Leadership Quote by Michael Scheuer

There is a particular kind of bureaucratic heresy in the simple clause: "And I think we are not". Scheuer isn’t offering a grand theory or a hot take; he’s puncturing a familiar government ritual, the optimistic progress report delivered regardless of the scoreboard. The first sentence sets up the official script: leaders "continue to say" we’re making "strong headway". That phrasing matters. "Continue" implies a rehearsed refrain, not a conclusion reached through evidence. "Strong headway" is management-speak, the language of metrics and momentum that sounds persuasive precisely because it’s vague enough to survive contact with reality.

Then comes the pivot, blunt and almost starkly modest: "I think we are not". The subtext is an insider’s refusal to help launder morale as fact. By framing it as "I think", Scheuer adopts the posture of a cautious public servant, but the effect is sharper: if even the careful, credentialed voice can’t endorse the narrative, the narrative is in trouble. It’s dissent without theatrics, which makes it harder to dismiss as partisan performance.

Contextually, Scheuer is associated with U.S. counterterrorism analysis in the post-9/11 era, when the political demand for confidence often outpaced strategic clarity. His line hints at the gap between public messaging and internal assessment: leaders need the appearance of control; practitioners live with messy, slow-moving realities. The quote works because it captures that tension in miniature, exposing how "progress" can function as a communications strategy rather than a measured outcome.