If it were a fact, it wouldn't be called intelligence.
— Donald Rumsfeld
Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war.
Presidential leadership needn't always cost money. Look for low- and no-cost options. They can be surprisingly effective.
In our system leadership is by consent, not command. To lead a President must persuade. Personal contacts and experiences help shape his thinking. They can be critical to his persuasiveness and thus to his leadership.
There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.
Imagine, a September 11 with weapons of mass destruction. It's not 3,000. It's tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children.
If you develop rules, never have more than ten.
Prune - prune businesses, products, activities, people. Do it annually.
The Secretary of Defense is not a super General or Admiral. His task is to exercise civilian control over the Department for the Commander-in-Chief and the country.
Remember where you came from.
In politics, every day is filled with numerous opportunities for serious error. Enjoy it.
Treat each federal dollar as if it was hard earned; it was - by a taxpayer.
Congress, the press, and the bureaucracy too often focus on how much money or effort is spent, rather than whether the money or effort actually achieves the announced goal.
Work continuously to trim the White House staff from your first day to your last. All the pressures are to the contrary.
If a prospective Presidential approach can't be explained clearly enough to be understood well, it probably hasn't been thought through well enough. If not well understood by the American people, it probably won't 'sail' anyway. Send it back for further thought.
If the staff lacks policy guidance against which to test decisions, their decisions will be random.
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.
Simply because you do not have evidence that something exists does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist.
Oh my goodness gracious, what you can buy off the Internet in terms of overhead photography. A trained ape can know an awful lot of what is going on in this world, just by punching on his mouse, for a relatively modest cost.
If in doubt, move decisions up to the President.
It isn't making mistakes that's critical; it's correcting them and getting on with the principal task.
You're thinking of Europe as Germany and France. I don't. I think that's old Europe.
Our task, your task... is to try to connect the dots before something happens. People say, 'Well, where's the smoking gun?' Well, we don't want to see a smoking gun from a weapon of mass destruction.
The way to do well is to do well.
Reduce the layers of management. They put distance between the top of an organization and the customers.
With the press there is no 'off the record.'
Arguments of convenience lack integrity and inevitably trip you up.
Politics is human beings; it's addition rather than subtraction.
If in doubt, don't. If still in doubt, do what's right.
Public servants are paid to serve the American people. Do it well.
Look for what's missing. Many advisors can tell a President how to improve what's proposed or what's gone amiss. Few are able to see what isn't there.
Test ideas in the marketplace. You learn from hearing a range of perspectives. Consultation helps engender the support decisions need to be successfully implemented.
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.
Plan backwards as well as forward. Set objectives and trace back to see how to achieve them. You may find that no path can get you there. Plan forward to see where your steps will take you, which may not be clear or intuitive.
There are a lot of people who lie and get away with it, and that's just a fact.
If you try to please everybody, somebody's not going to like it.
Don't automatically obey Presidential directives if you disagree or if you suspect he hasn't considered key aspects of the issue.
Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin's still learning.
I don't do quagmires.
I can't tell you if the use of force in Iraq today will last five days, five weeks or five months, but it won't last any longer than that.
Reduce the number of lawyers. They are like beavers - they get in the middle of the stream and dam it up.
When cutting staff at the Pentagon, don't eliminate the thin layer that assures civilian control.
Members of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate are not there by accident. Each managed to get there for some reason. Learn what it was and you will know something important about them, about our country and about the American people.
Don't necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.
First rule of politics: you can't win unless you're on the ballot. Second rule: If you run, you may lose. And, if you tie, you do not win.
The Federal Government should be the last resort, not the first. Ask if a potential program is truly a federal responsibility or whether it can better be handled privately, by voluntary organizations, or by local or state governments.
Don't do or say things you would not like to see on the front page of The Washington Post.
Many people around the President have sizeable egos before entering government, some with good reason. Their new positions will do little to moderate their egos.
One of your tasks is to separate the 'personal' from the 'substantive.' The two can become confused, especially if someone rubs the President wrong.
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.
