Reply #16: Okay, how do they know he's not a spook? [View All]

[JackRiddler]

"Mr. Panetta has a reputation in Washington as a competent manager with strong background in budget issues, but has little hands-on intelligence experience."

No, seriously. If he's a spook, if he's been a spook for 30 years, it's not even legal to say so. So how can this statement be made one way or another? (I'm reminded of how GHWB was supposed to not have any CIA experience before his appointment, either.)

That's the reality when you tolerate secret government.

Panetta apparently had some covert ops experience while in the army as a young man, according to his wikipedia entry:

"Panetta and his wife founded the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy in December 1998, where they serve as the Institute's directors. The Institute is located at California State University, Monterey Bay. Panetta was instrumental in creating CSU Monterey by converting Fort Ord, where he was chief of operations and planning of the intelligence section when he was in the army, into the university."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Panetta

Where did it go from there? If it did, that would be a secret.