I go to bed at night worrying that I didn't do enough that day to make sure I protect the American people.

Throughout my career, I had the great fortune to experience firsthand as well as to witness what it means to be a CIA officer.

Poverty does not cause violence and terrorism. Lack of education does not cause terrorism.

Terrorism needs to be fought against and certainly delegitimized or attacked, but some of the underlying grievances that might in fact lead individuals astray to terrorism cannot be ignored.

Why should a great and powerful nation like the United States allow its relationship with more than a billion Muslims around the world to be defined by the narrow hatred and nihilistic actions of an exceptionally small minority of Muslims?

We will use all lawful tools at our disposal, and that includes authorities under the renewed PATRIOT Act. We firmly believe that our intelligence gathering tools must enable us to collect the information we need to protect the American people.

Jihad is holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam meaning to purify oneself or one's community.