mr. panetta has a long and storied career as a public servant. in 1976, he was elected u.s. congress, where he represented california's 16th 16th congressional district for 16 years. he acted as president clinton's director or the united states office of management and budget and then as his chief of staff from 1994 to 1997. he founded the leann and sylvia panetta institute for public policy, and in 2009, he became the director of the central intelligence agency. from 2011 to 2013 he was the 23rd united states secretary of defense under president obama. tonight m-panetta comes to us with a new memoir, "worthy fight." hexanes his life and political legacies with a focus on his time as secretary of defense himself unwavering sense of moriality and belief in the exhausting work of public satisfies radiates off every page. as david writes in the "washington post," panetta comes across as man who has never shirked a fight he thought was right. tonight he will be in conversation with michael -- mike allen with o'politico. he is the man the white house wakes up to. he has written f

mr. obama's cia director, leon panetta, and if memory serves, national security advisor, tom donnaland, and the chief counterterrorism advisor, i want to say acknowledged, but probably conceded would be a better word, that the they did play a role. i was surprised in this backtracking we heard today. >> a lot of people are surprised, and a lot of things with regard to this report. it's been a pleasure to speak with you, john rizzo, the first man that was briefed on the enhanced interrogation techniques. thank you for your time today, sir. >> thank you, gretchen. >> the northeast still dealing with a nasty nor'easter. heavy rains, even blizzard conditions headed for the west coast now as well. residents using sand bags to help prevent possible flooding. rick richtmouth. what the heck is a pineapple express? >> it's when you get moisture that comes from hawaii to the west coast. that's why we call it a pineapple express. all the pineapples grown in hawaii. that's what we're seeing right now. when you get any kind of system coming from the south, there's more moisture in it, and that's when we

mr. meyer bore the brunt of blame for the pogo leak. the principal targets of the investigation -- panetta, vickers and bash -- they skated. mr. meyer exposed their alleged misconduct and yet he got hammered. justice got turned upside down. what happened during the 22 months between chairman king's request and june 2013 when the report was finally issued is a tangled bureaucratic mess. despite exhaust i have -- despie questioning, an explanation hasn't been given. what i have today is just a brief summary of the facts and analysis laid out in greater detail in a staff report that i released today. in that report, my staff identified potential red flags pertaining to the way the inspector general's office handled the zero dark 30 report. these were boiled down to nine conclusions that fell into four broad categories: one, impairment of i.g. independence and lack of commitment to the spirit and intent of the i.g. act. two, weak leadership. three, mismanagement. and, four, waste of time and taxpayers' money. the staff findings suggest that some corrective action may be justified, including an

mr. blinken's comments and juks to pose them with -- juxtapose them with crocker. here's what leon panetta said, secretary of defense -- quote -- "it was clear to me and many others that withdrawing our forces would endanger the fragile stability then barely holding iraq together. " that's from secretary leon panetta's book. then he went on to say my fear is i voiced to the president and others is if the country split apart or slid back into the violence that appeared in the years immediately following the u.s. invasion it could become a new haven for terrorists to plot attacks against the u.s. iraq's stability was not only in iraq's interest but also in ours. i privately and publicly advocated for residual force that could provide training and security for iraq's military. then he went on to say, those on our side -- talking about the pentagon. those on our side viewed the white house as so eager to rid itself of iraq that it was willing to withdraw rather than lock in arrangements that would preserve our influence and interest. that is a statement by leon panetta. on afghanistan -- i'll

mr. obama's white house so pointedly criticized by two of his predecessors, robert gates and leon panettahe aftermath of mr. hagel's downfall, the name of the national security adviser, susan rice, flows like a poison river. this is a woman with a history of sharp elbows in every job she's held, but ms. rice's long-time association with mr. obama exempts her from banishment. the boss likes her and that's enough in the obama inner circle. to the rescue rides ashton b. carter, a pentagon whiz kid and medieval scholar with the requisite ivy league degrees, a physicist by trade and a veteran of the defense bureaucracy. there is some hand wringing about how the new secretary will approach foreign policy. one so muddled that, in its efforts to stop isis terrorists, the u.s. now finds itself, along with iran, flying air strikes over syria and iraq for different reasons. meanwhile, by most accounts, iran continues to build its nuclear bomb, russian forces threaten ukraine, and the world sees the u.s. as a stumbling giant. mr. carter was named after at least three candidates said they didn't want

mr. blinken's comments and juks to pose them with -- juxtapose them with crocker. here's what leon panetta said, secretary of defense -- quote -- "it was clear to me and many others that withdrawing our forces would endanger the fragile stability then barely holding iraq together. " that's from secretary leon panetta's book. then he went on to say my fear is i voiced to the president and others is if the country split apart or slid back into the violence that appeared in the years immediately following the u.s. invasion it could become a new haven for terrorists to plot attacks against the u.s. iraq's stability was not only in iraq's interest but also in ours. i privately and publicly advocated for residual force that could provide training and security for iraq's military. then he went on to say, those on our side -- talking about the pentagon. those on our side viewed the white house as so eager to rid itself of iraq that it was willing to withdraw rather than lock in arrangements that would preserve our influence and interest. that is a statement by leon panetta. on afghanistan -- i'll

panetta. [applause] [inaudible conversations] next robert gates at the national constitution center in philadelphia. he discusses memoir, duty members of the secretary at war. in the book mr. gates has served as secretary of defense under president george w. bush and president obama talks about his management of the wars in afghanistan and iraq and to share stories about his relationship with the white house and congress. [applause] >> secretary gates i also want to thank you for being especially knowing exactly recently had an injury. i know you are making a robust recovery but having to wear a neck brace as surely complicating your being here and getting here and we thank you for making that effort. >> until i became secretary of defense i have never broken a bone or had a surgery. february of 2008 iselle on the ice and broke this shoulder in three places. 10 months later putting a snowplow blade on the tractor to pull the bicep tendon in his arm. my security guards quickly came to the conclusion that al qaeda was no risk to me at all compared to myself. before we start i would like to say it is good to be back here at the center and to apologize to the audience on my r

mr. president, i want to wrap up by reminding people about the documents that have come to be known as the panetta review. when former c.i.a. director panetta came into the agency in 2009, he made it clear from the outset that he wanted to work to put the agency's history of torture behind it and that he wanted to cooperate with the intelligence committee inquiry. he also sensibly asked some c.i.a. personnel to review internal c.i.a. records and get a sense of what this investigation could be expected to find. the review got off to a solid start, and it began to identify some of the same mistakes and misrepresentations that are identified in our committee's report. unfortunately, it does not appear that this review ever made it to the director's desk. instead, publicly available documents make it clear that this review was quietly terminated by c.i.a. attorneys who thought that it was moving too fast. now, earlier this year, the agency conducted an unprecedent ed and secret search of senate files in an effort to find out whether the committee had obtained copies of the panetta review. after it was

panetta and secretary hagel would echo that sentiment. >> has carter had any assurances from the president about his personal access, one-on-one, to the commander-in-chief? >> secretary carter -- mr. carter is somebody who will be afforded the privilege that previous defense secretaries have had, which is a weekly meeting with the president in the oval office. that is extensive access. when those secretaries of defense communicate with the president outside of that weekly meeting, the president has been responsive to their communications. >> yesterday some questions about the american journalist who is being held by terrorists in yemen. on one of those questions you were asked whether there were delays. i understood you said yesterday some of this is still classified. since then, there have been reports [indiscernible] was it hesitation inside the white house to move forward, or were there problems him a gap's in the intelligence that justifies waiting? >> there are still some significant limits on what i can say about what is still classified operation. what i would reject in the strongest possible terms is there was any delay at the white house in approving this mission. once t

mr. panetta has a long and storied career as a public servant. in 1976, he was elected u.s. congress, where he represented california's 16th 16th congressional district for 16 years. he acted as president clinton's director or the united states office of management and budget and then as his chief of staff from 1994 to 1997. he founded the leann and sylvia panetta institute for public policy, and in 2009, he became the director of the central intelligence agency. from 2011 to 2013 he was the 23rd united states secretary of defense under president obama. tonight m-panetta comes to us with a new memoir, "worthy fight." hexanes his life and political legacies with a focus on his time as secretary of defense himself unwavering sense of moriality and belief in the exhausting work of public satisfies radiates off every page. as david writes in the "washington post," panetta comes across as man who has never shirked a fight he thought was right. tonight he will be in conversation with michael -- mike allen with o'politico. he is the man the white house wakes up to. he has written f