Political Quotes

Leon Panetta: “Let me be clear, you cannot take a half a trillion dollars out of the defense budget and not increase the risks.”

On the recordFebruary 7, 2012
Let me be clear, you cannot take a half a trillion dollars out of the defense budget and not increase the risks.
Said by
Leon Panetta
Democratic · California

Editor's note · Context

Panetta emphasizes the risks of significant defense budget cuts.

Share

More from Leon Panetta

Aug 9, 2026

And the problem is, we now realize that 80% of our THAADs are down, that our Patriots were down almost more than one half … and we’re down in our Stingers, we’re down with all of our critical missile systems at a time when there is a real…

huffpost.com
Aug 15, 2026

That’s too long, and it should have been brought back sooner.

huffpost.com
Aug 9, 2026

I think we have to take this intelligence assessment as a real threat to NATO.

huffpost.com
Jun 7, 2026

It's shaping up to be “Trump’s Vietnam,”

salon.com

Other voices in this conversation