The Public Record
Leon Panetta is a prominent Democratic politician from California, known for his extensive career in public service. He served as the 23rd Secretary of Defense under President Barack Obama from 2011 to 2013, where he played a key role in military operations, including the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Prior to that, he was the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2009 to 2011, focusing on national security and intelligence reform. Panetta has also served in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing California's 16th congressional district from 1977 to 1993, where he was known for his work on budget and agriculture issues.
Well, what happened is several months after the documentary came out, Secretary Panetta did institute some very important first steps. He elevated the decision to investigate and prosecute these crimes from the level of unit command tore…
Let me also remind you that the sequester does serious damage to the nondefense side of the budget as well.
The most serious threat to national security today is the United States Congress
It's not just defense, it's education, loss of teachers, it's child care. It's food safety, it's about law enforcement, it's about airport safety.
On February 11, 2013, then-Secretary of Defense Panetta directed the extension of these benefits to same-sex domestic partners and their children once the servicemembers and their same-sex domestic partners sign declarations attesting to…
We have a responsibility, and I take that responsibility seriously, to do everything we can to protect our citizens.
The responsibility to protect our citizens rests with both the administration and Congress.
The U.S. Government has worked to train, equip, organize, and support African partner forces to counter shared threats.
I think the Intelligence Community, recognizing the recommendations that came out of the accountability report, are taking steps to try to ensure that that gap no longer exists.
No. We're not scrapping that. Our intent is obviously to continue working on that.
The host nation has to guarantee at some level the protection of our facilities.
We've slowed the primary cancer, but we know that the cancer has also metastasized to other parts of the global body.
I urge you to do whatever you can to try to avoid this threat to our national defense.
If we have to reduce the budget, as we do, $487 billion, I can get that done pursuant to a strategy that protects the strongest military on Earth.
I urge you to do the responsible thing and avoid weakening our national defense.
The longer you delay, the longer you avoid trying to assign some assistance there, the more dangerous these groups become and the greater the instability that develops here.
Not at all. I think it was having been at the CIA, we did some work to try to assist the militias.
That brings me to my greatest concern right now as Secretary and, frankly, the greatest security risk we are facing as a Nation, which is budget uncertainty, which could prompt the most significant military readiness crisis in more than a…
I think Plan B, in that instance, is that you do have to do everything possible to harden that embassy.
The U.S. military's alert posture is based on specific and credible intelligence.
The U.S. Ambassador is the senior U.S. Government authority for the evacuation.
Senator Hagel is someone who served in the military, worked up here on the Hill, understands the issues that are involved there, and I think can be a very effective leader at the Pentagon.
Anything you can do to try to make sure that these individuals are well-trained, do the job, and that we're not wasting money would be extremely helpful...
Politicians like Leon Panetta
