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1 " I have only a very brief opening statement. I welcome these hearings because of the opportunity that they provide to the American people to better understand why the tragedy of 9/11 happened and what we must do to prevent a reoccurance. I also welcome the hearings because it is finally a forum where I can apologize to the loved ones of the victims of 9/11.To them who are here in the room, to those who are watching on television, your government failed you, those entrusted with protecting you failed you and I failed you. We tried hard, but that doesn't matter because we failed. And for that failure, I would ask -- once all the facts are out -- for your understanding and for your forgiveness. With that, Mr. Chairman, I'll be glad to take your questions. "
― Richard A. Clarke
2 " Congress is a federation of fiefdoms, subject to the vicissitudes of constant fundraising and the lobbying of those who have donated the funds. "
3 " Cognitive biases worked well when rapid pattern recognition and decision making was critical for survival, "
― Richard A. Clarke , Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes
4 " George Bush was right, however, when he said that “Iraq is the central front in the war on terror.” He made it so. He turned it from a nation that was not threatening us into a breeding ground for anti-American hatred. For a generation or more, we will be the victims of Iraqi revenge. And the Iraqis are not alone. The scenes of the U.S. occupation have inflamed Islamic opinion from Morocco and Western Europe, through the Middle East and South Asia, to Thailand and Indonesia. Radical Islamicists will not easily or soon be dissuaded of their hatred of America. Egypt’s President had said, “Before you invade Iraq there is one Usama bin Laden, after you invade there will be hundreds.” Hosni Mubarak was right. I "
― Richard A. Clarke , Against All Enemies
5 " Silicon Valley quickly realized there was far more money to be made by adapting their vision to the wider world than trying to force the wider world to adopt the vision of an internet where free speech reigned supreme "
― Richard A. Clarke , The Fifth Domain: Defending Our Country, Our Companies, and Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats
6 " In 1957, a flu virus that had not been seen for sixty-five years was discovered in Asia. Because of its long dormancy, most of the world had no immunity. In two waves of deaths, nearly 1.5 million people were killed, including seventy thousand Americans. "
7 " Influenza is amazingly adaptable. It changes lethality and transmissibility quickly and jumps from animal to human more readily than any other disease. New flu mutations emerge daily, some proving more contagious than others. "
8 " In the past twenty years, that feeling of mastery has turned to growing fear, fear that antibiotics are losing their efficacy. The excessive and improper use of antibiotics has imparted resistance on the bugs they used to kill. "
9 " I have been taught by senior national security officials for decades never to bring them a problem without also suggesting a solution. "
― Richard A. Clarke , Cyberwar: The Next Threat to National Security & What to Do About It
10 " When the next pandemic strikes, all that will matter is the capacity of our public health system to detect and respond. "
11 " He handed one to each boy. “To the New World Order. It will all be yours. "
― Richard A. Clarke , Pinnacle Event (Ray Bowman, #2)
12 " Beginning in 1918 and lasting less than three years, the Spanish flu epidemic killed up to 5 percent of the earth’s population "
13 " Alternative history is a parlor game. "
14 " The disease was so deadly that it burned itself out: it killed victims so fast that they didn’t have time to infect many others. "
15 " Almost a hundred years later, after numerous studies, including sequencing the virus’s RNA, scientists still do not know exactly why the Spanish flu was so deadly, and that ignorance obviously makes experts uncomfortable. "
16 " In fact, Spanish flu infected so many in 1918 that it is the genetic Adam and Eve of nearly any modern pandemic flu strain. "
17 " If Fouchier’s pandemically engineered H5N1 had breached his laboratory, or if something similar emerges naturally, the resulting damage to civilization is hard to fathom. Even if H5N1 follows the Spanish Flu percentages—30 percent infected and a lethality of 2 percent—Fouchier’s superbug would kill 42 million people. However, Webster thinks that is a foolishly low estimate. Why would the lethality decrease when Fouchier just proved the virus can become airborne without weakening? Webster thinks 3.5 billion could die. "
18 " The WHO warns, “This serious threat is no longer a prediction for the future; it is happening right now in every region of the world and has the potential to affect anyone, of any age, in any country. Antibiotic resistance—when bacteria change so antibiotics no longer work in people who need them to treat infections—is now a major threat to public health. "
19 " CRISPR’s greatest threat may be its use as a tool to create lethal diseases. Even hardened experts like Dr. Webster, who fight every day against the power of nature as it seeks to create killer influenza recombinations, are flummoxed by the reassortments humans may seek through CRISPR. "
20 " the generators on most subgrids spin at 60 Megahertz. "
