LEON E. PANETTA DIRECTOR CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY - BIO

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005459071
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: June 23, 2015
• Document Release Date: November 13, 2009
• Case Number: F-2009-01648
• Publication Date: February 20, 2009

Leon E. Panetta
Director
Central Intelligence Agency
Office of the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Leon Edward Panetta became the 19th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on 13 February
2009. As Director, he leads the Agency and manages human intelligence and open source
collection programs on behalf of the Intelligence Community.
Mr. Panetta has dedicated much of his life to public service. Before joining CIA, he spent 10
years co-directing with his wife, Sylvia, the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy,
based at California State University, Monterey Bay. The Institute is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit
center that seeks to instill in young men and women the virtues and values of public service. In
March 2006, he was chosen as a member of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan committee
established at the urging of Congress to conduct an independent assessment of the war in Iraq.
From July 1994 to January 1997, Mr. Panetta served as Chief of Staff to President Clinton. Prior
to that, he was Director of the Office of Management and Budget, a position that built on his
years of work on the House Budget Committee. Mr. Panetta represented California's 16th (now
17th) Congressional District from 1977 to 1993, rising to Budget Committee chairman during his
final four years in Congress.
Early in his career, Mr. Panetta served as a legislative assistant to Senator Thomas H. Kuchel of
California, special assistant to the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, director of the
U.S. Office for Civil Rights, and executive assistant to Mayor John Lindsay of New York. He
also spent five years in private law practice. He served as an Army intelligence officer from
1964 to 1966 and received the Army Commendation Medal.
Mr. Panetta holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and a law degree, both from
UNCLASSIFIED APPROVED FOR
RELEASE^DATE:
06-Nov-2009
 Santa Clara University. He was born on 28 June 1938 in Monterey, where his Italian immigrant
parents operated a restaurant. Later, they purchased a farm in Carmel Valley, a place Director
and Mrs. Panetta continue to call home. The Panettas have three grown sons and five
grandchildren.
20 February 2009
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