leon e. panetta. [applause] >> good evening, everyone. in to the sunset sea for center, by the the leon e. panetta 2016 lecture series.

. >> leon panetta was president obama's secretary of defense from 2011 until 2013. >> that's why theentagon supported maintaining a presence there. >> the key to preserving an american military presence in iraq was to negotiate a stay behind force. the president would have to take the lead. >> the only chance we would have had for an agreement would have been his intensive involvement, personally, and that didn't happen. >> and so, on december 18th, 2011 convoy of u.s. troops pulled out of iraq. while all that was happening, the arab spring was spreading throughout the arab world. demonstrations and riots and civil wars of people challenging their leaders. on january 25th, 2011, egyptians gathered in cairo to protest the policies of egyptian president hoz any mubarak. the u.s. ally. >> i've always considered egypt to be critical to our ability to provide stability in the middle east. >> when it became apparent mubarak had to go, the military urged caution. but the president pushed for his immediate removal. >> literally, the entire national security team recommended unanimously handl

. >> leon panetta was president obama's secretary of defense from 2011 until 2013. >> that's why theentagon supported maintaining a presence there. >> the key to preserving an american military presence in iraq was to negotiate a stay behind force. the president would have to take the lead. >> the only chance we would have had for an agreement would have been his intensive involvement, personally, and that didn't happen. >> and so, on december 18th, 2011, the last convoy of u.s. troops pulled out of iraq. while all that was happening, the arab spring was spreading throughout the arab world. demonstrations and riots and civil wars of people challenging their leaders. on january 25th, 2011, egyptians quaer gathered in cairo's tahrir square to protest the policies of egyptian president whose know mubarak, the u.s. ally. >> i've always considered egypt to be critical to our ability to provide stability in the middle east. >> when it became apparent mubarak had to go, the military urged caution. but the president pushed for his immediate removal. >> literally, the entire national security

. >> leon panetta was president obama's secretary of defense from 2011 until 2013. >> that's why theentagon supported maintaining a presence there. >> the key to preserving an american military presence in iraq was to negotiate a stay behind force. the president would have to take the lead. >> the only chance we would have had for an agreement would have been his intensive involvement, personally, and that didn't happen. >> and so, on december 18th, 2011, the last convoy of u.s. troops pulled out of iraq. while all that was happening, the arab spring was spreading throughout the arab world. demonstrations and riots and civil wars of people challenging their leaders. on january 25th, 2011, egyptians gathered in cairo to protest the policies of egyptian president hoz any mubarak. the u.s. ally. >> i've always considered egypt to be critical to our ability to provide stability in the middle east. >> when it became apparent mubarak had to go, the military urged caution. but the president pushed for his immediate removal. >> literally, the entire national security team recommended unanimo

. >> leon panetta was the secretary up until 2011. >> the key to maintain a key presence in iraq was to maintain a stay-behind-force. the president had to take the lead. >> the only chance for an agreement would have been his intensive involvement personally, personally, and that did not happen. >> so on december 18th 2011 the last convoy of troops pulled out of iraq. while all that was happening the yash spring spreading throughout the world. demonstrations and riots and even civil wars with people challenging their leaders. on january 25th, 2011, egyptians gathered in tahrir square to protest the policies of the egyptian president hosni mubarak, a long time ally. >> i always considered egypt to be critical to our ability to provide stability in the middle east. >> when it became apparent that mubarak had to go, the military urged caution. but the president push eed for s immediate removal. >> literally, the entire national security team re recommended handling mubarak differently than we did, and the president took the advice of three junior back benchers in how to treat mubarak, a

. >> leon panetta was president obama's secretary of defense from 2011 until 2013. >> that's why then supported maintaining a presence there. >> the key to preserving an american military presence in iraq was to negotiate a stay behind force. the president would have to take the lead. >> the only chance we would have had for an agreement would have been his intensive involvement, personally, and that didn't happen. >> and so, on december 18th, 2011, the last convoy of u.s. troops pulled out of iraq. while all that was happening, the arab spring was spreading throughout the arab world. demonstrations and riots and civil wars of people challenging their leaders. on january 25th, 2011, egyptians quaer gathered in cairo's tahrir square to protest the policies of egyptian president whose know mubarak, the u.s. ally. >> i've always considered egypt to be critical to our ability to provide stability in the middle east. >> when it became apparent mubarak had to go, the military urged caution. but the president pushed for his immediate removal. >> literally, the entire national security team

had not overruled david petraeus the head of the cia, hillary clinton, secretary of state and leon panetta, who was then secretary of defense, who all you family recommend arming and training the free syrian army. >> but what if arming stopped the birth of isis? interesting, he doesn't think so. >> so if more had been done to help the rebel, help people like through the cia or military help, if more had didn't done back then, there would be no paris, no brussels, no isis? >> no, i think that's impossible to pediatric, i think that's impossible to say. i think that isis was brewing regardless. >> reporter: he resigned from the cia in frustration. he says his intention isn't to be a whistleblower but merely to describe what it was like to be a cia case officer in war time. >> reporter: isn't the cia the mantra, you sign up, say i will not tell my war stories? >> a lot of my colleagues are upset with me, i mean livid with me about it. >> reporter: it's a ground level look how the cia operated on global war on terrorism. agency wish was left unseen. richard engel, nbc news, new york. >>> up ne

not overruled david petraeus then the head of the cia, hillary clinton, secretary of state and leon panetta, who was then secretary of defense, who all unanimously recommended arming and training the free syrian army. >> reporter: but what if arming the rebels early on stopped the birth of isis? interestingly, he doesn't think so. so what if more had been done to help the rebels? >> help people like through cia or military help. if more had been done back then, there would be no paris no, brussels, no isis? >> no, i think that's impossible to predict and impossible to say. i think that isis was brewing regardless. >> reporter: he resigned from cia in frustration. he says his intention isn't to be a whistleblower but merely to describe what it was like to be a cia case officer in war time. isn't a part of the cia that you sign up and say i will not tell my war stories? >> a lot of my colleagues are up set with me, livid with me about it. >> reporter: it's a ground look on the global war on terrorism. and a view many at the agency wish was left unseen. richard engel, nbc news, new york. >>> a

leon panetta, the former secretary of defense, warned that there could be a cyber pearl harbor. janet napolitano warned that this could happen. i mean, these are not third and fourth ranking bureaucrats. these are the very top people in our government warning that it could happen. so what's the plan, i askedded. i asked. michael chertoff and jeh johnson essentially had the same plan which was get yourself battery-powered radio to which i then replied, okay. and precisely what is it that you're going to be telling me on my battery-powered radio that you can't share with me now? neither one of them had a particularly good answer. tom ridge had a more nuanced approach. he made the observation with which i agree totally that we in the united states are a reactive society. we're not very good at preemptive action. look at everything that we did in the wake of 9/11, and you can see that once we are roused to action, there is almost no limit to what we do. i mean, quite literally thousands of young men and women are dead, hundreds of thousands of iraqis and afghans are dead. we have sp

david: so, when leon panetta was the director, his deputy was someone who had grown up in the agency. and i think that balance between someone like john brennan, who grew up in agency, and someone like myself, who had some interaction with the intelligence community, but was not of the intelligence community, is consistent with, at least, the modern history of the agency, of having an insider and outsider in the director and deputy director slots. charlie: what is the current rules of engagement for sort of paramilitary engagement by the -- paramilitary activity by the cia? david: we have a paramilitary operation that has been part of the cia since our founding. it is something that began with our predecessor. how our paramilitary officers are engaged, where they may be engaged differs widely, depending on what the mission is. it is always consistent with u.s. law. it is always consistent with the rules that have been set, if it is a covert action program, from the white house. the president controls covert action. the president assigns covert action, sets out the authorities for the

bret: leon panetta told us he was dismayed by how the white house handled the bergdahl case. >> i don'td obviously the effort and negotiations, but you don't just walk in and say we'll give you five bad guys. these are individuals who killed, in many cases, our own soldiers. bret: what assurance do we have they're not going to wind up blowing up innocent americans? >> demoralizing, incredibly demoralizing, and demoralizing to our men and women in uniform as well. when you're out there in harm's way and commander in chief releases the top five draft picks, sends a bad message to troops and afghan allies that we need to be serving alongside and encouraging. bret: how has this new vision of the u.s. military been playing out across the world? that's next. i have asthma... ...one of many pieces in my life. so when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine. i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment with breo. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms. breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medici

. >> leon panetta told us he was dismayed by the way they handled the bergdahl case. >> i don't mindhe efforts in negotiations but you don't just walk in and say we will give you five bad guys. these were individuals who killed in many cases our own soldiers. >> what assurance do we have they are not going to wind up blowing up innocent americans? >> it is demoralizing. >> incredibly demoralizing to men and women in aun form when you are out there in harm's way and the manner in chief has the top five draft picks sends a bad message to our troops and afghan allies we need to be serving along side and encouraging. >> how has this new vision of the u.s. military been playing out across the world? that is next. americans. we're living longer than ever. as we age, certain nutrients become especially important. from the makers of one a day fifty-plus. one a day proactive sixty-five plus. with high potency vitamin b12 and more vitamin d. if you have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or crohn's, and your symptoms have left you with the same view, it may be time for a different perspecti

of the united states had not overruled david petraeus and head of the cia, hillary clinton and leon panettaho all unanimously mm >> reporter: but would have arming the rebels early on stopped the birth of isis? interestingly, louts doesn't think so. >> so what about the argument if more had been done on help the rebels back then, there would nobody brussels, no paris, no isis? >> i think that's impossible to predict and i think that's impossible to say. i think that isis was brewing regardless. >> reporter: he resigned from the cia in frustration. he says his intention isn't to be a whistleblower, but merely to describe what it was like to be a cia case officer in war time. >> isn't part of the cia, the mantra that you sign up and say >> a lot of my colleagues are up why set with me. >> reporter: it's a ground level look at the how the cia operated during the so-called global war on terrorism and a view many at the agency wish was left unseen. richard engel, nbc news, new york. >>> at 9:57, winds are starting to ease around here, but watch out, in is some debris still on the roads. we're tr

. >> tonight, leon panetta. >> i think the president should have taken some very strong steps to makeat began to fray. fray may be too gentle a word. >> chuck hagel. >> you have a middle east that will be devastated, with more killing, more distrust, more hatred. >> president obama's first three defense secretaries speak out on our military and our standing in the world. bret baier anchors a powerful special tonight on fox news reporting. >> so be sure to check that out right here at 10:00 p.m. and before we go, i want to take a moment to thank a great group of colleagues, the producers and directors, they worked tirelessly this week to bring you strong, informative programs. but what you don't see is all the hard work, the research, the writing, the bookings of top guests. simply stated, the best team in news. and that's it for us tonight. thanks for watching this special edition of "the o'reilly factor." catch my show airing saturdays at 11:30 a.m. right here on fnc. i'm eric boling. bill will be back monday. please remember, the spin stops here, because we're looking out for you. >

i would say, first of all, on the question of why did the obama administration go into it, leon panetta when he was cia director expressed their attitude beautifully when he said it's the only game in town. in other words, they didn't have any more, any better way to deal with al-qaeda and the islamic terrorists in their bag of tricks when they decided to pull all troops out of iraq and afghanistan. not all, but most troops out of iraq and afghanistan. and i think -- we haven't talked about it, but i think an issue that people ought to think about is whether we really want the executive branch of the government keeping a list of people who we are willing to kill based on evidence that no one outside the executive branch sees, based on a process of deliberations that may be well intentioned, but i think needs some oversight either from the congress or from the judiciary. we don't wiretap people in the united states without the fbi going to a federal judge and offering a reason this is necessary. and i think that in a democracy we shouldn't pill people in target -- kill people in targeted

leon panetta, then-secretary of defense, said he would make eye contact with one or two people and the president, and they would have a knowing look about what was going on. host: thanks very much for being with us. we are now going to portions of president obama's white house correspondents' dinner speeches over the years, beginning with his first speech in 2009. pres. obama: michael steele is in the house tonight. or as he would say, in the heezy. [laughter] pres. obama: what's up? [laughter] [applause] pres. obama: where is michael? michael, from last time, the republican party does not qualify for a bailout. [laughter] pres. obama: that does not count as a troubled asset, i'm sorry. [laughter] pres. obama: dick cheney was supposed to be here, but he isn't. he is busy working on his memoirs, tentatively titled "how to shoot friends and interrogate people." [laughter] pres. obama: you know, it has been a whirlwind of activity, these first 100 days. we have enacted major economic recovery packages, we have passed a budget, we have forged a new path in iraq, and no president in history

one was leon panetta and the otherwise, the loudest, strongest voice that we had to do the brady billillary rodham clinton, then first lady. [cheers and applause] [chanting] >> because of hillary clinton, tens of thousands of people are walking the streets alive today because the brady law prevented them from getting guns. [cheers and applause] she listened, she spoke out, and she changed the lives of millions in her career. so we know that hillary delivers. and we also know she's not finished delivering yet. [applause] she knows that unions have been the most effective vehicle in american history for raising folks into the middle class. she knows the hard right wing wants to get rid of unions, and so she is fighting to help. she's fighting for increase in the minimum wage. she's taking on those who are attacking those against the family leave. you better believe that if mr. cruise or mr. trump -- [booing] -- got to pick the next court justice, they would get rid of unions. they would undo the voting rights act. they would allow poisonous money to cascade into our system and ruin it.

. >> leon n panetta told us he wa dismsmayed by how the white hou handled the bergdahl case. >> i don'tind, obvbviously, t effort at negotiations, t you don't justalk in and say, oh yeah, we'll give you fe ba guys. these are inviduals who killed in many cases our own soldie. whssurance do we have that they're not goin wind up owing up american innocentnts?s? >> demoralizing?g? >> incredibly dedemoralizing an toto t men and women in uniform, as well. when you're out there in harm way and your comommaer in chief releases the taliban's top five drafaft picks, itt sends a bad messssagto the trtroo and the afghan allies to be serving alongsisidend encouraging. >> how has this new vision of the u.s.s. mitary playing g out across the world? that's nex (burke) at farmewe've seen alst everying, so we know how tcover almost anything. (bueven a a stag pool party alst everying, (party music) (splplashing/destruction) (splhing/desuction) ke) and we covered it,utober tw. talk to farmers. we know ang or two because we've seen a thing o or two. tw. ♪ we are farmerers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-m-m-bum ♪ when

. >> leon n panetta told us he wa dismsmayed by how the white hou handled the bergdahl case. >> i don'tbvbviously, the efrt at negogotiations, t you don't justalk in and say, ohoh yeah, we'll give you fe bad guys. these are inviduals who killed in many cases our own soldie.. wh assurce do we have that they're not going wind up owing up american innocentnts? >> demoralizing?g? >> incredibly dedemoralizing an toto t men and women in uniform, as well. whenou're out there i harm's way and your comommaer in chief releases the taliban's top five drafaft picks, itt sends a bad messssagto the trtroo and the afghan allies to be serving alongsisidend encouraging. >> how has this new vision of the u.s.s.itary playing g out across the world? that's next. audi pilotless vehicles havecon, mountains, and racetrarack and now much of thatame advanced technology is found in e new audi a4. with one nototable difference... the all-nenew audi a4, with available trtraffic jam assist. poallergies? breather. stuffy nose? can't sleep? take t that. a breathe e righght nasal strip instantltly opens your ne up to

possible bay remember that when the bill got -- i remember leon panetta, president clinton's cleave of staff, saying to me, bob, i think this -- leon had been mr. food stamps in the house, on the budget committee, and i remember leon saying i thinking this is the most troubling provision in the entire welfare law because it means that people who want to work, search for a job and can't find one, are cut off after three months, and we see that the people who are cut off, their average income is 20% of the poverty line. so, i guess our task is, how do we actually have work opportunities for people, not just cut offs and that what you're trying to find working in parter inship with the states in these demonstration projects cycle guess there's just ten states -- >> reflects that fact that it's all well and good to suggest that you're going to find work slots for folks and find work, but what if you live in a rural community that is isolated, you don't have any public transportation system to larger communities, and you don't have a functioning automobile or vehicle. and there are no jobs

. >> when she was the secretary for leon panetta back in the home district and i've known jen for a long, love her and think she's great. i think she should watch her tone, because the reality is that the young activists who have flocked to our campaign are the future of the party, and in calling our campaign destructive, you are also sending a bad message towards them and we need to frankly embrace the activists in our party, embrace the young people in our party. it is their energy that's going to make sure that we win next fall. >> and when you talk to some of these young folks, and i've been to bernie rallies and heard them to say to me, listen, if he doesn't get the nomination, i may not vote in november which is not something as a democrat you necessarily want to hear. i know you can't preverdict the future and you can't crawl into bernie sanders ahead but if and when he doesn't clinch the nomination, it is in fact secretary clinton, she even spoke to senator sanders last night and had a message of we need to be unified. how should he tell these faithful followers to support secret

leon panetta, the former secretary of defense warned there could be a cyber pearl harbor.d this could happen . these are not third and fourth ranking bureaucrats. these are the very top people in our government warning that it could happen.so what's the plan i asked michael michael chertoff and jay johnson essentially had the same plan . which was, get yourself a battery-powered radio. to which i then replied, okay. and precisely what is it that you're going to be telling me on my battery-powered radio that you can't share with me now? neither one of them had a particularly good sign. tom ridge had a more nuanced approach. he made the observation with which i agree totally that we in the united states are a reactive society. we're not very good at preemptive action. look at everything that we did in the wake of 9/11. and you can see that once we aroused to action, there is almost no limit to what we do. i mean, quite literally thousands of young american men and women are dead, hundreds of thousands of iraqis and afghans are dead. we have spent somewhere between two and ha

somebody the other day and i was with leon panetta, the former secretary and we were at an event and somebody asked, what is the biggest threat, what is the biggest threat facing us today. you have is to stop and pause and look at the world that's certainly changed. the security structure of the world, the threat matrix has significantly changed just in the last few years. i thought about it for a second and i said one issue, one thing scares me more on all of the land, air, sea, cyber, space threats that we now face in ways we couldn't even contemplate 15 or 20 years ago, and that's miscalculation. what if we get it wrong on north korea? what if we get it wrong on some maritime conflict in the south china sea? what if we get it wrong on the new missile testing program? what if one of our allies gets it wrong? they make a mistake they were very aggressive about wanting to show that they could push back against chinese aggression with the united states help, but they wanted to lead that charge. now you have some kind of a conflict, small conflict. we could spend two hours today talkin

when you looked at the rebels -- i know john mccain, leon panetta, hillary clinton, david petraeus, ciaot to help these rebels. the president said no. was that a mistake? >> well, actually, i did disagree with them and went public saying that. i know the other three are saying that. a lot of what's been talked about is a memo that i had written. to address that, that memo that i wrote was not official cia policy. that was actually something that i wrote personally. >> it instead. >> obviously it doesn't talk about -- it was suggestions that i was making personally on what we could do with the rebels and do inside syria. >> what you got is not a no but inaction? >> what i got was, i gave it to people hard copy, as in here's what i'm thinking. now we're finding senior intelligence officials have come out saying my memo was circulated amongst washington. that would be news to me. shortly after i wrote the memo, i ended up leaving the agency. so it's been talked about a lot. it was a personal memo and never official cia policy. i want to make that clear. >> one thing -- that's clear. the on

bob may remember when the bill got downtown, i remember leon panet panetta, president clinton's chief of staff, bob, i think this three months -- leon had been mr. food stamps in the house, the budget committee, i think leon saying this the most troubling provision in the entire welfare law, because it means people who want to work, search for a job and can't find one, are cut off after three months. and we see that the people who are cut off, their average income is only about 20% of the poverty line. so i guess our task is how do we actually have work opportunities for people, not just cutoffs. that's what you're trying to find working and partnership with the states and these demonstration projects. ten states. >> it reflects the fact it's all well and good to suggest you're going to find work slots for folks and find work, what if you live in a rural community that's isolat isolated, you don't have public transportation to larger communities and you don't have a functioning automobile or vehicle and there are no jobs created in your small town. they may be 50 miles away from where

i would say, first of all, on the question of why did the obama administration go into it, leon panettahen he was cia director expressed their attitude beautifully when he said it's the only game in town. in other words, they didn't have any more, any better way to deal with al-qaeda and the islamic terrorists in their bag of tricks when they decided to pull all troops out of iraq and afghanistan. not all, but most troops out of iraq and afghanistan. and i think -- we haven't talked about it, but i think an issue that people ought to think about is whether we really want the executive branch of the government keeping a list of people who we are willing to kill based on evidence that no one outside the executive branch sees, based on a process of deliberations that may be well intentioned, but i think needs some oversight either from the congress or from the judiciary. we don't wiretap people in the united states without the fbi going to a federal judge and offering a reason this is necessary. and i think that in a democracy we shouldn't pill people in target -- kill people in targeted k