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David Ignatius Quotes

Intelligence services exist to do things that are illegal abroad. They exist to tell lies.

David Ignatius

Intelligence services exist to do things that are illegal abroad. They exist to tell lies.

Tags: exist, things, abroad

Journalists couldn't do their jobs overseas without taking risks, and the same is true for diplomats and intelligence officers.

David Ignatius

Journalists couldn't do their jobs overseas without taking risks, and the same is true for diplomats and intelligence officers.

Tags: risks, taking risks, true

About Author
David Reynolds Ignatius (born May 26, 1950) is an American journalist and novelist. He is an associate editor and columnist for The Washington Post. He has written eleven novels, including Body of Lies, which director Ridley Scott adapted into a film. He is a former adjunct lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and was a Senior Fellow to the Future of Diplomacy Program from 2017 to 2022.

If you walk into the front hallway of the CIA, you will see, on your left, a statue of William 'Wild Bill' Donovan. Bill Donovan was the person who created the OSS, the Office of Strategic Services, w...

David Ignatius

If you walk into the front hallway of the CIA, you will see, on your left, a statue of William 'Wild Bill' Donovan. Bill Donovan was the person who created the OSS, the Office of Strategic Services, w...

Tags: america, world, walk

The ISI is above all a paramilitary organization. It doesn't do all that much collection of intelligence. It's not a very good spy agency, but it's good at running covert action.

David Ignatius

The ISI is above all a paramilitary organization. It doesn't do all that much collection of intelligence. It's not a very good spy agency, but it's good at running covert action.

Tags: good, action, organization

Sometimes James Bond movies drive me crazy. They're fun to watch, but they don't have anything to do at all with what intelligence officers really do.

David Ignatius

Sometimes James Bond movies drive me crazy. They're fun to watch, but they don't have anything to do at all with what intelligence officers really do.

Tags: crazy, fun, me

Enter the candidates on horseback: While military leaders can sometimes be dangerous in politics, our best generals and admirals embody the democratic values and leadership skills for which the countr...

David Ignatius

Enter the candidates on horseback: While military leaders can sometimes be dangerous in politics, our best generals and admirals embody the democratic values and leadership skills for which the countr...

Tags: best, politics, military

The nation's chronic weakness is its political system, which is nearing dysfunction. If the U.S. can elect better political leadership, it should be able to manage problems better than most competitor...

David Ignatius

The nation's chronic weakness is its political system, which is nearing dysfunction. If the U.S. can elect better political leadership, it should be able to manage problems better than most competitor...

Tags: problems, political

We have a complicated intelligence relationship with France. We have a complicated intelligence relationship with other - with other allies.

David Ignatius

We have a complicated intelligence relationship with France. We have a complicated intelligence relationship with other - with other allies.

Tags: relationship, complicated

Europeans don't like to talk about intelligence, and they often pretend their countries don't spy.

David Ignatius

Europeans don't like to talk about intelligence, and they often pretend their countries don't spy.

Tags: spy, talk, like

Thanksgiving is America's favorite holiday because it's a time when we put aside our cares, much as the struggling Pilgrims did nearly four centuries ago, and eat a gut-busting meal without worrying a...

David Ignatius

Thanksgiving is America's favorite holiday because it's a time when we put aside our cares, much as the struggling Pilgrims did nearly four centuries ago, and eat a gut-busting meal without worrying a...

Tags: time, america, holiday

The CIA in real life, we know, is looking for new kinds of cover. It's looking for new platforms, as they like to say, and it's trying to use the revolution in communications technology, the ability t...

David Ignatius

The CIA in real life, we know, is looking for new kinds of cover. It's looking for new platforms, as they like to say, and it's trying to use the revolution in communications technology, the ability t...

Tags: life, looking, know

This is a universal human dream - that brains, not brawn, will rule - and the fact that America has the world's finest institutions of higher education may be our greatest single national asset.

David Ignatius

This is a universal human dream - that brains, not brawn, will rule - and the fact that America has the world's finest institutions of higher education may be our greatest single national asset.

Tags: america, world, greatest