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You Always, I Think, Debate With Yourself About Whether Or Not You Made The Right Decision. And You Have To Then Give The Person That You’re Working For - In My Instance, The President - Your Best Judgment Based On Your Understanding Of The Facts, But Also The Calculus You Use To Make A Determination About What’s The Best Way To Go Forward.

-John O. Brennan

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You Always, I Think,

John O. Brennan

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You Always, I Think, Debate With Yourself About Whether Or Not You Made The Right Decision. And You Have To Then Give The Person That You’re Working For - In My Instance, The President - Your Best Judgment Based On Your Understanding Of The Facts, But Also The Calculus You Use To Make A Determination About What’s The Best Way To Go Forward.

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The Whole Technological Revolution And Evolution Gives Man Tremendous Capabilities For Good, And It Also Gives Individuals Tremendous Capability To Carry Out What Result In Lethal Action.

I'm Not Ideological. I Think Sometimes When People Are Ideological, The World's A Lot Easier. Because It Falls Into Either Right Or Wrong, Or Black Or White, Or Whatever. To Me, I'm Still Trying To Figure Out A Lot Of Things.

By The Time President Obama Took Office, Guantánamo Was Viewed Internationally As A Symbol Of A Counterterrorism Approach That Flouted Our Laws And Strayed From Our Values, Undercutting The Perceived Legitimacy - And Therefore The Effectiveness - Of Our Efforts.

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Al-qa'ida Is The Antithesis Of The Peace, Tolerance And Humanity That Is At The Heart Of Islam.

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President Obama Has Made It Clear That The United States Is Determined To Prevent Iran From Acquiring Nuclear Weapons.

The Risk Of Just One Terrorist With Just One Nuclear Weapon Is A Risk We Simply Cannot Afford To Take.

When We Uphold The Rule Of Law, Our Counterterrorism Tools Are More Likely To Withstand The Scrutiny Of Our Courts, Our Allies, And The American People.

We Will Use All Lawful Tools At Our Disposal, And That Includes Authorities Under The Renewed Patriot Act. We Firmly Believe That Our Intelligence Gathering Tools Must Enable Us To Collect The Information We Need To Protect The American People.

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Al-qa'ida Does Not Follow A Traditional Command Structure, Wear Uniforms, Carry Its Arms Openly, Or Mass Its Troops At The Borders Of The Nations It Attacks. Nonetheless, It Possesses The Demonstrated Capability To Strike With Little Notice And Cause Significant Civilian Or Military Casualties.

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We Are In This Business, Whether It Be Intelligence Or The Government, To Protect Freedom, Democracy And Liberty, Not To Violate That.

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