Leon Panetta
Leon Panetta
Leon Edward Panettais an American statesman, lawyer, and professor. He served in the Obama administration as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2009 to 2011, and as Secretary of Defense from 2011 to 2013. A Democrat, Panetta was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993, served as Director of the Office of Management and Budget from 1993 to 1994, and as President Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997. He is...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth28 June 1938
CityMonterey, CA
CountryUnited States of America
People start doing it by the numbers. They don't have that kind of excitement you had in the first term, dealing with issues, dealing with the country,
I think the most important thing for this president to do is to focus on trying to get some things done -- limited things done -- over these next 100 days, ... If he can get education reform accomplished, if he could do something on campaign reform in a bipartisan way, then that could send a very important signal to the American people that he's going to try to get things done.
Red lines are kind of political arguments that are used to try to put people in a corner.
I'm going to give people the benefit of the doubt.
It doesn't make a lot of sense for us to borrow money from the Chinese to go give to another country for humanitarian aid. We ought to get the Chinese to take care of the people.
I don't think I should penalize people who were doing their duty.
I suddenly realized at the CIA that I had to make life-and-death decisions about people.
Well look, CIA is an agency that has to collect intelligence, do operations. We have to take risks and it's important that we take risks and that we know that we have the support of the government and we have the support of the American people in what we're doing.
I know that young people sometimes, caught up in the moment, make some very foolish decisions.
I've spent the last several hours in an appearance before the grand jury largely detailing the operations of the White House and the physical setting of the White House during the time in which I was chief of staff. I believe I've answered all of the questions that were asked of me. And I will not comment any further on my testimony,
disciples of balanced budgets. ... And at some point, they'll be proven right.
I think they're facing the largest challenge I've seen in recent history, in terms of an administration having to decide whether they continue to borrow and spend, or whether they face up to very difficult choices that have to be made to discipline the budget. I think we'll find out in the next few months what that decision is going to be.
He obviously has to go through Congress to get things done. But he can't be seen as tied to its failings. He has to use the bully pulpit effectively and confront Congress effectively.
If these are baseless charges, it'll be OK. On the other hand, if there's something there, and it leads to him having to step out of office, it may be time to do some repair work and that may not have the consequences you would expect,