“grew increasingly impatient and angry as I compared their selflessness and sacrifice with the self-promotion and selfishness of power-hungry politicians and others—in… — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
“I just couldn’t understand the lack of political awareness by senior officers of the impact at the White House of their remarks… — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
In government, I'm a strong believer in the need for reform of government agencies and departments. They - they have gotten fat… — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
I think that Vladimir Putin is certainly getting a lot of publicity for what the Russians are doing. And I'm not sure… — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
power... Military success is not sufficient to win: economic development, institution-building and the rule of law, promoting internal reconciliation, good governance, providing… — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
“After all, one wouldn’t want facts and reality—not to mention the national interest—to intrude upon partisan politics, would one?” — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
Most governments lie to each other. That's the way business gets done. — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
“It was one thing for the country and much of the executive branch of government not to feel involved in the war,… — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
I think in the context of senior government positions, I think an anecdote of what I told President-Elect Barack Obama when we… — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
And so the greatest of American triumphs... became a peculiarly joyless victory. We had won the Cold War, but there would be no parades. — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
“I was seething. I told him that “the clock is ticking” and that our patience with their lack of political progress was running out.… — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
Some people have said, in so many words, that I'm kind of wooly-headed in believing that the Iranians would see not having nuclear weapons… — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
“Obama was the fourth president I had worked for who said outright that he wanted to eliminate all nuclear weapons (Carter, Reagan, and Bush… — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
I had no concerns - I had no reason to have concerns based on what was available to me about North's contacts with the… — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
“The passage of fourteen years had led to another significant change in the international environment. As I told Bush 43 and Condi Rice on… — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
I've been very sensitive for a long time to the repeated pattern, during economic hard times or after a war, of the United States'… — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
I don't know General Michael Flynn well, but it's hard for me to believe anybody would allow themselves to be blackmailed by the Russians… — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
I had no difficulty as Secretary of Defense moving from the Bush administration to the Obama administration. — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
The United States has been a global power since late in the 19th century. — Robert M. Gates Copy Share Image
