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
I have been doing a number of things with respect to national security and foreign policy issues in the intervening years, and I look forward to it, ... I really do. It's a fine institution, and there are wonderful people there.
We don't have any announcements to make with respect to the activities of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance or various tribes in the southern part of the country. We are considering a whole range of things,
We're not going to making requests of the Saudi Arabian government. We are respectful of the circumstance of the countries of the region. We understand that, ... Our interest is to create a set of conditions, a sustained effort against terrorist networks in the region.
We recognize and respect the leadership role that you have taken in this country politically and from an economic standpoint as well as a security standpoint,
We have to obey the laws with respect to security classifications,
Absent a dictator, absent the Saddam Hussein regime, our goal would be first to have a single country, not have a country broken up into pieces, it would be to see that it would be a country without weapons of mass destruction, a country that did not try to impose its will upon its neighbors and it was a country that was respectful of the rights of minorities and the ethnic groups that exist in the country,
I think we ought to have a new rule: You can ask two questions, and then we can pick the one we want to answer.
In unanimity there may well be either cowardice or uncritical thinking.
When business accepts help from the government, it can be like going to bed with a hippopotamus. It's nice and warm for the moment, but then your bedmate rolls over and crushes you.
Beware when any idea is promoted primarily because it is "bold, exciting, innovative, and new." There are many ideas that are "bold, exciting, innovative and new," but also foolish.
Don't 'over-control' like a novice pilot. Stay loose enough from the flow that you can observe it, modify, and improve it.
Most of the 50 or so invitations you receive each week come from people inviting the President's Chief of Staff, not you. If you doubt that, ask your predecessor how many he received last week.
If in doubt, move decisions up to the President.
When you're skiing, if you're not falling you're not trying.