Leon Edward Panetta born June 28, [ 1 ] is an American retired politician and government official who has served under several Democratic administrations as secretary of defense — , director of the CIA — , White House chief of staff — , director of the Office of Management and Budget — , as well as a U. Panetta was a member of the United States House of Representatives from to He served under President Bill Clinton as director of the Office of Management and Budget from to and as White House chief of staff from to He cofounded the Panetta Institute for Public Policy in and served as a distinguished scholar to chancellor Charles B.
On April 28, , Obama announced the nomination of Panetta as defense secretary to replace the retiring Robert Gates. In June, the Senate confirmed Panetta unanimously and he assumed the office on July 1, Since retiring as secretary of defense in , Panetta has served as chairman of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy, located at California State University, Monterey Bay , a campus of the California State University that he helped establish during his tenure as congressman.
He also serves on a number of boards and commissions and frequently writes and lectures on public-policy issues. In the s, the Panetta family owned a restaurant in Monterey. He attended Monterey High School , where he became involved in student politics, and was a member of the Junior Statesmen of America.
Panetta started in politics in as a legislative assistant to Republican senator Thomas Kuchel , the Senate Minority whip from California, whom Panetta has called "a tremendous role model. In , he became the assistant to Robert H.
Soon thereafter, he was appointed director of the Office for Civil Rights. Panetta chose to enforce civil rights and equal-education laws over the objection of Richard Nixon, who wanted enforcement to move slowly in keeping with his strategy to gain political support among Southern whites. Panetta wrote about his Nixon administration experience in his book Bring Us Together.
