Donald Rumsfeld Decision Quotations

When you raise issues with the President, try to come away with both that decision and also a precedent. Pose issues so as to evoke broader policy guidance. This can help to answer a range of similar issues likely to arise later.

Don't be a bottleneck. If a matter is not a decision for the President or you, delegate it. Force responsibility down and out. Find problem areas, add structure and delegate. The pressure is to do the reverse. Resist it.

In the execution of Presidential decisions work to be true to his views, in fact and tone.

See that the President, the Cabinet and staff are informed. If cut out of the information flow, their decisions may be poor, not made, or not confidently or persuasively implemented.

If the staff lacks policy guidance against which to test decisions, their decisions will be random.

Make decisions about the President's personal security. He can overrule you, but don't ask him to be the one to counsel caution.

If in doubt, move decisions up to the President.

Those who made the decisions with imperfect knowledge will be judged in hindsight by those with considerably more information at their disposal and time for reflection.

Find ways to decentralize. Move decision making authority down and out. Encourage a more entrepreneurial approach.

This decision is not about any one weapon system, but merely about a strategy of warfare, a strategy that drives the choices that we must make about how best to prepare our total forces for the future,

It was a decision that was made, ... and, in my view, was absolutely the right decision.

If it can save American lives, I'm happy to have made the decision I made, ... That seems to me to outweigh the sensitivities -- the proper sensitivities -- that you have raised.

And I feel it was the right decision and I'm glad I made it.