James Carafano Quotations

When we started out doing this, basically what we were doing was throwing money at the problem. In most cases, people had absolutely no idea how to spend the money.

Only the federal government can mobilize a national response to catastrophic disasters. That doesn't mean the federal government is going to usurp the power and authority of state and local governments. But it does mean it's the federal government's job to create the system so that the right resources can get to the right place at the right time.

I can't see the House acting in any way on the Senate, and I can't see the Senate acting in any way on the House.

I think most of them get it and they know he gets it. There's more good will than you can imagine.

We have a history of occupations that goes back to the American Revolution, and we always do it the same way: We always just figure it out when we get there.

Where do you stage? Where do you go? You have to have communications, you have to have electricity, you have to have dry ground. These are all things that have to exist, and these are all things that don't exist in New Orleans.

The president's behind him. If he left tomorrow, (deputy defense secretary) Gordon England would be secretary of defense, and defense policies and what we do in Iraq would look exactly the same.

Even more than money and the availability of money, what really slows down the reconstruction is decision-making bureaucracy and red tape,

At the end of the day, the F-22 just winds up being more expensive. It just pushed all the hard things to the out years, and it really didn't address that.

Some states, such as Florida, are much better prepared than others. It's kind of a no-win for FEMA. The better job a state does, the less FEMA has to do.

This is the equivalent of a comet hitting the planet. Of all the things that are in the world, why are we fixated on this one thing. Scanning containers full of sneakers for a 'nuke in the box' is not a really thoughtful thing.

You can't make a million people happy. There's going to be a lot of debates. I don't think you can minimize the role Congress is going to play in what kind of legislation they formulate to guide the reconstruction. There will be enormous pressure to do something quickly. It's all new virgin territory, and it'll be tough to craft an optional strategy.

There's a lack of adult leadership on both sides.

Everybody can say everything came out of the QDR. You have the right to be skeptical.

In many ways, this is a test of our national capacity, ... If we can't do this 24-7-365, we aren't doing our job for preparedness.

In terms of the physical resources the federal government brings to bear, the Corps of Engineers is going to be there a long, long time, ... Certainly, OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety Administration) will be engaged because of the safety issues, and cleanup will be enormous. EPA is going to be involved.

He's stuck it out when lesser men would walk away. I don't care what you call that, hubris or whatever. I truthfully think just changing the captain on the ship wouldn't have made any difference. If anything, it may have slowed things down because at least that captain knows the mistakes he made.

Sometimes the enormity of war overwhelms the truth that all great struggles are just the sum of individual stories. Each is more than just the story of one soldier's service and sacrifice. Their service ripples across their families, friends and their communities. Memorial Day reminds us it is the noble sacrifice of many that makes us who we are.

You don't need to buy a $7 billion company to penetrate maritime security. The Mafia doesn't buy FedEx to smuggle.

It's an article of faith in Tinseltown: when liberals get mired in scandal, it's because they are tragically flawed; when conservatives get in trouble, it's because they are evil.

I can't think of one good example in history where a nation built another nation. Countries that succeed rebuild themselves.

A lot of money we threw out there was wasted because the technology was not so good.