Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said although the Obama administration campaigned against many of President George W. Bush's security policies, when he became president, Obama realized many of the policies were successful and kept them in place.
"They ended up keeping Guantanamo open, not because they liked it — we didn't like it either — but they couldn't think of a better solution to it. The same thing is true with the Patriot Act, and military commissions, and indefinite detention. All of those things are things that were criticized but are still in place two and a half years later because they're the best alternative to the other choices and they are in fact successful in keeping America safer," said Rumsfeld to Fox News's "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" on Tuesday.
Rumsfeld touted the Bush doctrine, saying he believes the United States has been successful in its fight against terrorism over the past 10 years.
"We don't have metrics to know how successful we've been … but we do know that while they've had some successful attacks elsewhere in the world, they have not been successful here," said Rumsfeld.
He also shared his memories of being at the Pentagon during the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, during the Fox News interview.
