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Leon Panetta

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Leon Panetta
3rd Director-Designate of the Central Intelligence Agency
Assuming office
on or after January 20, 2009*
PresidentBarack Obama
SucceedingMichael Hayden
18th White House Chief of Staff
In office
July 17, 1994 – January 20, 1997
PresidentBill Clinton
Preceded byMack McLarty
Succeeded byErskine Bowles
29th Director of the Office of Management and Budget
In office
January 21, 1993 – October 1994
PresidentBill Clinton
Preceded byRichard Darman
Succeeded byAlice Rivlin
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 17th district
In office
January 3, 1993 – January 22, 1993
Preceded byCal Dooley
Succeeded bySam Farr
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 16th district
In office
January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1993
Preceded byBurt L. Talcott
Succeeded byDon Edwards
Personal details
Born (1938-06-28) June 28, 1938 (age 86)
Monterey, California
Political partyDemocratic
ProfessionLawyer, professor

Leon Edward Panetta (born June 28, 1938) is an American Democratic politician, lawyer, and professor. He served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993. He is the founder and director of the Panetta Institute, serves as Distinguished Scholar to Chancellor Charles B. Reed of the California State University System and is a professor of public policy at Santa Clara University. On January 5, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Panetta for the post of Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.[1][2]

Early life and schooling

Leon Panetta was born in Monterey, California, the son of Italian immigrants who owned a restaurant there. He was raised in the Monterey area, and attended Catholic schools St. Carlos Grammar School and Carmel Mission School. He continued his education at Monterey High School, a public school where he became involved in student politics. As a junior he was Vice President of the Student Body, and became President of the Student Body as a senior.

In 1956 he entered Santa Clara University, and in 1960 he graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He also received a Juris Doctor in 1963 from the Santa Clara University School of Law, and soon after began practicing law.

In 1964 he joined the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant. There he received the Army Commendation Medal, and was discharged in 1966 as a First Lieutenant.

Political career

Panetta started in politics in 1966 as a legislative assistant to Republican Senator Thomas Kuchel, the United States Senate Minority Whip from California, whom Panetta has called "a tremendous role model"[3].

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.

Panetta chose to enforce civil rights and equal education laws, even under alleged political pressure not to from then-president Nixon. Robert Mardian said of Panetta: "Doesn't he understand Nixon promised the Southern delegates he would stop enforcing the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts?"[4]. Secretary Robert Finch and Assistant Secretary John Veneman refused to fire Panetta, threatening to resign if forced to do so. A few weeks later in 1970, Panetta resigned and left Washington to work as Executive Assistant for John Lindsay, the Republican Mayor of New York City. He wrote about this experience in his 1971 book Bring Us Together: The Nixon Team and the Civil Rights Retreat.

He moved back to Monterey to practice law at Panetta, Thompson & Panetta from 1971 through to 1976.

Congressional work

Panetta switched to the Democratic Party in 1971, because he thought that the Republican Party was moving away from the political center. 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 (the 17th district after the 1990 census), and was reelected for nine terms.

During his time in Congress, his work concentrated mostly on budget issues, civil rights, education, health, and environmental issues, 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 a major factor in establishing the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

His positions included:

Budget work

File:Lake Clinton Panetta 1994.jpg
Panetta (right) meets with National Security Advisor Anthony Lake and President Clinton in 1994.

A member of the U.S. House Committee on the Budget from 1979 to 1985 -- and its chairman from 1989 to 1993 -- he played a key role in the 1990 Budget Summit.

Though elected to a ninth term, he left the House in 1993 after then-President Bill Clinton selected him to be Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget. He is credited with developing the budget package that would eventually result in the balanced budget of 1998. On July 17, 1994, he was appointed White House Chief of Staff by Clinton, a position he held until January 20, 1997. He was an important negotiator of the 1996 budget, which was another important step towards balancing the budget.

Nomination as CIA Director

President Barack Obama nominated him as the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on January 5, 2009.[1]

After his selection, journalists and politicians raised concerns about his lack of intelligence experience.

David Ignatius, a reporter, explains that Panetta does have tangential exposure to intelligence operations as director of the OMB and as Chief of Staff for President 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."[5] Senator Diane Feinstein, the California Democrat chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, wasn't happy with the Leon Panetta selection.

“I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA Director. I know nothing about this, other than what I’ve read. My position has consistently been that I believe the Agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.”[6]

Beyond politics

Panetta and his wife founded the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy in December 1998, where they serve as the Institute's directors. The Institute is located at California State University, Monterey Bay. Panetta was instrumental in creating CSU Monterey Bay by converting Fort Ord, where he was chief of operations and planning of the intelligence section when he was in the army, into the university. Currently, Panetta serves as Distinguished Scholar to the Chancellor of California State University[7] and as Presidential Professor at Santa Clara University. He was urged to consider running for Governor of California during the recall election in 2003 but declined in part because of the short time available to raise money.

Panetta has long been an advocate for the health of the world's oceans. As a member of Congress from California’s 16th District, he wrote numerous successful acts of Congress to protect the California coast, including legislation creating the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.[7][8][9] In 2003, Panetta was named chairman and commissioner of the Pew Oceans Commission, which in 2005 combined with the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy to establish the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative. Panetta now co-chairs the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative with Admiral James D. Watkins, U.S. Navy (Ret.).[10] Panetta continues to pursue his commitment to ocean and marine life issues, serving as a resource for legislators and the media, advocating for ocean reform on behalf of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative as well as other ocean organizations, including the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation[11] and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.[12]

In 2006 he was part of the Iraq Study Group aka the Baker Commission.

Responsibilities

Joint Ocean Commission Initiative

  • Commissioner and Co-Chair[13]

Pew Oceans Commission

Bread for the World

  • Board of Directors

National Marine Sanctuary Foundation

  • Member of the Board of Directors[15]

New York Stock Exchange

  • Co-chairman of the Corporate Accountability and Listing Standards Committee
  • Board of Directors since 1997

Close Up Foundation

  • Board of Directors, Member since 1999

Connetics Investor Relations

  • Board of Directors since March 2000[16]

Fleishman-Hillard[17]

  • 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 since 2004

Public Policy Institute of California

  • Board of Directors since 2007[18]

In June 2002 the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops put him on their National Review Board[19], which was created to look into the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal. This created controversy because of Panetta's pro-choice stands on abortion and other views seen as conflicting with those of the Church.

Personal life

Panetta married Sylvia Marie Varni,[20] who administered his home district offices during his terms in Congress.

Currently, he lives on his family's twelve acre (49,000 m²) walnut farm in Carmel Valley, California with his wife. They have three grown sons: Christopher, Carmelo, and James, and five grandchildren[21].

Awards

References

  • Clinton, Bill (2005). My Life. Vintage. ISBN 1-4000-3003-X.

Notes

  1. ^ a b http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/05/leon-panetta-tapped-head-cia-sources-say/
  2. ^ "Obama names Panetta for CIA". Associated Press. 9 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
  3. ^ Conversation with Leon Panetta, p. 2 of 5
  4. ^ McCloskey, Pete (December 19, 2002). "Crises in Both Parties: The 'party of Lincoln' and Sen. Thurmond". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved January 23, 2009.
  5. ^ Ignatius, David (January 7, 2009). "A Surprise for Langley". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 23, 2009.
  6. ^ http://washingtonindependent.com/23827/dianne-feinstein-not-too-pleased-with-panetta-pick
  7. ^ a b Panetta Institute - Leon Panetta - retrieved 11/22/2008
  8. ^ Joint Ocean Commission Initiative - Panetta bio
  9. ^ Consortium for Ocean Leadership - Panetta bio
  10. ^ Watkins bio
  11. ^ National Marine Sanctuary Foundation - Leon Panetta
  12. ^ [1]
  13. ^ Joint Ocean Commission Initiative Commissioners
  14. ^ Pew Oceans Commission
  15. ^ NMSF ~~ Board of Directors ~ Ex-Officio Members ~ Jeffery Mora ~~
  16. ^ Stiefel Laboratories, Inc. | Home
  17. ^ http://www.fleishman.com/capabilities/practice_groups/cca.html
  18. ^ Leon E. Panetta
  19. ^ http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2002/02-163.shtml
  20. ^ Sylvia M. Varni - SourceWatch
  21. ^ USCCB - (Office of Media Relations) - Hon. Leon E. Panetta
  22. ^ http://www.fb.com/issues/legact/goldplow.html
  23. ^ Santa Clara (U.) Law School -- Law Alumni Special Achievement Award
  24. ^ http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/511446/
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 16th congressional district
January 3, 1977–January 3, 1993 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 17th congressional district
January 3, 1993–January 22, 1993 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by
William H. Gray
Pennsylvania
 Chairman of the House Budget Committee
1989–1993 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Director of the Office of Management and Budget
1993–1994 		Succeeded by
Preceded by White House Chief of Staff
1994–1997 		Succeeded by
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