Richard Clarke Quotes

"One who cares is one who listens."

"You should want the highest form of technology and security for your privacy information, and frankly, we don't have that today."

"If you put all the unclassified information together, sometimes it adds up to something that ought to be classified."

"We are aware now, over the course of the last two years, that several other nations have developed offensive information warfare units, organizations, tactics, doctrine and capability."

"What people did when they were 18 or 21, I think that is pretty irrelevant, ... We have to recognize there are a couple of generations now who regarded marijuana use, while it's technically illegal, as nothing more serious than jaywalking."

"People downplay the importance of cyber-security, claiming that no one will ever die in a cyber-attack, but they're wrong. This is a serious threat."

"The only new element in his statement is that they are planning an attack soon on the United States. Would he say that and risk being proved wrong, if he can't pull it off in a month or so?"

"I've talked to a lot of state directors of homeland security, state officials, mayors, heads of big companies, and they all say they don't take it seriously,"

"I'm sure when President Bush arrives there, there will be very special extra security measures because if any place is going to have an attack on the president, it is going to be Pakistan."

"I don't believe that the IT industry can't solve that problem."

"Now he never said, 'Make it up,' ... But the entire conversation left me in absolutely no doubt that George Bush wanted me to come back with a report that said Iraq did this."

"He's alive. And some of us had begun to doubt that because we hadn't received an audio or a videotape in 13 months."

"It's a huge opportunity for Andrej and the Breakers. To be privy to their club environment, coaching strategies and training methods will be incredibly rewarding."

"On behalf of President Bush, we invite your involvement in drafting a national plan for information technology security. We in this country continue to be targets, and we have to defend our cyberspace."

"You may not be aware but in government departments, no one does any work on Friday and most offices are deserted by 2.30pm. Consequently, the OBO team can rest assured they are not throwing sand in the over-oiled mechanism of the civil service."

"There's no iron law. But the law enforcement side, the intelligence side, will always want to eliminate the leadership."

"The real threat in Pakistan, is that someone on the inside, someone in the Pakistani military or intelligence service, might be cooperating with the terrorists. It has happened many times in Pakistan and it is very hard to protect against an inside threat."

"People downplay the importance of cyber-security, claiming that no one will ever die in a cyber-attack, but they're wrong, ... This is a serious threat."

"He probably doesn't have much of an operational capability left. But how much does it take? It took 19 people to do 9/11."

"What people did when they were 18 or 21, I think that is pretty irrelevant. We have to recognize there are a couple of generations now who regarded marijuana use, while it's technically illegal, as nothing more serious than jaywalking."