Panetta takes control of Pentagon

By Alan Silverleib, CNN

July 1, 2011 9:18 a.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Leon Panetta is sworn in as 23rd secretary of defense
• Panetta was confirmed by the Senate Tuesday in a 100-0 vote
• Panetta previously served as CIA director and as President Bill Clinton's chief of staff
• Panetta served in the U.S. House from 1977 to 1993

Washington (CNN) -- Leon Panetta was sworn in as the nation's 23rd defense secretary Friday, replacing Robert Gates.
Panetta, who previously served as CIA director, was confirmed by the Senate Tuesday in a rare 100-0 vote.
After his confirmation vote, Panetta pledged to "work to ensure that we continue to have the strongest, best-trained and best-equipped military in the world."
Among Panetta's top priorities: overseeing the completion of the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq this year and beginning the process of winding down the unpopular war in Afghanistan.
Approximately 33,000 U.S. "surge" troops are expected to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by next summer, with the remaining 68,000 leaving by the end of 2014.
Panetta will also be responsible for managing limited U.S. involvement in the NATO-led campaign in Libya.
While facing those challenges, the new secretary will also confront the realities of an age of greater fiscal austerity at the Pentagon. Tighter financial constraints, according to numerous analysts, are contributing to a growing emphasis on smaller, more flexible, less costly, and potentially more dangerous military and paramilitary engagements in the years ahead.
Panetta, who took over at the CIA in February 2009, also served as chief of staff to President Bill Clinton between 1994 and 1997. Before that, the California Democrat served as director of Clinton's Office of Management and Budget, a position requiring mastery of tricky fiscal situations and an understanding of the federal government's sprawling bureaucracies.
Panetta served in the House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993, a period in which he established deep congressional ties.

Gen. David Petraeus, currently head of the NATO International Security Assistance Force and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, will replace Panetta at the CIA.