The Unknown Known I know." "The Unknown Known" was screened in the main competition section at the 70th Venice International Film Festival, and premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on August 29, 2013. The documentary has an 84% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 105 reviews with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Viewers hoping to see Donald Rumsfeld admit making mistakes in public office may find "The Unknown Known" frustrating – but no less fascinating." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 69 out of 100, based on 30 critics,
Known and Unknown: A Memoir and continuing drone attacks abroad. Military historian Victor Davis Hanson wrote in "City Journal" that Rumsfeld "is as candid and unapologetic in retirement as he was in government and corporate service". He generally praised Rumsfeld's depiction of the Bush years while also asking why Rumsfeld was unwilling to change strategy after 2003 as the Iraqi insurgency expanded. Hanson also remarked that "[w]ith the publication of "Known and Unknown", the onus shifts back onto Rumsfeld's critics to prove him wrong or disingenuous". Journalist Justin Webb commented for "The Observer" that "Rumsfeld comes out fighting", and Webb criticized Rumsfeld for ignoring issues