National Security Quotes - Page 20

• It must be felt that there is no national security but in the nation's humble, acknowledged dependence upon God and His overruling providence.

  Franklin Pierce

  God, Religious, Humble

  Franklin Pierce (1968). “Franklin Pierce, 1804-1869: chronology, documents, bibliographical aids”

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• National security rests on the credible threat of a form of warfare universally condemned since the Dark Ages, the wholesale slaughter of noncombatants.

  George Will

  Dark, Age, Warfare

  George F. Will (1978). “The pursuit of happiness, and other sobering thoughts”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• Richard Nixon clearly broke the law in the cover up of Watergate and hush money payments. That was all criminal activity. With these guys, we're not talking about the kind of common crimes that Nixon committed. I can't tell you whether they are technically breaking the law, but basically, the American government has been hijacked by neoconservatives. They are taking an awful lot of national security operations into the White House.

  Seymour Hersh

  Guy, House, Common

  Source: progressive.org

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• I think it's a real debate how big NATO should be and whether or not it's more provocative than good. Whenever there's a war fought, our soldiers fight it and our dollars pay for it. And, really, our decisions need to be about our national security.

  Rand Paul

  Real, War, Fighting

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

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• There is the case of Henry Kissinger who was a known scholar who later became the National Security Advisor to President Nixon and later on Secretary of State. He received the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in establishing relations between the U.S. and China. At the same time that he was doing that he was also encouraging all sorts of covert actions against Cuba including political assassinations. This contradiction is one that is hard to understand.

  Alejandro Castro Espin

  Political, President, Roles

  "The Future of Cuba". Interview with Lasonas Pipinis Velasco, www.counterpunch.org. February 27, 2015.

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• Climate change is and will be a significant threat to our national security and in a larger sense to life on earth as we know it to be.

  Gordon R. Sullivan

  Environmental, Earth, Climate

  "Experts: Climate Change Threatens Peace" by Charles J. Hanley, www.foxnews.com. October 12, 2007.

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• Taking somebody's money without permission is stealing, unless you work for the IRS; then it's taxation. Killing people en masse is homicidal mania, unless you work for the Army; then it's National Defense. Spying on your neighbors is invasion of privacy, unless you work for the FBI; then it's National Security. Running a whorehouse makes you a pimp and poisoning people makes you a murderer, unless you work for the CIA; then it's counter-intelligence.

  Robert Anton Wilson

  Running, Army, People

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• Accountability is the essence of democracy. If people do not know what their government is doing, they cannot be truly self-governing. The national security state assumes the government secrets are too important to be shared, that only those in the know can see classified information, that only the president has all the facts, that we must simply trust that our rulers of acting in our interest.

  Garry Wills

  Government, Self, Essence

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  Talk of imminent threat to our national security through the application of external force is pure nonsense. Our threat is from the insidious forces working from within which have already so drastically altered the character of our free institutions - those institutions we proudly called the American way of life.

  Douglas MacArthur

  War, Character, Way

  Douglas MacArthur's speech to the Michigan Legislature in Lansing (May 15, 1952) as quoted in "General MacArthur Speeches and Reports 1908-1964" edited by Edward T. Imparato (p. 206), June 14, 2000.

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• The US Airforce assures me that UFO's pose no threat to National Security.

  John F. Kennedy

  Threat, Ufo, Extraterrestrial

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• Semi-automatic weapons are not just about gun control, they're about national security. You know that these weapons can shoot down airplanes, they can blow up railroads. This is really a whole national security issue.

  Jesse Jackson

  Airplane, Blow, Gun

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• It is not patriotic to commit young Americans to war unless our national security clearly requires it.

  George McGovern

  War, Patriotic, Young

  "As A New War Is Raging, Opposing Voices From The Past Sound Out Again; Mcgovern: 'I Am Ready' To Run" by Fox Butterfield, www.nytimes.com. January 25, 1991.

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• But let not the foundation of our hope rest upon man's wisdom. It will not be sufficient that sectional prejudices find no place in the public deliberations. It will not be sufficient that the rash counsels of human passion are rejected. It must be felt that there is no national security but in the nation's humble, acknowledged dependence upon God and His overruling providence.

  Franklin Pierce

  Passion, Humble, Men

  Franklin Pierce (1968). “Franklin Pierce, 1804-1869: chronology, documents, bibliographical aids”

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• At their core, Americans all want the same basic things: a quality education for their children, a good job so they can provide for their families, healthcare and affordable prescription drugs, security during retirement, a strongly equipped military and national security.

  Ruben Hinojosa

  Retirement, Jobs, Children

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• This Administration also puts forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand... That means no more illegal wire-tapping of American citizens. No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. No more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient. That is not who we are.

  Barack Obama

  War, Mean, Law

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• Due process and judicial process are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security.

  Eric Holder

  Process, Judicial, Dues

  Address at Northwestern University Law School, delivered 5 March 2012, Chicago, IL

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• But reducing harmful emissions, abating our dependence on foreign oil and developing alternative renewable energy sources have benefits that go beyond environmental health, they improve personal health, enhance national security and encourage our nations economic viability.

  Jim Clyburn

  Environmental Health, Oil, Energy

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• Current levels of Pentagon spending may not be able to support current defense strategy. The answer to this problem is right before our eyes: cut the money and change the strategy. That would be acting in the name of a conception of national security that was truly strategic.

  William Hartung

  Eye, Cutting, Names

  "Military Strategy? Who Needs It?" by William Hartung, www.huffingtonpost.com. March 26, 2015.

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• The National Security Agency’s capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide. If a dictator ever took over, the N.S.A. could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back.

  Frank Church

  Fighting, Agency, People

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• Only In America can a renowned and devoted terrorism supporter like Peter King be the arbiter of national security and treason.

  Glenn Greenwald

  Kings, America, Terrorism

  Twitter post from Jun 12, 2013

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• When you couple this militarization of law enforcement with an erosion of civil liberties and due process that allows the police to become judge and jury - national security letters, no-knock searches, broad general warrants, pre-conviction forfeiture - we begin to have a very serious problem on our hands.

  Rand Paul

  Couple, Law, Erosion

  "We Must Demilitarize the Police" by Rand Paul, time.com. August 14, 2014.

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• Climate change constitutes a serious threat to global security, an immediate risk to our national security, and, make no mistake, it will impact how our military defends our country.

  Barack Obama

  Country, Military, Mistake

  "Barack Obama: climate deniers pose serious threat to US security" by Lauren Gambino, www.theguardian.com. May 20, 2015.

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• You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a (flag) pin. Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for, I think, true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest.

  Barack Obama

  War, Thinking, Talking

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