Lee Hamilton
Lee Hamilton
acting feeling government simply time uneasy
I've had an uneasy feeling for a long time that the government simply was not acting with a sense of crisis, with a sense of urgency.
action carefully consider might point refusal states united
If after sanctions, if after a refusal to let inspectors in, you still don't have action, it might very well be at that point that the United States would have to consider a pre-emptive strike, ... That's something we haven't done in the past. Or at least we haven't done it very often and it would have to be carefully considered.
act chose
He chose not to do that. He chose to act by himself.
depressed four maybe says
I'm surprised, I'm disappointed and maybe even a little depressed that we did not do better four years after 9/11. It says we're still very vulnerable.
challenges crises help kinds national security stack tackling
Tackling long-term challenges can do more than help us avert the kinds of crises that stack up on a National Security Advisor's desk.
baker both difficult raise secretary task whatever
It's important to both Secretary Baker and me that we not raise expectations here. We know that whatever we do will be difficult. We really do not yet know how difficult this task will be.
historic occasion
That's an extraordinary occasion and an historic one,
people
that most people would back away from. I know I would.
committees community control goes intelligence robust
The intelligence community goes around the authorizing committees because they don't have control over the money. You need a subcommittee that focuses exclusively on intelligence to have robust oversight.
attack certainly incident katrina learned natural remain terrorist vulnerable whether
We certainly learned from Katrina that we remain very vulnerable to an incident of this kind, whether it's a terrorist attack or a natural disaster,
drawing start
You go back to the drawing board, start all over again,
fits
That's just not something that fits in here.
almost communication far guess heard statement
Now he's making a lot of assumptions there as far as almost instantaneous communication, and it's almost a hypothetical -- it is I guess a hypothetical question. But I heard that statement with some surprise,
bush congress criticism less president remember
I do not remember a president having less criticism from Congress than Bush had in his first term.