Leon Panetta

Well, your responsibility is to abide by your oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and if the President of the United States is trying to get you through Executive Order to do something…

I think that what all of this is proving is the value of the January 6 Committee in the Congress doing its investigation, because from the evidence that has been coming forth, it is pretty clear that this President made a deliberate effort…

I think it is the right move because what it does is it makes clear to the Russians that whatever they're doing to continue to build up forces along the border area is going to be met by actions between the United States and our NATO…

I think he brings some authority to the table, because the one thing that Taliban does remember very well is the role of the C.I.A. in going after the Taliban.

The Taliban is now in control of Afghanistan. And in many ways, whether the Taliban cooperate or not could determine the fate of those U.S. citizens who are remaining, as well as those Afghans who fought alongside of us.

We made a promise to United States citizens who are in Afghanistan, and to the Afghans who fought alongside of us that we would do everything we could to evacuate them. I think we've got to still keep that promise.

We have not won. We have not completed this mission. But I do believe we are in the process of making significant progress here.

We need to deliver resources to those most in need as quickly as we can.

I privately and publicly advocated for a residual force that could provide training and security for Iraq's military.

The President's going to continue to keep the country in turmoil.

I'd like to believe it was an instance where his own conscience said, I've got to tell the American people the truth.

He still is contagious. He's taking heavy medications. He's taking steroids. I mean, he really ought to be in an isolated situation.

I think the chaos that we've seen in the last four years has been repeated over these last few days, because I saw a White House that was not in-charge.

We ought to be looking at what additional military aid could we provide that would assist the Ukrainian forces.

I think doing that would send a message that the United States is not going to simply look in the other direction while the Russians do what they are doing.

We should at least make it clear that they should not be allowed in the G8 and that American financial institutions should not be lending money to the Russian State or its State-owned enterprises.

The policymaking process in the White House and the policies they actually derive there are simply indefensible, cannot be defended.

I think it may be necessary to send a bold signal to Russia that he has crossed the line.

I think we do need to send Russia a very clear signal that that is not to be tolerated.

When we are together, when we are working together, there is no country stronger than the United States of America.

Alliances are going to be the key to our ability to preserve peace and prosperity in the future.

I think developing alliances is the key to our ability to respond to a number of flashpoints in the world.

The fundamental issue is, are you going to protect our forces? Are you going to protect our men and women in uniform?

I worry, you know, that we have sent a signal. I mean, when I have gone abroad, our NATO allies are very concerned about the commitment of the United States toward the NATO alliance.

I think somehow we have to get back to that spirit of bipartisanship.