Things have gotten so nasty in Washington..

Even when I was at CIA, I'd go to visit foreign leaders and I'd say, 'You know, I'm not a diplomat. I'm just an old CIA guy'... I said, 'If I wanted ….

Power... Military success is not sufficient to win: economic development, institution-building and the rule of law, promoting internal reconciliation….

Well, I've ruffled a few feathers at all the institutions I've led. But I think that's part of leadership..

No policy has proved more successful in making friends for the United States, during the cold war and since, than educating students from abroad at o….

I mean, when you get down to very low numbers of nuclear weapons, and you contemplate going to zero, how do you deal with the reality of that technol….

If Iraq and Afghanistan have taught us anything in recent history, it is the unpredictability of war and that these things are easier to get into tha….

I think that - that the disruptive nature, the tough talk on North Korea, the military deployments, sending the missile defense system to South Korea….

It's clear the relationship between China and North Korea has hardly ever been worse. Kim Jong-un has never been to Beijing in his leadership. The Ch….

Defense is not like other discretionary spending..

I think in the context of senior government positions, I think an anecdote of what I told President-Elect Barack Obama when we had our first meeting.….

Most governments lie to each other. That's the way business gets done..

One of my favorite little sayings is, 'To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing..

A wild and crazy weekend involves sitting on the front porch, smoking a cigar, reading a book..

Congress is best viewed from a distance - the farther the better - because up close, it is truly ugly..

It has become clear that America's civilian institutions of diplomacy and development have been chronically undermanned and underfunded for far too l….

In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Afr….

Often, loyalty means telling people things they don't want to hear. It's not being sycophantic, it's not telling them how wonderful they are every da….

One of the toughest battles in intelligence is combating conventional wisdom..

Congress is best viewed from a distance—the farther the better—because up close, it is truly ugly. I saw most of Congress as uncivil, incompetent at ….

Future U.S. political leaders – those for whom the Cold War was not the formative experience that it was for me – may not consider the return on Amer….