ISIS is a learning enemy, and former Deputy Director of NSA Chris Inglis says that they have gone to school on the documents released by Edward Snowden and have changed their communications practices. Michael Hayden Read Quote
In the Cold War, a lot of Soviet actions could be explained as extensions of Czarist imperial ambitions, but that didn’t stop us from studying Marxism in theory and Communism in practice to better understand that adversary. Michael Hayden Read Quote
If Snowden really claims that his actions amounted to genuine civil disobedience, he should go to some English language bookstore in Moscow and get a copy of Henry David Thoreau’s ‘Civil Disobedience’. Michael Hayden Read Quote
When I was director of the CIA, I knew that we had been – and I’m choosing my words very carefully here – effective in our expansion. We really had – expansion of government agencies and expansion of use of contractors. Effective, we were; efficient, we weren’t. And so, as director of the CIA, I went after the inefficiencies part. Michael Hayden Read Quote
One of the things that distinguishes the CIA from the State Department is that the CIA is both asked to, and authorized to, steal secrets. So if the question is whether the CIA steals secrets, the answer is yes. Michael Hayden Read Quote
Xi agreed to the American definition of legitimate espionage. In other words, you don’t use the power of the state to steal secrets for profit. Michael Hayden Read Quote
ThinThread was not the program of record of my predecessor, Ken Minihan, OK. I did not make ThinThread the program of record while I was director. After I left in 2005, Keith Alexander also chose not to make ThinThread the program of record. Michael Hayden Read Quote
If we are going to conduct espionage in the future, we are going to have to make some changes in the relationship between the intelligence community and the public it serves. Michael Hayden Read Quote
The attorney general is the only one who can authorize what’s called an emergency FISA. Michael Hayden Read Quote
I’m a career Air Force officer. We have a saying in the Air Force: ‘If you want people to be with you at the crash, you’ve got to put them on the manifest.’ And so I was always of the view to almost leave no stone unturned when you’re up there briefing the Hill. Michael Hayden Read Quote
