“We do a very good job at fixing broken bodies but not such a great job at healing broken minds with our returning veterans.”
― Michael McCaul
“I know there’s a lot of discussion about building a 2000-mile wall. I think we need to complete the Secure Fencing Act, but we need greater technology and aviation aspects down on the Southwest border so we can see the threat from the sky. Until you can see it, you don’t know where it’s coming from and how to correctly stop it.”
― Michael McCaul
“I don’t think we can afford to wait when it comes to cybersecurity. I think that every day we wait, if an attack occurs – and we’re getting hit every day – but if a greater attack occurs, it’s going to be on the head of Congress for not acting.”
― Michael McCaul
“Every day we do get closer to a cure. Three out of four children who are diagnosed with cancer will survive the disease, but that is not good enough. The loss of one child to this disease is too much.”
― Michael McCaul
“I think drones are a good tool to go after high-valued targets.”
― Michael McCaul
“We must continue to pursue peace through diplomacy, but we must also not shrink from our responsibility through the option of strength. We must take advantage of internal resistance and change from within Iran to avert this path of mutual destruction.”
― Michael McCaul
“The President of Iran has called for the destruction of Israel and the West and has even denied the holocaust took place. Iran and its terrorist arm Hezbollah are responsible for the current conflicts between Israel and Lebanon.”
― Michael McCaul
“Because there are little to no consequences for conducting cyberattacks, criminals and nation-states are becoming bolder in their threats and behavior. Russia, China, North Korea and Iran are increasingly hacking into U.S. companies and government networks for espionage purposes or financial gain.”
― Michael McCaul
“I think a lot of programs, policies have been put in place since 9/11, have prevented a 9/11-style attack. On the other hand, I think the threat has become greater, not lesser.”
― Michael McCaul
“Churchill didn’t dance around the Nazis; he called it fascism.”
― Michael McCaul
“Obama is dedicated to a ‘drip, drip’ doctrine.”
― Michael McCaul
“Our farmers and ranchers have never faced as many problems as they do today with drought, range fires, high gas prices and an ever tightening budget on agriculture subsidies.”
― Michael McCaul
“Additionally, any Human Rights Council reform that allows countries with despicable human rights records to remain as members, such as China and Saudi Arabia, is not real reform.”
― Michael McCaul
“Any Human Rights Council reform that allows countries that sponsor terrorism to remain as members, such as Cuba, is not real reform. And in the past, countries such as Libya, Iran and Syria have participated on this council.”
― Michael McCaul
“Currently, the United States provides 22 percent of the U.N. annual budgets, over $900 million in fiscal year 2007, and some of that funding goes to the Human Rights Council.”
― Michael McCaul
“In my home State of Texas, the Port of Houston operates as the United States’ top port for foreign tonnage and our second largest for total tonnage, so I know how important this bill is for the protection of the American people.”
― Michael McCaul
“In the Steven F. Austin Colony, which was the first colony, Texans first established a provisional government in 1835 with the intention of writing a declaration of independence soon after.”
― Michael McCaul
“In too many cases, the moms, the dads, the sisters and brothers of children with cancer must stand by a hospital bed and watch helplessly as this horrible disease consumes the life of an innocent child.”
― Michael McCaul
“Last week, the House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring the victims and heroes of September 11th. As we commemorate the anniversary of 9-11, we must also remember that the threat is still very real today.”
― Michael McCaul
“On this National Agriculture Day, when we all should be taking time to thank and pay tribute to America’s farmers, ranchers and their families who produce the food for our tables, we are finding those same people in dire need of our help and support.”
― Michael McCaul
“Over the past year, several cases of human rights abuses, specifically sexual exploitation and abuse, by individuals involved in U.N. peacekeeping operations have raised the suspicions of many Members of Congress and members of the International Relations Committee.”
― Michael McCaul
“Texas has been hit especially hard this year by a continuing drought, threatening high winds and increasingly destructive range fires. Simply, these conditions have lead to extremely adverse conditions in the agriculture industry.”
― Michael McCaul
“Texas’ and America’s farmers are suffering. As the Member of Congress representing the 10th Congressional District of Texas, I have traveled throughout our area and have seen first-hand how the drought has affected our agricultural communities.”
― Michael McCaul
“There can be no argument about the Lone Star State’s significant contributions to American history, and we must remember the actions and the sacrifices of those who made Texas independence a reality.”
― Michael McCaul
“Unfortunately, cancer is the number one killer of children in this country today, and it destroys not only these innocent victims, but their families as well.”
― Michael McCaul
“We’re making it more difficult to obtain the necessary ingredients to produce meth and tightening criminal penalties for those who deal in this dangerous drug.”
― Michael McCaul
“In order to have greater visibility of the larger cyber threat landscape, we must remove the government bureaucratic stovepipes that inhibit our abilities to effectively defend America while ensuring citizens’ privacy and civil liberties are also protected.”
― Michael McCaul
“To prevent a crippling attack on our nation’s critical networks, U.S. companies and the federal government must work together to combat those who wish to do us harm.”
― Michael McCaul
“I would argue it should be a policy to defeat ISIS where they are, where they exist and prevent them from coming into the United States.”
― Michael McCaul
“My number one objective continues to be to defund or delay the implementation of Obamacare. But as long as any piece of this law is standing, it needs to apply to all Americans equally, and that includes members of Congress and our staff.”
― Michael McCaul
“Little wars start big wars.”
― Michael McCaul
“We worry a lot about ISIS traveling overseas from Syria to the United States, but I think one of the greatest fears are those already within the U.S. who are being radicalized and inspired by the ISIS propaganda that’s out there on the Internet.”
― Michael McCaul
“Yemen is one of the most dangerous spots in the world.”
― Michael McCaul
“Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is the largest external operation force within al Qaeda.”
― Michael McCaul
“Without – you know, good intelligence stops plots against the homeland. Without that intelligence, we cannot effectively stop it.”
― Michael McCaul
“We pulled out of Libya. Now look what’s happened: a safe haven, a vacuum, ISIS training militants to hit in Tunisia.”
― Michael McCaul
“You can have the best technology, but if you have an inside job of a worker that has access to the plane that’s corrupted or bribed or radicalized, they can get a bomb on that aircraft and blow it up.”
― Michael McCaul
“Libya is a failed state and becoming a launching pad for external operations, as is Sinai in Egypt.”
― Michael McCaul
“That’s what really concerns me about the modern-day terrorists that we face is this global expansion.”
― Michael McCaul
“Cairo has flights into JFK, and they’re going to open another one at Dulles… As long as we have flights coming directly to the United States, I think it’s putting Americans at risk.”
― Michael McCaul
“We want to do this methodically, smart, starting with border security then looking at immigration reform measures.”
― Michael McCaul
“The head of ISIS called for attacks during the season of Ramadan, which is what you have seen both in Orlando and now in Istanbul at the airport.”
― Michael McCaul
“I was in Cairo, Egypt, where Sinai – ISIS conducted the Russian airliner downing. We’re concerned about safety and security at these last point-of-departure airports flying directly into the United States – in that case, JFK.”
― Michael McCaul
“Remember, the Boston bombers were Chechen rebels.”
― Michael McCaul
“There’s no national strategy to deal with combating terrorism and foreign fighters.”
― Michael McCaul
“I can reveal today that the U.S. government has information to indicate that individuals tied to terrorist groups in Syria have already attempted to gain access to our country through the U.S. refugee program.”
― Michael McCaul
“I am extremely concerned that Syrian and ISIS recruiters can use the Internet at lightning speeds to recruit followers in the United States with thousands of followers in the United States and then activate them to do whatever they want to do.”
― Michael McCaul
“We’re dealing with an enemy now, ISIS, that has a very sophisticated social media program.”
― Michael McCaul
“We’re trying to find needles in the haystack, and the needles are going dark, and it’s because of this phenomenon we can’t track their movements.”
― Michael McCaul
“Do we want a back door in an iPhone where the government can go in to track movements if they have probable cause? I know the director of the FBI and local law enforcement want that capability.”
― Michael McCaul
“Delay is not our friend. Delay is our enemy.”
― Michael McCaul
“I would like to take a moment of silence to remember all those who lost their lives at the hands of ISIS, especially Americans James Foley, Steven Sotloff, and, most recently, Kayla Mueller.”
― Michael McCaul
“This policy of containment is not a winning strategy. We need a policy to defeat and destroy ISIS once and for all.”
― Michael McCaul
“I think it’s important to note that after the airstrikes began in Iraq and Syria, ISIS began a very aggressive social media campaign calling for these types of attacks, these lone wolf attacks.”
― Michael McCaul
“It’s a very angry electorate out there. I think Trump is tapping into that.”
― Michael McCaul
“I am speaking as a Republican now, not a national security expert, but I believe that my party needs to come together.”
― Michael McCaul
“I would advise Donald Trump to try to bring and unify this party together.”
― Michael McCaul
“You can have the best technology, but you if have a corrupted, radicalized, bribed official that has access to the plane to put the bomb in the cargo, as what happened in Sharm el-Sheikh, that’s a real problem.”
― Michael McCaul
“This is the new wave, the new generation of terrorism. It’s gone viral. It’s very dangerous, and it’s very hard to stop.”
― Michael McCaul
“There’s a conspiracy going on online every day between these top U.K. individuals within ISIS leadership out of Syria.”
― Michael McCaul
“It’s one thing for someone to travel over to Syria and Iraq and come back. But, boy, it’s a lot easier if they activate someone who’s already here.”
― Michael McCaul
“Now we’re dealing with a younger generation of terrorists that are very, very savvy with computer skills, very savvy over the Internet, and very savvy with social media of the likes that we have never seen before.”
― Michael McCaul
“200,000 ISIS tweets a day, 1,000 investigations in all 50 states. It’s really hard to stop all of it. But we have to get control over this Internet propaganda that is poisoning the minds of the United States.”
― Michael McCaul
“The phenomena here is the foreign fighter threat, the revolving door from Europe to the region in Iraq and Syria and back through Turkey, back into Europe. And that’s what happened in the Paris attackers.”
― Michael McCaul
“What I’m concerned about are two things. I think one that John Miller talked about, and that’s the radicalization over the Internet that ISIS is very adept at doing. The other one is a foreign fighter threat.”
― Michael McCaul
“In Europe, you have very different situation than you do in the United States. In Europe, it’s very segregated. And you have the diasporas in Belgium that I saw. And they’re being radicalized because they’re not assimilated with the culture. I don’t think we have that same situation in the United States.”
― Michael McCaul
“I think the effective thing is, I passed this bill to combat violent extremism in the United States as effective outreach to the Muslim community, so you can pull the religious leaders really on to our team, if you will, to protect us from radicalization from within those communities.”
― Michael McCaul
“One of the chapters outlined in my book talks about the Iranian influence with Venezuela, these terror flights that go back and forth that we don’t manifests on, and then nuclear material smuggled across our unsecure southwest border from Mexico into the United States.”
― Michael McCaul
“I’m over here with the French counterterrorism experts talking about the ‘Charlie Hebdo’ case, how we can stop foreign fighters from coming out of Iraq and Syria to Europe, but then we have this phenomenon in the United States where they can be activated by the Internet, and, really, terrorism has gone viral.”
― Michael McCaul
“We’ve had to pull out of so many countries in Northern Africa.”
― Michael McCaul
“We have a failed state in Syria.”
― Michael McCaul
“I was a federal prosecutor when we exercised powers under the Patriot Act or under the FISA court.”
― Michael McCaul
“Our adversaries no long fear us, and our enemies are plotting against us.”
― Michael McCaul
“I think there is a failure in foreign policy. And you have to acknowledge that under Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton was the architect of that foreign policy. Whether it was malevolent or not, I don’t know.”
― Michael McCaul
“What you’re seeing is tension that we’ve seen for years between President Erdogan and his military, his military being more secular, President Erdogan being a little more in the Islamist side of the house.”
― Michael McCaul
“A Trump administration will take on this fight and send a clear message to the Islamist terrorists: you may have fired the first shot, but rest assured, America will fire the last.”
― Michael McCaul
“We are in a struggle against the forces of radical Islam and terror, which must be defeated for our children and our grandchildren.”
― Michael McCaul
“We are ramping up security in the United States but also looking at visa applicants, visa waiver applicants – and looking at travel manifests on the airplanes trying to come into the United States.”
― Michael McCaul
“We know there are terrorists communicating with individuals in the United States. We just can’t see what they’re saying.”
― Michael McCaul
“What is our capability when someone posts a public social media posting that says that they’re going to conduct attacks on the United States on behalf of the Islamic State. Why can’t we pick up that information and then stop that act of terror?”
― Michael McCaul
“Social media campaigns and the savviness of ISIS and propaganda is what greatly concerns us Homeland Security officials.”
― Michael McCaul
“In the radical Islamist jihad world, you’re seeing more and more recruits going to ISIS rather than al-Qaida.”
― Michael McCaul
“ISIS is the greatest threat.”
― Michael McCaul
“The dark space is one of the biggest concerns on the part of counterterrorism officials right now. Comey did a good job of explaining how they jump into a direct messaging box and then go into platforms designed specifically to be secure. There’s no way, even if we have a lawful court order, to be able to access those communications.”
― Michael McCaul
“We talk a lot about operational control, and that’s having a better understanding of who’s coming in and who’s leaving, what the threat really is. We’re never really going to get that.”
― Michael McCaul
“I think there’s kind of a simplistic, kind of knee-jerk response that all you have to do is build a 2,000-mile wall, and problem solved.”
― Michael McCaul
“The pope is a very… passionate man. He likes to get out with the people, and with that comes a large security risk.”
― Michael McCaul
“We’re a compassionate nation.”
― Michael McCaul
“I take ISIS at its word. When they said, in their words, ‘We’ll use and exploit the refugee crisis to infiltrate the West,’ that concerns me.”
― Michael McCaul
“First and foremost, my job is to protect the American people.”
― Michael McCaul
“Terror threats to the U.S. homeland have reached unprecedented levels.”
― Michael McCaul
“Violent extremism is going viral, but our response to it is moving at bureaucratic, sluggish speed.”
― Michael McCaul
“It is time for President Obama to admit that – in this new age of peer-to-peer terror – we need a real strategy to combat radicalization at home and destroy extremist safe havens abroad.”
― Michael McCaul
“We think there should be a better countering-violent-extremism effort, that there should be a lead agency tasked to handle that.”
― Michael McCaul
“When you project weakness throughout the world, and you have a failed foreign policy, this is what you get. And now we have chaos in the Middle East, have ISIS taking over Iraq, Syria, Northern Africa, Egypt.”
― Michael McCaul
“I’m very disturbed about the uptick in shootings and violence at our military installations across the nation.”
― Michael McCaul
“We need to look at how we can better fortify our force protection at military installations. But also, how can we deal with these mental health issues with our returning veterans? And our suicide rate in the military is twice as high as the average population.”
― Michael McCaul
“I think a lot of people don’t realize that our military that defends our freedoms abroad, when they come home to the military base, are not allowed to carry weapons.”
― Michael McCaul
“We’re seeing Iran now through the Shia militias in Iraq. We’re seeing Iran in Syria; we know the Quds Force is in there.”
― Michael McCaul
“I think Mrs. Clinton has a lot of weaknesses because she was the architect of the Obama administration’s foreign policy.”
― Michael McCaul
“The sad fact is, because we’ve had a failed policy and failed leadership, now we’re having to rely on Russians and the Iranians to go into Syria to fight and destroy ISIS.”
― Michael McCaul
“Anything I can do to help destroy ISIS, I will support that.”
― Michael McCaul
“I cannot support a program that could potentially bring jihadists into the United States.”
― Michael McCaul
“We didn’t take the words of Vladimir Lenin seriously until Communism spread across the globe. And unfortunately, the president didn’t take the words of groups like ISIS seriously until they established a sweeping self-proclaimed Islamic Caliphate.”
― Michael McCaul
“Now we have a generational threat struggle called Islamist extremism.”
― Michael McCaul
“We are monitoring very closely threats against the pope as he comes in to the United States.”
― Michael McCaul
“I predict you’re going to see more and more of this shifting of al Qaeda fighters going over to ISIS because they are the game in town.”
― Michael McCaul
“We cannot stop what we cannot see.”
― Michael McCaul
“We should be careful not to vilify encryption itself, which is essential for privacy, data security, and global commerce.”
― Michael McCaul
“I don’t think Mr. Snowden woke up one day and had the wherewithal to do this all by himself. I think he was helped by others.”
― Michael McCaul
“We have about 200,000 ISIS tweets per day that hit the United States. The chatter is so loud and the volume is so high that it’s a problem that’s very hard to stop and disrupt in this country.”
― Michael McCaul
“The threat is real, and it comes from the Internet. This is a new generation of terrorist. This is not Bin Laden in caves with couriers anymore. This is what the new threat of terrorism looks like.”
― Michael McCaul
“We have entered a new phase in Islamist terror. Fifteen years after 9/11, our enemies have regained their momentum.”
― Michael McCaul
“We need a military strategy to defeat terrorists on the ground.”
― Michael McCaul
“I’m a big supporter of our United States military.”
― Michael McCaul
“Our United States military is not our threat.”
― Michael McCaul
“This is an unprecedented pace of terror in modern times. And so, to say they’re on the run absolutely defies reality.”
― Michael McCaul
“I think Syria is now the training ground for the world… These rebel forces are more of a threat than anything.”
― Michael McCaul
“I want to give the American people assurances that we are protecting them.”
― Michael McCaul
“I think, in Washington, getting things for the great people of Texas done is an important job.”
― Michael McCaul
“Traditionally, you support your nominee for president, and so when I went to Cleveland, I gave a strong speech about Hillary Clinton and her devastating foreign policy, but also in the support of the nominee. I think that’s an obligation that we have to support the nominee.”
― Michael McCaul
“I don’t think Mr. Putin has our best interests at heart.”
― Michael McCaul
Leave a Reply