Leon Panetta
Leon Panetta | |
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In office July 1, 2011 – February 26, 2013[1] | |
President | Barack Obama |
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Deputy | William J. Lynn III Ash Carter |
Preceded by | Robert Gates |
Succeeded by | Chuck Hagel |
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
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In office February 13, 2009 – June 30, 2011 | |
President | Barack Obama |
Deputy | Stephen Kappes Michael Morell |
Preceded by | Michael Hayden |
Succeeded by | Michael Morell (Acting) |
18th White House Chief of Staff
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In office July 17, 1994 – January 20, 1997 | |
President | Bill Clinton |
Preceded by | Mack McLarty |
Succeeded by | Erskine Bowles |
Director of the Office of Management and Budget
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In office January 21, 1993 – July 17, 1994 | |
President | Bill Clinton |
Preceded by | Richard Darman |
Succeeded by | Alice Rivlin |
Chair of the House Budget Committee
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In office January 3, 1989 – January 21, 1993 | |
Preceded by | Bill Gray |
Succeeded by | Martin Olav Sabo |
In office January 3, 1993 – January 21, 1993 | |
Preceded by | Cal Dooley |
Succeeded by | Sam Farr |
In office January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1993 | |
Preceded by | Burt Talcott |
Succeeded by | Don Edwards |
Born | 06/28/1938 Monterey, California, U.S. |
Political party | Republican (Before 1971)
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Spouse(s) | Sylvia Varni |
Military Service
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Allegiance | United States |
Service/branch | United States |
Years of service | 1964–1966 |
Rank | First Lieutenant |
Leon Edward Panetta (born June 28, 1938 in Monterey, California) served in the Obama administration first as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, having been appointed by President Barack Obama, from January 2009 through June 2011, when he became the Secretary of Defense, a position he held until stepping down in February 2013. Despite criticisms of his lack of significant intelligence experience, he was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on February 12, 2009.
Raised by Italian immigrant parents, Panetta received a bachelor's degree and law degree from Santa Clara University. After serving in the U.S. Army from 1964 to 1966, he became a legislative aide in the Senate. In 1971 Panetta rose to become head of the U.S. Office for Civil Rights under President Richard Nixon and later an executive assistant to New York City Mayor John Lindsay. In 1976 Panetta was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat from the California Monterey area, and reelected nine times. As chairman of the House Budget Committee, Panetta was credited as a budget hawk that reached across the aisle, while repeatedly voted against the Reagan Administration on military initiatives.
Panetta served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Bill Clinton and was promoted to White House chief of staff in 1994. In 1997 he became director of Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy, a leadership non-profit based at California State University. In 2006 Panetta was a member of the Iraq Study Group, along with former Secretary of State James Baker and future-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
Panetta is married and has three sons and five grandchildren.
References
- ↑ Leon E. Panetta - Barack Obama Administration. Office of the Secretary of Defense - Historical Office.