James Comey:

It is time to have open and honest debates about liberty and security.

My goal is to urge our fellow citizens to participate in a conversation as a country about where we are, and where we want to be, with respect to the authority of law enforcement.

Barack Obama:

There is an inevitable bias not only within the intelligence community, but among all of us who are responsible for national security, to collect more information about the world, not less.

James Comey:

I believe people should be skeptical of government power. I am.

Devlin Barrett:

"What is done on U.S. soil is completely legal," said one person familiar with the program. "Whether it should be done is a separate question."

James Risen:

It is difficult to recognize the limits a society places on accepted thought at the time it is doing it. When everyone accepts basic assumptions, there don't seem to be constraints on ideas. That truth often only reveals itself in hindsight.

Michael Hayden and Michael Mukasey:

The sponsors of the USA Freedom Act prefer the counsel of hypothetical fears to the logic of concrete realities.

Jose A. Rodriguez Jr.:

We did what we were asked to do, we did what we were assured was legal, and we know our actions were effective.

Dick Cheney:

I have no problem as long as we achieve our objective ...

Eric Fair:

Most Americans haven't read the report. Most never will.

Shikha Dalmia:

Regimes change course only when the cost of maintaining the status quo exceeds the cost of enacting change.