With Blunt, Salty Talk, Panetta Era Begins -- New York Times
ERBIL, Iraq — The received wisdom in Washington when Leon E. Panetta took Robert M. Gates’s place as defense secretary was that the Pentagon was exchanging one low-intensity Beltway professional for another. Well, yes and no.
Mr. Panetta may be Mr. Gates’s friend and a longtime creature of the capital, but his inaugural trip to Iraq and Afghanistan this week and last proved that in substance and style — from a relentless focus on military intelligence and quashing Al Qaeda to salty remarks that left his aides scrambling to provide him cover — he is another species entirely. A new era at the Pentagon has begun.
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My Comment: Leon Panetta is a quintessential politician, and it is this style that he will bring to the Office of the Secretary of Defense.