[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 29 (Thursday, February 12, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2253-S2254]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  Mr. BEGICH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 17, the 
nomination of Leon Panetta to be Director of the CIA; that the 
nomination be confirmed and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the 
table; that no further motions be in order; that any statements 
relating to the nomination be printed in the Record; that the President 
be immediately notified of the Senate's action; and the Senate return 
to legislative session.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The nomination considered and confirmed is as follows:


                      central intelligence agency

       Leon E. Panetta, of California, to be Director of the 
     Central Intelligence Agency.

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today as chairman of the Select 
Committee on Intelligence on the Senate's confirmation of Leon Panetta 
to be the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
  Mr. Panetta is well-known to many of us for his long, distinguished 
record of public service, including eight terms in Congress and service 
as a presidential chief of staff.
  Mr. Panetta knows well the inner workings of government at the 
highest levels. He has an impeccable reputation for integrity, and I am 
confident that he is the right man at the right time to lead the CIA.
  Leon Panetta is a product of my home State, California, born in 
Monterey. His parents, Carmelo and Carmelina, ran a local cafe and 
later purchased a walnut ranch, which he still owns. He majored in 
political science at Santa Clara University, where he graduated magna 
cum laude in 1960.
  In 1963, he received his JD from Santa Clara University as well. 
After law school, he served in the United States Army from 1964 to 
1966, and attended the Army Intelligence School.
  In 1966, Mr. Panetta joined the Washington, DC, staff of Republican 
Senator Thomas Kuchel of California.
  In 1969, he served as Director of the Office of Civil Rights in the 
Office of

[[Page S2254]]

Health, Education and Welfare in the Nixon Administration.
  From 1970 to 1971, he worked as the executive assistant to New York 
City Mayor John Lindsay. Afterward, he returned to Monterey, to private 
law practice.
  In 1976, he ran and won election to the U.S. House of 
Representatives, and he served in the House for 16 years. During that 
time, he also served as chairman of the Budget Committee.
  In 1993, he joined the Clinton administration as head of the Office 
of Management and Budget. In July 1994, Mr. Panetta became President 
Clinton's chief of staff.
  He served in that capacity until January 1997, when he returned to 
California to found and lead the Leon and Sylvia Panetta Institute for 
Public Policy at California State University Monterey Bay.
  Mr. Panetta and his wife, Sylvia, have three sons and five 
grandchildren.
  It is very fair and safe for me to say that he has a reputation for 
intelligence and integrity.
  In speaking with Mr. Panetta and President Obama multiple times, I am 
convinced that Mr. Panetta will surround himself with career 
professionals, including Deputy Director Stephen Kappes. He has 
committed to keeping the senior leadership of the CIA in place, but at 
the same time has vowed to bring new policies and new leadership to the 
Agency.
  I know Mr. Panetta has immersed himself in CIA matters since being 
nominated, and his top priority, if confirmed, will be to conduct a 
complete review of all the Agency's activities.
  Moreover, I strongly believe that the CIA needs a Director who will 
take the reins of the Agency and provide the supervision and oversight 
so that this agency, which operates in a clandestine world of its own, 
must have.
  President Obama has made clear that his selection of Leon Panetta was 
intended as a clean break from the past--a break from secret detentions 
and coercive interrogations; a break from outsourcing its work to a 
small army of contractors; and a break from analysis that was not only 
wrong, but the product of bad practice that helped lead our Nation to 
war.
  President Obama said when announcing this nomination that this will 
be a CIA Director ``who has my complete trust and substantial clout.''
  This is a hugely important but difficult post. The CIA is the largest 
civilian intelligence agency with the most disparate of missions.
  It produces the most strategic analysis of the intelligence agencies 
and it is the center for human intelligence collection. It is unique in 
that it carries out covert action programs, implementing policy through 
intelligence channels. The Intelligence Committee held confirmation 
hearings on Mr. Panetta's nomination on February 5 and 6.
  Our responsibility was clear: to make sure that Leon Panetta will be 
a Director who makes the CIA effective in what it does--but also to 
make sure that it operates in a professional manner that reflects the 
true values of this country.
  The committee did its work. It questioned Mr. Panetta on a broad 
array of issues he will confront as Director of the CIA, and it 
submitted followup questions, all of which were answered.
  These questions, and Mr. Panetta's answers, can be found at the 
Intelligence Committee Web site.
  I urge all Members of the Senate, as well as the public, to review 
them in order to obtain a better understanding of his views about the 
office to which he has been nominated.
  I am pleased to report that yesterday the Intelligence Committee 
voted unanimously to report favorably the nomination of Leon Panetta to 
be the Director of the CIA. He has the confidence of the committee, and 
we believe we will be able to work closely with him during his tenure.
  Leon Panetta will mark a new beginning for the CIA as its next 
Director.
  He has the integrity, the drive and the judgment to ensure that the 
CIA fulfills its mission of producing information critical to our 
national security, without sacrificing our national values.

                          ____________________