great things about the United States has been our ability to maintain a distinction between our military and domestic law enforcement.

America must be kept American