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.
