IN DEFENSE OF THE SECRETARY

Notes of Concern…

                               …Jackson Blair

In Defense of the Secretary

The Honorable Leon Panetta has been excoriated in the press recently for accumulating hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt for the Department of Defense by flying home to his family in California on occasion. 

This kind of stuff makes good copy.

Newspapers are thrilled to run it.

No one came to his defense.

Until now.

Panetta served in the United States Congress. He served as Head of the Office of Management and Budget. He served as Chief of Staff to the President of The United States. He served as Head of our Central Intelligence Agency.

And now he serves as Secretary of Defense.

In other words, he has worked his tail off for the American people for a very long time.

He and his family have their real home in California. You know, one of our 50 states! This one happens to be about as far away from Washington, DC as you can get but last time I checked we still allow people to select the location of their abode.

So every now and then, probably when the pressures get unbearable, the Secretary tries to take a little R&R with his family. So he boards a U.S. Air Force plane, a small one at that, and goes home.

Why does he use government transportation?

Because we make him.

From Wikipedia: “The White House understood when Mr. Panetta took the job that he would return to Monterey to visit his family, as he did when he was director of the CIA,” a senior administration official said at the time. “That’s where his family lives, after all.”

The SecDef has to been in communication at all times. The SecDef is a candidate for both assassination and kidnap attempts. The SecDef has to be able to launch troops, send missiles, react to tragedies at any time and this requires special equipment that the government has no present plans to place on commercial aircraft.

In addition, while flying the SecDef works, he talks with the President, he gets advice from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Well, you get my drift.

Now Secretary Panetta repays the government the equivalent of a commercial air ticket for each of his trips (I believe about $650.) He does this out of his pocket. The government pays whatever extra it takes to get the SecDef to his home. This difference adds up to what the government thinks is necessary for the SecDef to function properly and be safe.

It seems a fair acknowledgement that if he lived in Virginia he could get home easily. Because he lives in California, he pays what it would reasonably cost him to go home.

It is time we gave our public servants a little bit of slack. To suggest that Panetta is a man of “high living” tastes or a man who willingly sticks the government with expenses is to forget his days as head of the Office of Management and Budget.

When former Speaker Pelosi went home to California she did so in a very large, comfortably appointed jet. Up went the hue and cry.

When former President Richard Nixon chose to live in San Clemente and to call it The Western White House, up went the hue and cry.

When Harry Truman liked to hang out at Key West, up went the hue and cry.

Johnson went to the Pedernales, Kennedy to Hyannis Port, Ike to Gettysburg, and Reagan to his ranch in California. They all “go somewhere.”

When the best men and women work for the people, work in the government, they are typically the kind of people who could make a huge multiple of their government salaries in the private sector.

We need them and they bring a wealth of experience and ability to their jobs.

I am sure you all noticed how many millions of dollars it took to send the President to Europe, or Mrs. Obama and their girls on vacation, or the First Family to Hawaii. That is because of what is required for them to travel safe and do his job.

I am pleased they all can find some time to sit back and relax, if being on call “24-7” to handle the most critical issues of our time can ever really allow any “R&R.”

The bottom line for me?

THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE.