Lee Hamilton Quotes (46 Quotes)

Our sense is that the commission supports reform of the intelligence community, but we have come to no judgment about the nature of reform that we will recommend.

I do not find anyone today really in charge. You cannot possible argue today that the director of central intelligence is in charge.

The status quo failed us. Reform is an urgent matter, and reform must not wait until the next attack.

We believe that another attack will occur and we had better get to it and protect the American people. It's not a question of if.

I do not remember a president having less criticism from Congress than Bush had in his first term.

Without question, women are leading the charge. Has sex appeal helped Sure ... But we're going to maintain reasonable tastes.

The president needs to articulate very clearly again what the targets are of our war on terrorism, ... It is terrorism with a global reach, particular terrorist organizations Is it countries that harbor or develop weapons of mass destruction Is it only countries that harbor terrorists What really are the targets that we're aiming at in this war on terrorism. I think there has been a loosening if you will of the objectives the president originally stated and it's become less clear just what are our targets. .... Now if you want to take on another whole objective, which is to stop weapons of mass destruction from being developed in countries, you better spell out exactly what you are planning to do and how you plan to get there. The administration is a long way from doing that.

You want to disavow labels and project centrist attitudes. Hoosiers pride themselves on being people of moderation and common sense.

wants to make it more difficult for national security officials to carry out their responsibilities.

Without good voter registration data, you simply cannot conduct a good election.

It is fair to ask how long the FBI will take to reform itself ... The terrorists will not wait,

It's very disappointing, and even depressing, to see that four years after 911 we have not done many of things we should have done to get ready for a disaster. Things are moving, but they're just moving slowly.

Others take a more pragmatic view, at least of the failed CIA operation. It didn't succeed. It's not the first time, ... It's a very tough thing to throw a man out of power especially one as crafty and cunning as Saddam Hussein.

Some 18 months after that terrifying day, we still have no comprehensive analysis of 911, no authoritative record of the many forces that led to the attacks, no definitive narrative of the events of the day.

No one could order the troops in, they couldn't get the equipment in, they couldn't evacuate the people who needed to be evacuated, ... that was glaringly absent.

We certainly learned from Katrina that we remain very vulnerable to an incident of this kind, whether it's a terrorist attack or a natural disaster,

I think there is a genuine split within the administration, within the Congress, within the country as to how to proceed in the next phase on terrorism,

Reforms are at risk from inertia and complacency. Reforms must be accelerated or they will fail.

We take for granted in this country the voting process. It's really a very elaborate complicated process, but it lies right at the heart of the democratic system.

A number of our recommendations were in the area of emergency preparedness. Had they been executed, the death toll would have been lower.

that most people would back away from. I know I would.

I hope the product is being sharpened from what we saw. We saw a lot of things that were unsubstantiated, that were almost in the rumor category.

The intelligence community goes around the authorizing committees because they don't have control over the money. You need a subcommittee that focuses exclusively on intelligence to have robust oversight.

A member of an intelligence committee who hears of some activity he disapproves of has no real way to bring that public because if he does, he's breaking the law.

The structure of the intelligence community has not changed since 911. The commission believes the status quo is unacceptable, ... This legislation is necessary to make the American people safer and more secure. We believe it must be enacted before the 108th Congress adjourns.

She's told us she's happy to have us come back, so we're going to get the information that we want in the commission,

I hope Indiana and a lot of other states now move to begin to focus not just on the putting together of a voter registration list but maintaining the quality year after year.

He hasn't got much of what he wanted. But on the other hand, Congress hasn't done much of anything this year.

We are a mobile, dynamic society. We depend upon open, accessible transportation systems. Terrorists know that. It's the reason they target transportation, and it's why we must stop them.

I've had an uneasy feeling for a long time that the government simply was not acting with a sense of crisis, with a sense of urgency.

I'm surprised, I'm disappointed and maybe even a little depressed that we did not do better four years after 911. It says we're still very vulnerable.

What struck me after Katrina was we were not as safe as I thought we were,

Congress is not working hard enough at the business of legislating. They do work hard at politicking and spend a huge amount of time raising money.

They have become quite a strong ally for the United States in terms of the war on terrorism.

That's common sense. We're not there yet.

When I get on an airplane, I am less worried about the passengers than what is going into the hole below. I worry about containers being shipped into this country. I worry more about rail security than I do air security.

But there's another whole dimension here, and that dimension is the public dimension -- and I think the American public would benefit from hearing Condi Rice testify under oath.

an important service to the nation.

The president has a lot at stake here. This is the first major test of his political clout after the election, ... He's said over and over again, 'I support this bill.' Now, if he fails to get that bill through, he has to be worried about the signal that sends about his own political clout with his own party. I think the Congress has a lot at stake. But aside from politics, what is really important here is the safety of the American people.

We don't really have an ethics process any more in the Congress, so that these things are not exposed or considered until this becomes a criminal law case.

We want to understand what went wrong and what steps have been taken to make the American people safe and more secure.

It is a glaring error four years after 911. Still exists. Not resolved. There are bills pending in Congress but they're far from enactment,

a very strong witness, very well prepared.

If after sanctions, if after a refusal to let inspectors in, you still don't have action, it might very well be at that point that the United States would have to consider a pre-emptive strike, ... That's something we haven't done in the past. Or at least we haven't done it very often and it would have to be carefully considered.

We have thought about what to do, a global strategy, and how to do it A different way of organizing our government.

was sent to Iraq several times in the late 1990s for help in acquiring poisons and gases.