Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeldis an American politician and businessman. Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the second oldestperson to have served as Secretary of Defense. Additionally, Rumsfeld was a three-term U.S. Congressman from Illinois, Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, Counsellor to the President, the United States Permanent...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth9 July 1932
CityEvanston, IL
CountryUnited States of America
It's impossible ... to defend in every location against every conceivable kind of attack at every time of the day or night,
You cannot defend against terrorists by hunkering down, ... You simply must go after them. That is the only proper defense is an offense.
Our challenge in this new century is a different one, ... It's really to defend our nation against the unknown, the uncertain and, what we have to understand, will be the unexpected. That may seem on the face of it an impossible task but it is not.
reminding participants of the sacrifices of this generation and of each previous generation that have so successfully defended our freedoms.
The challenges of the new century aren't nearly as predictable as they were during the Cold War, ... Our challenge is to defend cities and infrastructure from new forms of attacks.
increase the number of special operations forces available for missions worldwide, while expanding their capabilities in some key areas.
It's not going to take years, and it's not going to take days. It'll take some months. And then we will go back to the president with our recommendations as to what we believe are the priorities and what needs to be done,
It's not an effort against the Afghan people, ... Indeed, we are providing humanitarian assistance.
not the first major battle, and certainly won't be the last.
Syria's been on the terrorist list for years,
They have to do it for themselves, ... There isn't an Iraqi that comes into this country and visits with me that doesn't say that. They know that. They know that they're the ones that are going to have to grab that country, and it's time.
They know where the bank accounts are, they know the names of the people who were trained, they know the sleeper cells that exist around the world,
I'm not going to talk about what we might or might not do, ... You can be absolutely certain we will not allow our aircraft to continue to be shot at with impunity. We intend to respond.
I'm encouraged. I think you'll find we will get additional forces,