"Anger can be a useful emotion; it's built into our genetic code to help with self preservation. But it can also be destructive, even when it is justified."
Michael HaydenTiny Panda Quotes
Quotes by Michael Hayden
Michael Hayden, born on March 17, 1945, is a distinguished American intelligence officer and retired four-star general in the United States Air Force. As the former Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Hayden played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. intelligence operations post-9/11. His legacy encompasses a commitment to national security and a nuanced understanding of the balance between civil liberties and surveillance. Through his leadership, Hayden has influenced both policy and public discourse on intelligence in the digital age.
26 quotes found
"A writer of fiction lives in fear. Each new day demands new ideas, and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not."
Michael Hayden
"American political elites feel very empowered to criticize the American intelligence community for not doing enough when they feel in danger, and as soon as we've made them feel safe again, they feel equally empowered to complain that we're doing too much."
Michael Hayden"There is no part of the executive branch that more exists on the outer edge of executive prerogative than the American intelligence community - the intelligence community, CIA, covert action. My literal responsibility as director of CIA with regard to covert action was to inform the Congress - not to seek their approval, to inform."
Michael Hayden
"If we are going to conduct espionage in the future, we are going to have to make some changes in the relationship between the intelligence community and the public it serves."
Michael Hayden
"The intelligence community is governed by the same legal and ethical standards as the rest of American government and society, but an operational imperative is here, too. An intelligence community charged with global responsibilities cannot be successful without diversity of thought, culture and language."
Michael Hayden
"Intelligence is often viewed as a profession that steals secrets and then knits those secrets together for policymakers in order to inform their judgments."
Michael Hayden"My life experience confirms that the U.S. government frequently overclassifies data. But that's a stronger argument for not dumping large volumes of government traffic on an unclassified personal server than it is a justification for retroactively challenging classification decisions."
Michael Hayden
"As director of CIA, I was responsible for everything done in the agency's name, and it didn't matter whether that was done by an agency employee, a government contractor, a liaison service on our behalf, or a source on our behalf."
Michael Hayden
"When asked if I miss being in government, I usually try to lighten the moment by responding that I awake most days, read the paper, and then observe that, 'It's yet another great day to be the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency.'"
Michael Hayden"The first thing I did after getting a Master's degree - and the Air Force was very kind; they let me stay on at school to get a Master's - I went to Denver for the Armed Forces Air Intelligence School, six months. Fundamentally, we had a major effort on in Southeast Asia, and this was training folks to support that effort."
Michael Hayden"When the intelligence is making a policymaker too happy, he ought to challenge it, and even if he doesn't, the intelligence briefer needs to launch a red team against his own conclusions to see if he can hold his ground."
Michael Hayden"When I was at the CIA I asked my civilian advisory board to tackle some tough questions. Among the toughest: In a political culture that every day demands more transparency and more public accountability from every aspect of national life, could American intelligence continue to survive and succeed? That jury is still out."
Michael Hayden"I believe we do have a great intelligence service. Is it good enough in all circumstances? Of course not. We live in the human condition. We try to make it better each day."
Michael Hayden"President Obama and his successors are dependent on the 100,000-plus people inside the American intelligence community - the people Edward Snowden betrayed."
Michael Hayden
"Renditions before and since 9/11 share some basic features. They have been conducted lawfully, responsibly and with a clear and single purpose: Get terrorists off the street and gain intelligence on those still at large. Our detention and interrogation programs flow from the same inescapable logic."
Michael Hayden"Presidents get to decide how their intelligence is served up to them, and it's the job of intelligence to adjust."
Michael Hayden"Dissenting analysts passionate about their positions are not unusual in the American intelligence community. Their presence - or even the rejection - of their favored positions is not prima face evidence of politicization."
Michael Hayden"The 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that said Iran had paused its nuclear weaponization work also reported with high confidence that such work had been going on through 2003. How far did they get? That's an important question, but I fear that the Iranians will never answer it, and we will not insist that they do."
Michael Hayden"The FISA Amendment Act of 2008 actually allows some of the things we were doing under the president's authority only against al Qaeda, it allows them for all legitimate foreign intelligence purposes."
Michael Hayden
"An intelligence analyst may attribute an attack to al Qaeda, whereas a policy maker could opt for the more general 'extremist.'"
Michael Hayden"Americans are very practical folks. Accustomed to hard choices in their own lives, they are willing to give us in intelligence a lot of slack as we make the hard choices our profession demands."
Michael Hayden
"Intelligence collection is not confined to the communications of adversaries or of the guilty. Rather, it's about gaining information otherwise unavailable that would help keep Americans safe and free."
Michael Hayden
"I have spent my adult life working in American intelligence. It has been quite an honor. Generally well resourced. A global mission. No want of issues. And it was a hell of a ride."
Michael Hayden"It's good to remind intelligence producers and consumers alike about the need to 'warn of emerging conditions, trends, threats and opportunities' and the potential for discontinuities."
Michael Hayden