Leon Panetta

Panetta started in politics in 1966 as a legislative assistant to Republican senator Thomas Kuchel, the Senate Minority Whip from California, whom Panetta has called "a tremendous role model."[13]

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.[14]

Panetta chose to enforce civil rights and equal-education laws over the objection of President Nixon, who wanted enforcement to move slowly in keeping with his strategy to gain political support among Southern whites.[15] Robert Finch and assistant secretary John Veneman supported Panetta and refused to fire him, threatening to resign if forced to do so.[16] Eventually forced from office in 1970, Panetta left Washington to work as an executive assistant for John Lindsay, the mayor of New York City. Panetta wrote about his Nixon administration experience in his 1971 book Bring Us Together.[17]

He returned to Monterey to practice law at Panetta, Thompson & Panetta from 1971 to 1976.[18]

1977 Congressional portrait of Panetta

Panetta switched to the Democratic Party in 1971, citing his belief that the Republican Party was moving away from the political center.[19] 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. He would never face another contest nearly that close, and was reelected eight times.[20][21][22]

During his time in Congress, Panetta concentrated mostly on budget issues, civil rights, education, healthcare, agriculture, immigration, and environmental protection, 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 the author of legislation establishing the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary,[23] and legislation providing Medicare coverage for hospice care. Working with chancellor Barry Munitz, he helped establish California State University, Monterey Bay at the former Fort Ord military base.

He also attempted to form the Big Sur National Scenic Area with senator Alan Cranston.[24] The bill would have created a 700,000-acre (280,000-ha) scenic area administered by the U.S. Forest Service. It budgeted $100 million to buy land from private land owners, up to $30 million for easements and management programs, and created a state plan for a zone about 75 miles (121 km) long and 5 miles (8.0 km) wide along the Big Sur coast.

The bill was opposed by California senator S. I. Hayakawa, development interests, and Big Sur residents. Local residents mocked the plan as "Panetta's Pave 'n' Save" and raised a fund of more than $100,000 to lobby against the proposal.[25][26] The legislation was blocked by Hayakawa in the energy committee and did not reach a vote.[27][28][29]

Panetta was a member of the House Committee on the Budget from 1979 to 1989, and its chairman from 1989 to 1993, Panetta played a key role in the 1990 budget summit.[30][31]

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.

Though elected to a ninth term in 1992, Panetta left the House in early 1993 after president-elect Bill Clinton selected him to serve as director of the United States Office of Management and Budget. In that role, he developed the budget package that would eventually result in the balanced budget of 1998.

Panetta with President Bill Clinton and Anthony Lake in October 1994

In 1994, President Clinton became increasingly concerned about a lack of order and focus in the White House, an issue that stretched from foreign to domestic policy and political matters. Clinton, who had vowed to run a professional operation, asked Panetta to become his new chief of staff, replacing Mack McLarty. According to author Nigel Hamilton, "Panetta replaced McLarty for the rest of Clinton's first term—and the rest is history. To be a great leader, a modern president must have a great chief of staff—and in Leon Panetta, Clinton got the enforcer he deserved."[32] Panetta was appointed White House Chief of Staff on July 17, 1994, and he held that position until January 20, 1997. He was a key negotiator of the 1996 budget, which was another important step toward bringing the budget into balance.[33][34]

President Barack Obama speaks to CIA employees at CIA Headquarters in Langley, April 20, 2009

On January 5, 2009, President-elect Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate Panetta to the post of Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.[2]

At the time of his selection, journalists and politicians raised concerns about Panetta's limited experience in intelligence, aside from his two-year service as a military intelligence officer in the 1960s. California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, the Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, expressed concerns that she was not consulted about the Panetta appointment and stated her belief that "the Agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time."[35]

Former CIA officer Ishmael Jones stated that Panetta was a wise choice, because of his close personal connection to the President and lack of exposure to the CIA bureaucracy.[36][37] Also, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius said that Panetta did have exposure to intelligence operations as Director of the OMB and as Chief of Staff for President Bill 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".[38]

On February 12, 2009, Panetta was confirmed in the full Senate by voice vote.[39]

Panetta as director of the CIA

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Message from the Director: Interrogation Policy and Contracts

On February 19, 2009, 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.[40]

As CIA director, Panetta traveled extensively to intelligence outposts around the world and worked with international leaders to confront threats of Islamic extremism and Taliban. In 2010, working with the Senate Intelligence Committee, he conducted a secret review of the use of torture by the CIA (euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation techniques") during the administration of George W. Bush. The review, which came to be known by 2014 as the Panetta Review, yielded a series of memoranda that, according to The New York Times, "cast a particularly harsh light" on the Bush-era interrogation program.[41] The Times noted: "The effort to write the exhaustive history of the C.I.A.’s detention operations was fraught from the beginning. President Obama officially ended the program during his first week in office in 2009. The intelligence committee announced its intention to take a hard look at the program, but there was little appetite inside the [Obama] White House to accede to the committee’s request for all classified C.I.A. cables related to it." The findings of the Panetta Review reportedly aligned with much of what the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture[41] found in its factual accounting. Both reports were largely seen as an effort in fact-finding and prevention, but not a governmental path towards some possible project of accountability or punishment for past interrogation or torture.

Panetta supported the Obama administration's campaign of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, which he identified as the "most effective weapon" against senior al-Qaeda leadership.[42][43] Drone strikes increased significantly under Panetta, with as many as 50 suspected al-Qaeda militants being killed in May 2009 alone.[44][45]

As director of the CIA, Panetta oversaw the hunt for terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, and played a key role in the operation in which bin Laden was killed on May 1, 2011.[46][47]

Panetta being sworn in as 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 Senate confirmed Panetta in an unusual 100–0 vote.[48] He was inaugurated 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", which triggered final repeal after 60 days.

In August 2011, Panetta publicly 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 and he urged Congress not to go beyond the roughly $500 billion in defense cuts required over the next decade under the debt reduction bill signed by president Barack Obama. Working with military and civilian leaders at the Department of Defense, Panetta developed a new defense strategy.

Funding the United States military, in the face of tightening budget constraints, became an ongoing theme of Panetta's tenure. He also warned that future service members may see changes in retirement benefits, and that the military healthcare system may need reforms, to rein in costs, while also ensuring quality care.[49]

Panetta with Saudi Arabian Minister of Defense Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Pentagon, April 11, 2012

Leon Panetta with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti in Rome

Panetta being interviewed by Jake Tapper, May 2012

Another major issue during Panetta's tenure as Defense Secretary was the Obama administration's diplomatic effort to dissuade Iran from developing nuclear weapons. In January 2012, Panetta stated that nuclear weapons development was a "red line" that Iran would not be allowed to cross—and that the United States was keeping all options, including military ones, open to completely prevent it. He said that Iran would not be allowed to block the Straits of Hormuz.

In January 2013, shortly before his departure from the Defense Secretary post, Panetta announced that women would be allowed to enter all combat jobs in the military, citing an assessment phase in which "each branch of service will examine all its jobs and units not currently integrated and then produce a timetable for integrating them".[50]

Panetta has held positions within a number of institutions and corporations, including:

• Joint Ocean Commission Initiative, Commissioner and Co-Chair[74][75]
• Pew Oceans Commission, Commissioner and Chairman[76]
• Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Co-Chair[77]
• Bread for the World, Board of Directors
• National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, Board of Directors[78]
• 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 (1997–present)
• Close Up Foundation, Board of Directors (1999–present)
• Connetics Investor Relations, Board of Directors (2000–present)[79]
• Fleishman-Hillard,[80]
  • 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 (2004)
• Public Policy Institute of California, Board of Directors[81]
• Blue Shield of California, Board of Directors (2013–present)[82]
• Oracle Corporation, Board of Directors (2015–present)[83]
• Center for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue, Global Advisory Board (2021–present)[84]

In June 2002, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops appointed Panetta to their National Review Board,[85] which was created to look into the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal. This created controversy because of Panetta's pro-choice stance on abortion and other views seen as conflicting with those of the Church.

• Beacon Global Strategies, Senior Counselor (May 2014 – Present)[86] Defense Contractor |

Panetta is also a member of the Partnership for a Secure America's bipartisan Advisory Board. The Partnership is a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC that promotes bipartisan solutions to national security and foreign policy issues.

Panetta serves on the Advisory Board of the Committee to Investigate Russia.[87]