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
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,
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,
Unfortunately these days, there is a hell of a lot that keeps me awake.
Well, you know, any defense force worth its salt has to be able to deal with uncertainty, has to be able to deal with events that we may not have planned for.
The United States, and the president's made this clear, does not want Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. That's a red line for us. And it's a red line obviously for the Israelis so we share a common goal here.
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.
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.
That confrontation, I think, clearly was in the minds of those who were sitting down at the table,
Over the last 10 or 15 years, there's almost been a deliberate strategy to push all the tough decisions to the very end of a Congress, with the hope that you can ram them through as members try to get away for the holidays.
The oceans continue to be in crisis and little progress has been made. We are loosing our fisheries. Ninety percent of big fish are already gone.
It seemed to me there was an opportunity to bring new life into the White House. You can't operate on a 24-7 clock and not lose energy. I'm not saying replace Card, but bring in some new people. He (Bush) is a loyal guy, likes his comfort zone and doesn't like to make changes. But it doesn't give the president any new ideas.
You have to have a good relationship with the president, but you also have to be a tough SOB to get things done. And that means not only being tough with the staff, but, occasionally, tough with the president.
The public does not translate the deficit into something that really bites them. We are going to have to get public support for action on the deficit.
disciples of balanced budgets. ... And at some point, they'll be proven right.