William Cohen Quotations

For while the threat of nuclear holocaust has been significantly reduced, the world remains a very unsettled and dangerous place.

Terrorism is escalating to the point that Americans soon may have to choose between civil liberties and more intrusive means of protection.

We felt it was in our best interests to move out. We'll play this out in court.

Politically, economically and technologically, the world is changing at an unprecedented and sometimes alarming pace.

If, as it appears, it was an act of terrorists, then we will do everything in our power to track them down and hold them accountable.

We can never descend to the level of those who killed us. We will (respond) with precision. We will rip them up and bring them to justice . . . The real question for us is, "Do we have the will -- the will to stay the course?

We intend to take down that terror network.

While we are not and cannot become the world's policeman, neither can we become a prisoner of world events, isolated and tucked safely away in a continental cocoon.

We are trying to take it step by step because it's very, very difficult technology we are trying.

The tone, tenor and substance of what you had to say is very different from what we heard before.

The taxpayers paid for this. Right now they're getting no economic value from it. Zero.

Technology is miniaturizing the globe, binding our destiny ever more closely to that of our allies and economic partners around the world.

A plague more monstrous than anything we have experienced could spread with all the irrevocability of ink on tissue paper. Ancient scourges would quickly become modern nightmares.

This memorial is more than a remembrance, it's also a reminder that women in the military's service to America is not new and should never again be allowed to go unrecognized. We don't allow women in service as a social favor; we do not train women in the name of a noble social experiment. Today, women in uniform are part of the national security of the United States, and this isn't a modern nicety, it's a military necessity. . . . Our military wouldn't be what it is today without women.

The more reliant we become upon computers and information systems, the more vulnerable we become to cyber-terrorists who will conceive unlimited ways to cripple our infrastructure, our power grids, our banking systems, our financial markets, our space based communications systems.

That hole in the side of the Cole was actually a hole in the chest and the heart of the American people.

These plans make it very clear . . . that there is no room for harassment or threats in the military.

I'm very confident that the department will be able to carry out its missions as we cross over into the new millennium.

I am prepared to place 30 years of public service on the line to say the only factor that was important in this decision is what was in the American people's best interest. There were no other factors.

First, we must continually reaffirm the principle that the security of the United States is not, and should never be, a partisan matter. The United States can best defend its national security interests abroad by uniting behind a bipartisan security policy at home.

Others [terrorists] are engaging even in an eco-type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves

I am absolutely convinced that there are weapons...I saw evidence back in 1998 when we would see the inspectors being barred from gaining entry into a warehouse for three hours with trucks rolling up and then moving those trucks out.

We have to yet really seriously debate the constitutional issues and whether or not we're willing to give up more freedom in order to have more security.

The miracle of Grenada is how quickly the Cuban workers beat their plowshares into Soviet AK-47s.

Taxpayers have spent more than $200 billion in the last decade on computer systems that are antiquated, incompatible, and not doing the job.

Others are engaging even in an eco- type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves. So there are plenty of ingenious minds out there that are at work finding ways in which they can wreak terror upon other nations. It's real, and that's the reason why we have to intensify our efforts, and that's why this is so important.

Government is the enemy until you need a friend.

The opportunities and threats existing in any situation always exceed the resources needed to exploit the opportunities or avoid the threats. Thus, strategy is essentially a problem of allocating resources. If strategy is to be successful, it must allocate superior resources against a decisive opportunity.

My research debunks the myth that many people seem to have . . . that you become a leader by fighting your way to the top. Rather, you become a leader by helping others to the top. Helping your employees is as important, and many times more so, than trying to get the most work out of them.

No on should pass an American in uniform without saying "Thank you, we are grateful." Always mindful that they are prepared to risk all their dreams so that all of us can reach ours.

I believe the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction presents the greatest threat that the world has ever known. We are finding more and more countries who are acquiring technology - not only missile technology - and are developing chemical weapons and biological weapons capabilities to be used in theater and also on a long range basis. So I think that is perhaps the greatest threat that any of us will face in the coming years.

A firm that continues to employ a previously successful strategy eventually and inevitably falls victim to a competitor.