The national media don't know me. They know the caricature that was created of me by journalists who were frankly jealous of my access. And it was a very negative caricature. There's this propensity for blaming a woman. It comes down to implicit bias. There are so many studies that show this.

I also feel like I've done plenty of wrong things. I'm not innocent here, and I'm certainly not going to be righteous about that.

My peers are all in sensitive jobs - at the C.I.A., the National Security Council, working for the Department of Defense. They can't stand up for me in public.

I'm 100 percent serious. I've been fighting for equality for women's issues my entire life, in the military included.

I had been working on a second book with [David] Petraeus called Relentless. Obviously that book and the income that it would have generated went away.

The word is a label and I don't like it at all.

Having a bunch of medals and badges doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve achieved anything, you’ve got to do something beyond yourself to make a difference in life. Seek to be consequential in whatever you do.