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Quote by Chuck Hagel

“I think this is the biggest lesson a president or any of us who has responsibility to govern have to learn: There are always consequences to actions that you take. There are consequences to inaction.”

Quote by Chuck Hagel

Author

Chuck Hagel, former United States Secretary of Defense, was born on October 4, 1946. He has extensive experience in politics and the military, serving as a member of Congress and a Senator. During his tenure as Defense Secretary, Hagel worked to reform U.S. defense policy and played a significant role in international affairs. more

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“We live in a world of absolute immediacy. It is an interconnected, combustible world, where technology and many other actions have given nonstate actors a reach, into countries and societies, for both good and evil, that we have never seen before. So it isn't a matter of just state versus state challenges or conflict. The bigger problem is nonstate actors.”

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“This is a complicated time to govern in the world today because of so much going on and it's coming at us at such an unprecedented rate.”

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“Assad must go. He's lost the legitimacy to govern.”

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“This is eventually how Syria will be resolved - through a political settlement.”

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“Closing Guantanamo Bay is not a military solution. The closing of that prison, which I support, I supported it when I was in the Senate, requires more than just a military dimension.”

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“There's always a balance, I think, any administration has to find in not just the military but in any agency of government.”

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“The president of the United States is the commander in chief, and the people who work with him at the National Security Council are his arm in working with the Defense Department. And, quite frankly, they have responsibility for all of the government. We are one component of the government.”

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“I don't get into the book-telling business of conversations I have with the president. That's not my style, and I don't think that's a responsible thing to do.”

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“If we have to continue to live under sequestration, it will have a maximum impact on our ability to fulfill the president's strategic guidance. We can't do it all. It's as simple as that, with the limitations of the budget as severe as they are. These deep, abrupt cuts have forced us to make decisions that are not in the interest of America.”

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“I'm the first secretary of defense that's had to deal with sequestration. I've prepared two budgets that deal with sequestration. And you bring the chiefs together, the leadership of this enterprise together, to work through, how do we then take these cuts? Where do we apply those cuts? Readiness is the first thing that suffers.”

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