Sir Richard Dearlove

“I think the Israeli plan is pretty clear. It it it it's to dispose of the 450 kilos of HEU, which supposedly Tiny rich uranium.”

“Tiny rich uranium, which survived the original attack during the twelve day war. I think I think the second one is to render the ballistic missile system impractical.”

“I think you you should look at Israel, you know, as the new Sparta, really, This small country with a relatively small population has taken on and defeated a country of 90,000,000 people.”

“This small country with a relatively small population has taken on and defeated a country of 90,000,000 people. You know, it's an extraordinary military achievement. But beware, you could win militarily and lose politically.”

“Israel, the new Sparta, have effectively already defeated Iran militarily, and Iran is in a very weak position.”

“So that scenario is a possibility, but Iran will not have the international reach to destabilize the whole of the Middle East.”

“In all of those cases, the superior air power and military of The United States and the West quickly removed the regimes or dictators, but then it was chaos.”

“this is a huge country, 93,000,000 people, very entrenched elite military force, the revolutionary guards, which are a 150,000, aside from the regular army.”

“How does the Iranian regime identify itself? It's devoted to the destruction of Israel. It is devoted to opposition to what it calls the great Satan.”

“On the other hand, you know, if you take a strict UN related view of the interpretation of international law, which is always being evolved by human rights lawyers, they all argue differently.”

“if you take a strict UN related view of the interpretation of international law, which is always being evolved by human rights lawyers, they all argue differently.”

“One is you end up with an Iranian regime, which is still run by Ayatollahs, but is prepared to be more compliant and will negotiate with Americans and with the rest of the Middle East.”

“This has been planned for months by Israel and The United States. And the other factor in this, which hasn't been mentioned, Americans have a very brilliant admiral commanding this operation Brad Cooper, and I think there's much more care and logic behind it perhaps than people realize.”

“This has been planned for months by Israel and The United States. And the other factor in this, which hasn't been mentioned, Americans have a very brilliant admiral commanding this operation Brad Cooper,”

“He's losing his friends fast. American deterrence, whether we like Trump or not, is suddenly standing up on the world stage in a rather extraordinary way, which probably none of us had imagined would happen.”

“American deterrence, whether we like Trump or not, is suddenly standing up on the world stage in a rather extraordinary way, which probably none of us had imagined would happen.”

“And but but it's no good saying we should raise defense expenditure 3.5% by 2035. They've got to start now. 3.5% is not enough.”

“And but but it's no good saying we should raise defense expenditure 3.5% by 2035. They've got to start now. 3.5% is not enough. It's 5%.”

“And the idea that you're gonna have, you know, 30,000 it would take 200 to 300,000 troops to please the ceasefire line. Look.”

“Look. There are precedents for this, which is the DMZ between North And South Korea, but that's, you know, an internationally evacuated ban between the two countries, and that's not you know, it's been there for years, but we're nowhere near that situation in terms of doing a deal with Russia over Ukraine.”

“I think it's the beginning of the end of the theocratic regime in Iran. How quickly that regime comes down, I think it's hard to predict.”

“I had to make a podcast prediction for 2026 three weeks ago, and I said fall of the Iranian regime in 2026. I think I'm going to see that”

“I had to make a podcast prediction for 2026 three weeks ago, and I said fall of the Iranian regime in 2026. I think I'm going to see that or we're going to see that.”

“Why the hell don't the Danes lease them, Iceland, for a sorry, Greenland for a hundred years. I mean, there used to be a big NATO”

“Why the hell don't the Danes lease them, Iceland, for a sorry, Greenland for a hundred years. I mean, there used to be a big NATO American base Keflavik in Iceland.”

“Lease them Greenland. And, look, there are only 52,000 inhabitants there. Part of the deal could be a $100,000 from The US for each Inuit family or each Greenland family.”

“Part of the deal could be a $100,000 from The US for each Inuit family or each Greenland family. You know, they desperately need support.”

“We've created a cozy social democratic environment on the back of American taxpayers, and we've gotta wake up and understand our vulnerabilities and pay for this ourselves.”

“And the most important way in The UK to do this is to cut the welfare budget and to spend it on defense. And we have to make sacrifices.”

“you can't write a statement about security without including clear reference to Russia as a global threat.”

“the we reckon the Russian figures now are one point one, 1,200,000. I don't know what the fatalities are within that figure, over two hundred thousand probably, maybe even more than that.”

“And what they want well, what the Russians want is a Manchurian candidate who does not appear to be a Manchurian candidate at all, who looks like a loyal Ukrainian,”

“what the Russians want is a Manchurian candidate who does not appear to be a Manchurian candidate at all, who looks like a loyal Ukrainian, but after the election, will make the concessions that Zelensky may not have made or probably won't have made already.”

“how could you possibly have a budget statement in parliament in the current state that we're in where the chancellor of the exchequer doesn't refer to national security and defense?”

“It's more important than National Health Service. I mean, you take a Ciceronean view of the state, the security of the state is the first responsibility of the government.”

“I think the only practical security guarantee personally is a guarantee of air cover because the Ukrainians will not accept, I think, boots on the ground and neither will the Russians.”

“the idea that a sovereign nation should agree because of the threat from another nation that its army shouldn't be bigger than a certain size is also of profound difficulty for Ukraine.”

“Trump did cut it off briefly at one point for eight days, and that is when the Kharkiv Salient Yeah. Was basically regained by the Russians.”

“I think it would create greater social cohesion. I think it would create a better sense of national identity.”

“Look, we all know there is a serious threat to The UK's national security from China.”

“And it it, you know, it looks awfully like appeasement, yet we're being told it isn't.”

“And the reason it's sensitive in my understanding is because of the communications cables that run underneath it or very close to it.”

“And putting a Chinese embassy on top of that in a strategic place in the city of London seems to me an unnecessarily foolish and risky step to take and we should say no.”

“And the Australian government have shown everybody that they can be very tough when they feel that their national security has been threatened by China, which it has on a number of occasions.”

“And, of course, it's another nail in the credibility of this government. Unfortunately, it puts them in a very damaging and weak position.”

“I mean if you just take one player, maybe it's a more clear cut example than one we're talking about which is Russia.”

“You know as far as the Russians are concerned because of Ukraine we're in a state of grey warfare with them and they are using all sorts of means which are beneath the level of open conflict to cause, well, mayhem in aspects of the West's daily critical infrastructure, daily life,”

“You know as far as the Russians are concerned because of Ukraine we're in a state of grey warfare with them and they are using all sorts of means which are beneath the level of open conflict to cause, well, mayhem in aspects of the West's daily critical infrastructure,”

“I mean, I have my own personal cipher emails attacked by the Russians. Okay. It happened quite a long time ago.”

“I don't think there's a company that I can think of in the West that's had a bigger and more positive impact on national security, because, you know, what you've done is to sort of pull together the diversity and complexity of a modern democratic security structure”

“I don't think there's a company that I can think of in the West that's had a bigger and more positive impact on national security, because, you know, what you've done”

“pull together the diversity and complexity of a modern democratic security structure and make it, let's say, fully adapt it to the world of data in a way that no one else has seemed to have had the conceptual approach.”

“make it, let's say, fully adapt it to the world of data in a way that no one else has seemed to have had the conceptual approach.”

“But for example, your intellectual property must be of massive interest to the Russians and the Chinese. So you almost need a sort of protective organization.”

“your intellectual property must be of massive interest to the Russians and the Chinese. So you almost need a sort of protective organization.”

“I mean, in a way, you're rather like an intelligence and security organization where they have to spend an awful lot of time and energy and talent, as it were, protecting themselves against predation or penetration, to put it not too lightly.”

“What Palantir does brilliantly is you can stick it over the top of all these legacy systems and make them much more intelligent and get them to talk to each other.”

“some of us, I think this is magic because it didn't think it was possible.”

“And, of course, the worst thing that you want to do is to have a big bang change in the intelligence community and introduce a new system.”

“of course, the worst thing that you want to do is to have a big bang change in the intelligence community and introduce a new system.”

“the worst thing that you want to do is to have a big bang change in the intelligence community and introduce a new system.”

“I mean, I was well aware. I can't remember the exact date, but, I mean, I had retired by then that Peter Thiel and Palantir had the probable solution to this problem.”

“What Palantir does brilliantly is you can stick it over the top of all these legacy systems and make them much more intelligent and get them to talk to each other.”

“I don't think there's a company that I can think of in the West that's had a bigger and more positive impact on national security because, you know, what you've done is pull together the diversity and complexity of a modern democratic security structure”

“So you really changed the life of organizations like GCHQ, collectors, but I mean, also the operational intelligence and security services.”

“the reputation you've earned, the sinister reputation is completely misplaced because people don't really understand what the achievements of Palantir are.”

“AI has already proved it can do it a hell of a lot better than the human being in in many, many cases, not every case.”

“your intellectual property must be a massive interest to the Russians and the Chinese. So you almost need, you know, a sort of protective organization.”

“What's striking about her is that she's really quite young for the appointment, and I hope that's an indicator of the level of her ability as the strongest candidate.”

“She's also a rowing blue from Cambridge. And as someone who's interested in that sport, I'm delighted to see that because it indicates someone with really huge determination.”

“I gather she's really quite a forceful and tough personality, and I think she has the makings of a head of service and will do credit to the fact that she's the first woman to lead British intelligence.”

“when I was head of service, I flew into Libya in an unmarked plane to meet Gaddafi, to negotiate Libya's getting rid of their weapons of mass destruction.”

“I flew into Libya in an unmarked plane to meet Gaddafi, to negotiate Libya's getting rid of their weapons of mass destruction.”

“The kit having been sold to them by the father of the Pakistani nuclear program AQ Khan, so AQ Khan's KRL laboratories had sold all the kit for the Libyans to start refining uranium and creating HEU and then weaponizing.”

“Chinese navy is building more tonnage in a year to eighteen months each year than composes the whole of the Royal Navy. That's the speed of its expansion.”

“Chinese navy is building more tonnage in a year to eighteen months each year than composes the whole of the Royal Navy.”

“Now at the time that that deal was signed there were strong objections from people like me in the intelligence community. We were totally overruled.”

“The fact is you cannot get around the security problem that any Chinese corporation is ultimately under the control of the Chinese Communist Party. If in a crisis they are told to jump.”

“The fact is you cannot get around the security problem that any Chinese corporation is ultimately under the control of the Chinese Communist Party.”

“Because in every Chinese car there is a cellular module which is connected to the internet of things and that car in a crisis can be reprogrammed by the manufacturer in China.”

“that car in a crisis can be reprogrammed by the manufacturer in China. And you can find your Chinese car, 40 of them, let's say around London immobilized.”

“Chinese could bring in a crisis UK city to a grinding halt, bang, with a flick of a switch in Beijing.”

“A lot of our renewable sources of energy are Chinese manufactured with cellular modules in them that can be reprogrammed from China. You could knock out the whole of a North Sea wind farm, bang.”

“Militarily at the moment they are heavily dependent on American support and it can't really be replicated. What they're being given can't be replicated by any other nation.”

“It's quite clear you know that the chemistry between Trump and Zelensky is terrible. They don't like each other, they don't get on with each other and that's been clear for some time but if you want to force Zelensky to accept a ceasefire, if you switch off the intelligence”

“if you want to force Zelensky to accept a ceasefire, if you switch off the intelligence for eight days I think it was and during those eight days they pretty much lost the Kursk salient so you can see immediately the detrimental effect it had militarily on the Ukrainians.”

“Mean think of the relationship with The United States after the Suez invasion of nineteen fifty six am I right?”

“I think '56. The state of play politically between The UK and The US was appalling it didn't stop Five Eyes from operating.”

“So there was a very, very nihilistic group which was represented in most of the major Western services, particularly in The US and to an extent in The UK.”

“those who've worked as espionage agents or agents of The United Kingdom are given a lifelong guarantee of anonymity beyond the grave, so that their families and their relatives' families are not, as it were, ever compromised by what might have been done by preceding generations.”

“it's because of that scaremongering, if you look at the historical record, that MI6 was started in 1900 It had been a section of specifically naval intelligence before that, and then it was formalized into a separate organization. So its origins are tied up, strangely, with a certain amount of fiction.”

“Of course, if you're working in a trust environment, when a betrayal happens, it's that much more punishing, and the feelings of personal letdown can be extreme.”

“The Matrokian archive is probably the most revelatory archive that exists to this day of Cold War espionage, and a whole range of cases are described, successful KGB cases, described in detail.”

“I think what would be the main characteristic of the changes, the penalties for disclosure will be much higher than they are hitherto at the moment.”

“The UK is Europe's leading intelligence and security power, and of course we also are one of Europe's leading defense powers, and I think you just have to see what's happened in Ukraine and the way that we would have been able, as it were, to lead on the support for the Ukrainians.”

“I think the fact that we're not constrained by European community membership, by common foreign and defense policy which the EU tries to promote, made a huge difference because we have much more flexibility.”

“If they'd come and asked me and sat down with me, I could have explained to them why they'd got this wrong.”

“There will be, for sure, Russians who will be offering their services to the Americans or to other Western nations because they so fundamentally disagree with Russian policy.”

“Historically, there's never been a coup in Russia. There have been revolutions, there haven't been coups.”

“Have Politicians and always been a problem. It is not a unique problem to any single politician.”

“Politicians and always been a problem. It is not a unique problem to any single politician.”

“Every single politician I have ever known, foreign and British, have used their phones in a way which probably is unwise.”

“That's the nature of political life, it's not to do with the behaviour of politicians.”

“But bear in mind, and people are surprised when I say this, that Russia, in fact, now has more or less the GDP of Italy, somewhere around thirteenth or fourteenth in the world.”

“Russia, in fact, now has more or less the GDP of Italy, somewhere around thirteenth or fourteenth in the world. And it has an aging population. It has a very weak industrial base.”

“Russia, in fact, now has more or less the GDP of Italy, somewhere around thirteenth or fourteenth in the world. And it has an aging population.”

“It has a very weak industrial base. It's commodity dependent. It's got dreadful demographics, and it's a declining power unquestionably.”

“the Chinese have positioned themselves in crucial areas of science in all of our leading universities.”

“two days ago, the Ant payment system, Jack Ma's company that controls massive payment system across the whole of China had a flotation and those of you who follow these things will be aware that it actually beat Aramco in terms of the value of the flotation, $34,000,000,000 was raised”

“at some point in the next two, three, four, five years, I think The United States and China will sit down to work out how a new security system will, as it were, operate across the world to replace Pax Americana.”

“So Pax Americana will become for those of you who are Latinists, Pax Americana et Sericana.”

“the basic fact is that the Palestinian issue is no longer being allowed to define much of the region's politics. And this is a huge change.”

“The truth about the Palestinian issue, in my opinion, is that most Arab leaders, or the leadership of most Arab states, lost patience with the Palestinians”

“The truth about the Palestinian issue, in my opinion, is that most Arab leaders, or the leadership of most Arab states, lost patience with the Palestinians quite well over the last five to seven years.”

“The UK is Europe's defense, security and intelligence leader. We have been very careful over the years not to put any of those equities in the hands of the European communion.”

“But I think there's a lot about his China policy that's right, because we need an explanation from the Chinese as to what happened. We need an international inquiry.”

“We need an international inquiry. And yes, I do, on this issue, agree with Trump's hard line, and I think we should support it.”

“Personally pretty fed up with George Osborne. I think he was extremely uncritical in the way that he was willing to embrace the Chinese relationship.”

“I think there will be a complete reassessment of this situation for The UK and for many other countries in the aftermath of the pandemic.”

“I don't think that George Osborne really understood what the leadership of a real Communist Party is like.”

“The problem is that British Telecom signed a deal back in 2001, 2002 actually, whilst I was chief with Huawei.”

“The problem is that British Telecom signed a deal back in 2001, 2002 actually, whilst I was chief with Huawei. And we became very much involved with this company and entangled with them.”

“The fact is, if you understand the nature of Chinese leadership, Chinese intelligence, having China embedded in our five gs is a security problem, a serious one.”

“I think that the importance of the paper is that it is written by two very knowledgeable scientists, one a world leading virologist. Well, both of them are actually. It's been peer reviewed extensively.”

“I'm not a scientist, I'm not really prepared to speculate very far, but I think this particular article is very important, and I think it will shift the debate.”

“Absolutely. China itself has suffered hugely and probably more than we realize because they will have not published the true figures. I do think that this started as an accident.”

“I do think that this started as an accident. Okay, once it started, there are things about the Chinese behavior which are completely shocking, but there was nothing deliberate about the origins of it.”

“Several weeks after that visit, I got a call from an extremely senior French official saying, Richard, would you please disregard what we told you?”

“Anyway, it subsequently became clear when the Iraqi situation evolved that the French were not keen on supporting a new UN resolution.”

“And there were indications that Shirak had received funding from Hussein, both the nineteen ninety five presidential election and the two thousand and two presidential”

“there were indications that Shirak had received funding from Hussein, both the nineteen ninety five presidential election and the two thousand and two presidential”

“Intelligence community, I think meeting the President at the time, and really pledging British support to The U. S. In response to this extraordinary attack.”

“And the senior cohorts of FBI and CIA had flown down to meet us, and this was in June. And we knew from the noise, not from specific humid, from the noise.”

“And we knew from the noise, not from specific humid, from the noise. By noise you mean chatter on Chatter on intercept and chatter that something big was being planned.”

“we knew from the noise, not from specific humid, from the noise. By noise you mean chatter on Chatter on intercept and chatter that something big was being planned.”

“And what I'm saying is that we had a clue to the target in 'ninety three.”

“And the people we were talking to, I think, were telling Saddam that the rearmament was much more advanced than it actually was.”

“And the people we were talking to, I think, were telling Saddam that the rearmament was much more advanced than it actually was. So our sources themselves were telling Saddam stuff which wasn't entirely accurate.”

“Well, eventually two guys in jeans turn up. So we open the door of the plane and say hi. No, literally we say hi, we're here to see Gaddafi.”

“Pretty much was blunt to that. And then I said, but the message I convey from the British and American governments is no deal unless the nuclear is involved.”

“And I will reiterate, absolutely no deal unless that's included. I mean eventually, we end, we go back to thirty. It's now in the early hours of the morning, fly back to Tripoli.”

“So as it were, the intelligence beam had too much weight on it and it buckled.”

“And my advice to Blair, which he didn't follow, because I'm not a policy guy, but I said, look, what we should have because bits of the Iraqi army were not particularly contaminated by Saddam Hussein.”

“my advice to Blair, which he didn't follow, because I'm not a policy guy, but I said, look, what we should have because bits of the Iraqi army were not particularly contaminated by Saddam Hussein.”

“Quite honestly if Macron is determined to integrate Europe politically, as he states, he really doesn't want us to be part of it because we would be very effective in stopping his progress.”

“I think we need to think more broadly. We have a very close relationship with The United States, not only in defense and security terms, but also in trading terms.”

“I mean, I I think I could make a convincing argument that in some respects Trump's administration in terms of their relations with The UK have not been altogether as difficult as Obama.”

“I think I could make a convincing argument that in some respects Trump's administration in terms of their relations with The UK have not been altogether as difficult as Obama.”

“I don't think I've not seen anything that convinces me at all that the Russians intervened significantly in the Brexit referendum.”

“I've not seen anything that convinces me at all that the Russians intervened significantly in the Brexit referendum.”

“I mean, I don't think terrorism in its current form, you know, presents a systemic threat to the nation. It presents, the possibility of horrible happenings,”

“I don't think terrorism in its current form, you know, presents a systemic threat to the nation. It presents, the possibility of horrible happenings,”

“I don't think terrorism in its current form, you know, presents a systemic threat to the nation. It presents, the possibility of horrible happenings, which we are learning how to deal with.”

“two years of turbulence? Probably near a five. I would pick near a five. I think we can emerge from that in a pretty strong position”

“I would pick near a five. I think we can emerge from that in a pretty strong position if we do not lose self belief and self confidence.”

“Simply shutting the door on migration is not an option. History tells us that human tides are irresistible unless the gravitational pull that causes them is removed.”

“Edward Gibbon elegantly charted how Rome, with all its civic and administrative sophistication and military prowess, could not stop its empire being overrun by the mass movement of Europe's tribes.”

“Good intelligence, drawing on human and technical sources, and the analysis of data flows is the key to effective counter terrorism.”

“And a number of the most lethal terrorists are from inside Europe, including The UK.”

“Third, for reasons that I don't have time to explain, The UK, compared to most of its European partners, is good at this sort of intelligence work.”

“The argument that we would be less secure if we left the EU is, in reality, rather difficult to make.”

“There would, in fact, be some gains as if we left because The UK would be fully master of its own house.”

“Counterterrorist coordination across Europe would certainly continue, and The UK would remain a leader in the field.”

“The idea that the quality of that cooperation depends in any significant way on our EU membership is misleading.”

“If Europe cannot act together to persuade a majority of its citizens that it can gain control of its migratory crisis, then the EU will find itself at the mercy of a populist uprising, which is already stirring.”

“Bear in mind when you're talking about Egypt, forty four percent of the population is illiterate and exists on less than $2 a day.”

“So what I think is important in this is the Assange story as such is ultimately a distraction. He's a very undignified flagpant in my opinion for a very important issue.”

“Frankly, it is completely idiotic to suggest that Swedish judiciary is being pressurized by sinister forces. If you really think that you're into conspiracy theories,”

“We'll come back to that in a minute. And Wikileaks is disclosing 251,287 US State Department telegrams. 251,287.”

“Wikileaks is disclosing 251,287 US State Department telegrams. 251,287. Now in the past, the journalist who specializes on writing about the State had disclosed 10 State Department telegrams, it would have been a sensation.”

“The fact that these are in the public domain is a consequence of stunning incompetence in terms of the US government's IT security and should never have happened.”

“Now the first thing you do is if you're trying to protect secrets, you don't have any openings on your system. You can read on the screen. Every keystroke is audited.”

“You can read on the screen. Every keystroke is audited. You can't print. You can't download. I mean that's just so basic. It's ridiculous.”

“And that is to, let's say, encourage government servants not to write full records to conduct business by word-of-mouth.”

“I think the problem with the Muslim brotherhood is it's more interested in Islam than it is in democracy. Democracy. And it is the only significantly organized political party”

“I think the problem with the Muslim brotherhood is it's more interested in Islam than it is in democracy.”