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Leon Panetta
In his first major policy address, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta presented his vision of the military of the future. There are reports that Panetta has already signed off on a new Defense Planning Guidance, the key document that lays out a U.S. defense strategy and defines the key planning and
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Date:
10/12/2011
The tragic paradox of America's Army is that the only time it truly thrives is when it is dying. When soldiers are under fire in Korea or Indochina or Iraq, political leaders shovel huge amounts of money to the service because the consequences of under-funding warfighters are all too obvious.
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Date:
10/12/2011
In many ways, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is the antithesis of his predecessor, Robert Gates. He is a consensus-builder who tries to work with the military services rather than dictating to them. But when it comes to concerns for the future of the NATO alliance Panetta appears to be channeling
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Date:
10/5/2011
When the White House went looking for a credible figure to replace retiring defense secretary Robert Gates, Leon Panetta looked like the perfect candidate. His two-year tenure at the CIA had been a smashing success, and Panetta knew President Obama well from attending his daily intelligence briefings.
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Date:
10/3/2011
In normal times, the defense secretary's support for his department's biggest weapons program would be taken as a given. But these are not normal times. The federal government is borrowing billions of dollars each day, and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was put in charge of the Pentagon with
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Date:
8/26/2011
Let’s be honest. The current U.S. defense program is underfunded, even at over $500 billion a year in the base budget and another $100 billion plus in contingency expenses. A large, active, modern military is very expensive to maintain. The U.S. military suffers from a number of particular problems
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Date:
7/14/2011
Many observers expect the incoming Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, to be focused on reining in spending and cutting expenses at the Pentagon. However, it is possible that the focus of Secretary Panetta’s time in office may be devoted to an entirely different agenda. In his written responses
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Date:
6/8/2011


