# Rumsfeld's "unknown unknowns" comment

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumsfelds-unknown-unknowns-comment/429900>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 13, 2007, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumsfelds-unknown-unknowns-comment/429900 "2007-12-13T20:19:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumsfelds-unknown-unknowns-comment/429900/21 "2007-12-14T05:00:36Z")

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[QUOTE=pravnik]  
As you know, you go to the press conference with the statement you have, not the statement you want or might wish to have at a later time.  
[/QUOTE]

You win the thread.

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**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumsfelds-unknown-unknowns-comment/429900/22 "2007-12-14T06:35:53Z")

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I have trouble believing I could make the same point Rumsfeld was trying to make without seeming equally as confusing. I’ve tried quite a few times and every time, it ends up being a jumbled word salad.

In fact, I challenge anyone in this thread to take the original quote:

> [@](#):
>
> Reports that say that something hasn’t happened  
> Are always interesting to me,  
> Because as we know,  
> There are “known knowns”;  
> There are things we know we know.  
> We also know there are “known unknowns”;  
> That is to say we know there are some things we do not know.  
> But there are also “unknown unknowns” —  
> The ones we don’t know  
> We don’t know.

And preserve the original point while making it significantly more comprehensible. I’ve tried and it’s much harder to do than it looks.

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