John Poindexter

“I was convinced that the President would approve if he were asked.”

“I thought it was a neat idea.”

“I will stand by my testimony.”

“I made a very deliberate decision not to tell the president, so that I could insulate him from the decision and provide some future deniability for the president if it ever leaked out.”

“This is a terrorist-surveillance program.”

“I simply did not tell the President. I felt that I had the authority. I was not trying to usurp his authority.”

“Frankly, we are talking here about a military issue. It is a question of dealing with a problem that is not just in the inner city.”

“The buck stops here with me.”

“What I have done, I have done in the interests of the country as I see them.”

“We are an open society. But we are also a nation at war.”