Is the Defense Secretary phoning it in? Upon becoming Pentagon boss July 1 Leon Panetta almost immediately flew home on an Air Force jet for a three-day weekend at his and wife Sylvia’s Carmel Valley home, the LA Times says. Since then, he’s flown home five weekends and also spent part of a two-week vacation there. And it’s only been two months. An excerpt:
Panetta usually flies home late Friday and returns to Washington late Sunday, getting to work on Monday morning, his aides say. Before agreeing to run the Pentagon, he told the White House that he planned to go home frequently. His aides maintain he stays in touch while out of town.
Still, reporter David S. Cloud says, his time away from the Pentagon is raising eyebrows in workaholic Washington.
