Coordinates	38°53′51.61″N77°2′11.58″N
Name	Leon Panetta
Office	23rd United States Secretary of Defense
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	William Lynn
Term start	July 1, 2011
Predecessor	Robert Gates
Office2	19th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
President2	Barack Obama
Deputy2	Stephen KappesMichael Morell
Term start2	February 13, 2009
Term end2	June 30, 2011
Predecessor2	Michael Hayden
Successor2	Michael Morell (Acting)
Office3	18th White House Chief of Staff
President3	Bill Clinton
Term start3	July 17, 1994
Term end3	January 20, 1997
Predecessor3	Mack McLarty
Successor3	Erskine Bowles
Office4	29th Director of the Office of Management and Budget
President4	Bill Clinton
Term start4	January 21, 1993
Term end4	July 17, 1994
Predecessor4	Richard Darman
Successor4	Alice Rivlin
Office5	Chairman of the House Committee on the Budget
Term start5	January 3, 1989
Term end5	January 21, 1993
Predecessor5	William Gray
Successor5	Martin Sabo
State6	California
District6	17th
Term start6	January 3, 1993
Term end6	January 21, 1993
Predecessor6	Cal Dooley
Succeeded6	Sam Farr
State7	California
District7	16th
Term start7	January 3, 1977
Term end7	January 3, 1993
Predecessor7	Burt Talcott
Succeeded7	Don Edwards
Birth date	June 28, 1938
Birth place
Party	Democratic Party (1971–present)
Otherparty	Republican Party (Before 1971)
Alma mater	Santa Clara University
Profession	LawyerProfessorPoliticianStatesman
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Branch	United States Army
Serviceyears	1964–1966
Rank
Awards	Army Commendation Medal }}

Leon Edward Panetta (born June 28, 1938) is the 23rd and current United States Secretary of Defense, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama since 2011. Prior to taking office, he served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. An Italian-American Democratic politician, lawyer, and professor, Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993. He is the founder and director of California State University's Panetta Institute, served as Distinguished Scholar to Chancellor Charles B. Reed of the California State University System and professor of public policy at Santa Clara University. In January 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Panetta for the post of CIA Director; he was confirmed by the full Senate on February 12, 2009 and assumed the office the next day. On April 28, 2011, President Obama announced the nomination of Panetta as United States Secretary of Defense when Robert Gates retired. David Petraeus is expected to take over as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. As director of the CIA, Panetta presided over the operations that led to Osama bin Laden's death.

On June 21, 2011, the United States Senate confirmed Panetta unanimously as the next United States Secretary of Defense and he assumed the office on July 1.

Early life and schooling

Leon Panetta was born in Monterey, California, the son of Carmelina Maria (née Prochilo) and Carmelo Frank Panetta, Italian immigrants from Siderno in Calabria who owned a restaurant in Monterey. He was raised in the Monterey area, and attended Catholic schools San Carlos Grammar School and Carmel Mission School. He continued his education at Monterey High School, a public school where he became involved in student politics, and was a JSA member. As a junior he was Vice President of the Student Body, and became President of the Student Body as a senior.

In 1956, he entered Santa Clara University, and in 1960 he graduated ''magna cum laude'' with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He also received a Juris Doctor in 1963 from the Santa Clara University School of Law, and soon after began practicing law. In 1964, he joined the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant, where he served as an officer in Army Military Intelligence. There he received the Army Commendation Medal, and was discharged in 1966 as a First Lieutenant.

Political career

Panetta started in politics in 1966 as a legislative assistant to Republican Senator Thomas Kuchel, the United States Senate Minority Whip from California, whom Panetta has called "a tremendous role model".

In 1969 he became the assistant to Robert H. Finch, Secretary of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare under the Nixon administration. Soon thereafter he was appointed Director of the Office for Civil Rights.

Panetta chose to enforce civil rights and equal education laws. Secretary Robert Finch and Assistant Secretary John Veneman refused to fire Panetta, threatening to resign if forced to do so. A few weeks later in 1970, Panetta resigned and left Washington to work as Executive Assistant for John Lindsay, the Republican Mayor of New York City. He wrote about this experience in his 1971 book ''Bring Us Together: The Nixon Team and the Civil Rights Retreat''.

He moved back to Monterey to practice law at Panetta, Thompson & Panetta from 1971 through to 1976.

Congressional work

Panetta switched to the Democratic Party in 1971, because he thought that the Republican Party was moving away from the political center. In 1976, Panetta was elected to the U.S. Congress to represent California's 16th congressional district, unseating incumbent Republican Burt Talcott with 53% of the vote (the 17th district after the 1990 census), and was reelected for nine terms.

During his time in Congress, his work concentrated mostly on budget issues, civil rights, education, health, and environmental issues, particularly preventing oil drilling off the California coast. He wrote the Hunger Prevention Act (Public Law 100-435) of 1988 and the Fair Employment Practices Resolution. He was a major contributor to the effort of establishing the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

His positions included:

Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on the Budget

Chairman of the Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Domestic Marketing, Consumer Relations, and Nutrition

Chairman of the Administration Committee's Subcommittee on Personnel and Police

Chairman of the Task Force on Domestic Hunger created by the U.S. House Select Committee on Hunger

Vice Chairman of the Caucus of Vietnam-Era Veterans in Congress

Member of the President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies.

Budget work

A member of the U.S. House Committee on the Budget from 1979 to 1985 — and its chairman from 1989 to 1993 — he played a key role in the 1990 Budget Summit.

Though elected to a ninth term, he left the House in 1993 after President Bill Clinton selected him to be Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget. He is credited with developing the budget package that would eventually result in the balanced budget of 1998. On July 17, 1994, he was appointed White House Chief of Staff by Clinton, a position he held until January 20, 1997. He was an important negotiator of the 1996 budget, which was another important step towards balancing the budget.

Nomination as CIA Director

President Barack Obama nominated him to the post of Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on January 5, 2009.

After his selection, journalists and politicians raised concerns about his lack of intelligence experience.

''Washington Post'' columnist David Ignatius said that Panetta did have tangential exposure to intelligence operations as Director of the OMB and as Chief of Staff for President Clinton, where he "sat in on the daily intelligence briefings as chief of staff, and he reviewed the nation's most secret intelligence-collection and covert-action programs in his previous post as director of the Office of Management and Budget." Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democratic chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, wasn't happy with the Leon Panetta selection:

:“I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA Director. I know nothing about this, other than what I’ve read. My position has consistently been that I believe the Agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.”

Former CIA officer Ishmael Jones stated, however, that Panetta was a wise choice because of his close personal connection to the President and lack of exposure to the CIA bureaucracy.

On February 12, 2009, Panetta was confirmed in the full Senate by voice vote.

Director of the CIA

On February 19, 2009, Leon Panetta was sworn in as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency by Vice President Joe Biden before an audience of CIA employees. Panetta reportedly received a "rock star welcome" from his new subordinates.

In March 2009, Panetta visited India to discuss a host of issues including common strategy on dealing with Islamic extremism and Taliban. This was his first international visit since he assumed office.

Panetta supported U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, which he identified as the "most effective weapon" against senior Al-Qaeda leadership. These attacks increased significantly under Panetta, with as many as 50 suspected Al-Qaeda militants being killed in May 2009 alone.

As director of the CIA, Panetta presided over the operations that led to Osama bin Laden's death on May 1, 2011.

Secretary of Defense

On April 28, 2011, President Obama announced the nomination of Panetta as United States Secretary of Defense as a replacement for retiring Secretary Robert Gates. On June 21, 2011, the United States Senate confirmed Panetta in a 100-0 vote. He was sworn in on July 1, 2011. One of Panetta's first major acts as Defense Secretary was to jointly certify with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the military was prepared to repeal "don't ask, don't tell", triggering final repeal after 60 days.

In August 2011 Panetta warned that deeper cuts in the defense budget risked hollowing out the military and would hamper Pentagon efforts to deal with rising powers such as China, North Korea and Iran. It was the second day in a row that Panetta issued a public warning to Congress not to go beyond the roughly $400 billion in defense cuts required over the next decade under the debt reduction bill signed by President Obama. "You cannot deal with the size deficits the country is confronting by simply cutting the discretionary side of the budget," he said, referring to defense and other portions of the budget that Congress appropriates annually. "You have got to look at the mandatory side of the budget, which is two-thirds of the federal budget, and you also have to look at revenue."

Activities outside politics

Panetta and his wife founded the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy in December 1998, where they serve as the Institute's directors. The Institute is located at California State University, Monterey Bay. Panetta was instrumental in creating CSU Monterey Bay by converting Fort Ord, where he was chief of operations and planning of the intelligence section when he was in the army, into the university. Panetta served as Distinguished Scholar to the Chancellor of California State University and as Presidential Professor at Santa Clara University. He was urged to consider running for Governor of California during the recall election in 2003, but declined in part because of the short time available to raise money.

Panetta has long been an advocate for the health of the world's oceans. As a member of Congress from California’s 16th District, he wrote numerous successful acts of Congress to protect the California coast, including legislation creating the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. In 2003, Panetta was named chairman and commissioner of the Pew Oceans Commission, which in 2005 combined with the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy to establish the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative. Panetta now co-chairs the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative with Admiral James D. Watkins, U.S. Navy (Ret.). Panetta continues to pursue his commitment to ocean and marine life issues, serving as a resource for legislators and the media, advocating for ocean reform on behalf of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative as well as other ocean organizations, including the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

In 2006 he was part of the Iraq Study Group, also known as the Baker Commission.

In 2009 Panetta delivered the commencement speech to the graduating class at The University of Maryland at College Park.

Responsibilities

Joint Ocean Commission Initiative Commissioner and Co-Chair Pew Oceans Commission Commissioner Bread for the World

Board of Directors

National Marine Sanctuary Foundation Member of the Board of Directors National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management

Board of Directors, 2004–2009

New York Stock Exchange

Co-chairman of the Corporate Accountability and Listing Standards Committee

Board of Directors since 1997

Close Up Foundation

Board of Directors, Member since 1999

Connetics Investor Relations Board of Directors since March 2000 Fleishman-Hillard

Co-chairman of the Corporate Accountability and Listing Standards Committee

Co-chairman of the Corporate Credibility Advisory practice

Member of the International Advisory Board

Junior Statesmen Foundation Inc.

Trustee since 2004

Public Policy Institute of California Board of Directors since 2007

In June 2002, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops appointed Panetta to their National Review Board, which was created to look into the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal. This created controversy because of Panetta's pro-choice stands on abortion and other views seen as conflicting with those of the Church.

Personal life

Panetta married Sylvia Marie Varni, who administered his home district offices during his terms in Congress.

Currently, he lives on his family's twelve-acre (49,000 m²) walnut farm in Carmel Valley, California, with his wife. They have three grown sons and six grandchildren.

Awards

1969 — Abraham Lincoln Award, National Education Association

1984 — A. Philip Randolph Award

1988 — Golden Plow Award, American Farm Bureau Federation

1991 — President's Award, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

1991 — Coastal and Ocean Management Award, Coastal Zone Foundation

1993 — Peter Burnett Award for Distinguished Public Service

1995 — Distinguished Public Service Medal, Center for the Study of the Presidency

1997 — Special Achievement Award for Public Service, National Italian American Foundation

2001 — John H. Chafee Coastal Stewardship Award, Coastal America

2002 — Law Alumni Special Achievement Award, Santa Clara University School of Law Alumni Association

2003 — Julius A. Stratton "Champion of the Coast" Award for Coastal Leadership

2005 — Received an honorary Doctorate from University of Wisconsin–Parkside

2005 — Received an honorary Doctorate of Public Service from Northeastern University

2006 — Paul Peck Award

References

Further reading

Clinton, Bill (2005). ''My Life''. Vintage. ISBN 1-4000-3003-X.

External links

Office of the Secretary of Defense

Biography of the Central Intelligence Agency (archived)

Biography of Panetta, Hartnell University

Conversations with History – Interview with Leon Panetta, UC Berkeley Institute of International Studies

The Panetta Institute for Public Policy

|- |- |- |- |- |- |- |-

Category:1938 births Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American Roman Catholics Category:Clinton Administration personnel Category:Directors of the Central Intelligence Agency Category:Directors of the Office of Management and Budget Category:Living people Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from California Category:Obama Administration cabinet members Category:People from Monterey County, California Category:Santa Clara University alumni Category:Santa Clara University School of Law alumni Category:United States Army officers Category:United States Secretaries of Defense Category:White House Chiefs of Staff

cs:Leon Panetta de:Leon Panetta et:Leon Panetta es:Leon Panetta fa:لئون پانه‌تا fr:Leon Panetta hr:Leon Panetta it:Leon Panetta he:ליאון פאנטה lb:Leon Panetta hu:Leon Panetta nl:Leon Panetta ja:レオン・パネッタ no:Leon Panetta pl:Leon Panetta pt:Leon Edward Panetta ru:Панетта, Леон sh:Leon Panetta sv:Leon Panetta zh:莱昂·帕內塔