[citation needed] Robert Finch and assistant secretary John Veneman supported Panetta and refused to fire him, threatening to resign if forced to do so.

[15] Eventually forced from office in 1970, Panetta left Washington to work as an executive assistant for John Lindsay, the mayor of New York City.

[18] 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.

[19][20][21] During his time in Congress, Panetta concentrated mostly on budget issues, civil rights, education, healthcare, agriculture, immigration, and environmental protection, particularly preventing oil drilling off the California coast.

Working with chancellor Barry Munitz, he helped establish California State University, Monterey Bay at the former Fort Ord military base.

[29][30] His positions included: Though elected to a ninth term in 1992, Panetta left the House in early 1993 after president-elect Bill Clinton selected him to serve as director of the United States Office of Management and Budget.

[citation needed] In 1994, President Clinton became increasingly concerned about a lack of order and focus in the White House, an issue that stretched from foreign to domestic policy and political matters.

[35][36] Also, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius said that Panetta did have exposure to intelligence operations as director of the OMB and as chief of staff for President Bill 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".

[38] On February 19, 2009, Panetta was sworn in as director of the Central Intelligence Agency by vice president Joe Biden before an audience of CIA employees.

[39] As CIA director, Panetta traveled extensively to intelligence outposts around the world and worked with international leaders to confront threats of Islamic extremism and Taliban.

In 2010, working with the Senate Intelligence Committee, he conducted a secret review of the use of torture by the CIA (euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation techniques") during the administration of George W. Bush.

Both reports were largely seen as an effort in fact-finding and prevention, but not a governmental path towards some possible project of accountability or punishment for past interrogation or torture.

Panetta supported the Obama administration's campaign of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, which he identified as the "most effective weapon" against senior al-Qaeda leadership.

In August 2011, Panetta publicly warned that deeper cuts in the defense budget risked hollowing out the military and would hamper Pentagon efforts to deal with rising powers such as China, North Korea, and Iran and he urged Congress not to go beyond the roughly $500 billion in defense cuts required over the next decade under the debt reduction bill signed by president Barack Obama.

He also warned that future service members may see changes in retirement benefits, and that the military healthcare system may need reforms, to rein in costs, while also ensuring quality care.

[48] Another major issue during Panetta's tenure as defense secretary was the Obama administration's diplomatic effort to dissuade Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

The institute is located at California State University, Monterey Bay, a campus Panetta was instrumental in creating on the site of the decommissioned Fort Ord Army base when he was a Congressman.

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 the necessary campaign funds.

Panetta also serves as an advocate and information source for other ocean organizations, including the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation[56] and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Panetta said: "By failing to persuade Iraq's leader to allow a continuing force of US troops, the commander in chief "created a vacuum .

[64] Panetta told CBS News that Congress releasing the Nunes Memo, which purported to provide intelligence about the open Russia probe, could cause damage to national security.

[68] Panetta compared the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021 to the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in 1961, saying that "President Kennedy took responsibility for what took place.

"[69] Panetta, one of ten living former secretaries of defense, published a Washington Post op-ed piece in January 2021 telling President Trump not to involve the military in determining the outcome of the 2020 elections.

[70] In October 2022, Panetta joined the Council for Responsible Social Media project launched by Issue One to address the negative mental, civic, and public health impacts of social media in the United States, cochaired by former House Democratic Caucus leader Dick Gephardt and former Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey.

The Partnership is a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC that promotes bipartisan solutions to national security and foreign policy issues.