CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
MEDIA ROUNDTABLE
WITH CIA DIRECTOR LEON E. PANETTA
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2009
Transcript by
Federal News Service
Washington, D.C.
CIA DIRECTOR LEON E. PANETTA: Well, welcome to Langley. It’s nice to have you all here. What I thought I would do is open up with just a few words and then just open it up to your questions, if I could. First of all, thank you for coming. Many of you I’ve had the opportunity to work with in other capacity, and most of you I will continue to work with and look forward to the opportunity of working with you as I proceed in this job.
The ground rules are a little different here than other capacities, as you can imagine. You know, when I was in Congress or, for that matter, even the administration as OMB Director or
Chief of Staff, you know, I could, it was a lot more free-wheeling. Here, obviously, there are areas that I have to be sensitive to, and I apologize to you for that. But all of you are smart enough to know that there are some areas where because of their sensitivity, I just have to be careful. So I’ll indicate that as you ask your questions.
I thought what I would do is just kind of make use of this opportunity to share with you some of my impressions from the time that I’ve been here, a little bit on our work schedule and some of the things that I’m working on and then some of the priorities, in particular, that I want to focus on. And I’ll share those with you as well.
On the impressions, I’ve taken over a number of agencies in the time that I’ve been in Washington. I think I started off as the Director of the Office for Civil Rights and then, obviously, took over the Office of Management and Budget, then the White House. This Agency, in comparison to the others that I’ve taken over, has probably the highest level of professionalism that I’ve seen. These are very professional people that are involved in their jobs.
And they are truly on the front lines of trying to protect the safety of this country and protect our national security. They are far-reaching; they are in remote areas; their lives are oftentimes on the line; and they are truly dedicated to what is a very difficult and tough mission. And it has been very interesting for me to have the opportunity to really understand just how far-reaching the operations of this Agency are in terms of dealing with the rest of the world.
Obviously, they are targeting on intelligence and counterintelligence and the analysis of that and most important, as I said, trying to protect the safety of the American people. And I am finding this to be a very unique place with a very unique mission and some very unique challenges that we’re confronting.
On the work schedule and kind of the work that I’m involved with, I obviously have been through a large number of briefings over these last few weeks and continue to do that, looking at a number of the areas that we have responsibility for. Each morning, we review the PDB – same that the President gets. And as you know, a large portion of that is done by the CIA. And it’s a good starting place to kind of review the potential threats that are out there and the intelligence that we’re getting from throughout the world.
I get an update on operational developments three times a week in terms of counterterrorism and what’s happening in the Middle East, in terms of operations in that part of the world and the war zones and our operations against terrorist organizations worldwide. That’s a regular twice-a-week briefing and sometimes daily, depending on what’s going on. I’m beginning the process of meeting with our liaison partners – I’ve had three that I’ve met with today, and I’ve met a number by phone. And I hope to soon begin to take trips abroad to engage with those liaisons personally.Obviously, we cannot do this job without our liaison partners – just too many challenges that are out there.
I’ve initiated a daily staff meeting each day. And it’s something that I’ve done in other positions and I just find it a good way to bring the team together. And in that meeting, obviously, we have our National Clandestine Service along with the directorates on intelligence support, science and tech. Those are the key individuals that I deal with each day and who report to me what activities they are engaged in.
I’ve already, obviously, attended a number of meetings both at the White House and at the DNI. He and I are talking almost each day – Admiral Blair and I have developed, I think, a very good relationship and are trying to coordinate, obviously, on intelligence. And I think it’s a – I feel very good about the relationship that we’ve developed. In addition, I’ve been to the White House in a series of meetings – some with the President – to discuss key issues there as well.
So the work is intense, it’s obviously very important and very consuming – more so than any other operation I’ve been involved with – and there are very long days. But I feel very good about the team effort that we have here.
Let me talk a little on priorities that I want to focus on. Obviously, I’m focusing on missions first and foremost that are essential to our safety – protecting the safety of this country.
Primary mission is counterterrorism. We are going after those who are killing Americans on the battlefield and those who threaten to kill Americans here at home. Al-Qaeda has obviously suffered some key setbacks in recent months and with the support of the President – strong support of the President, the Vice President, National Security Director. We are not going to let up on that effort.
We are going to continue to pursue. We are going to continue to bring pressure. We are going to continue a very aggressive effort to go after terrorists and to go after bin Laden until we bring them to justice. That is a fundamental mission that we are committed to here. We are also focusing on counter-proliferation, and we are obviously involved in the effort to try to do what we can to deter Iran and North Korea from the effort to develop nuclear weapons.
We’re also continuing to devote significant resources to the intelligence effort, both in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Iraq, obviously, we have to be concerned about having a sufficient intelligence presence there once there is a drawdown to ensure that al-Qaeda does not return and that we do everything possible to protect stability in that country. So that will require a continuing presence in that area.Secondly, in Afghanistan, obviously, we will have to, as the troops increase in Afghanistan, provide them with the intelligence that they need in order to complete their mission there as well.
I’m also, obviously, making sure that we continue to focus on areas like Russia and China, Latin America and Africa. There are two areas I wanted to point out in particular. Mexico is an area of concern because of the drug wars that are going on there. The President has courageously taken on that issue; but nevertheless, it is an area that we are paying attention to – a lot of attention to.
In addition, I’m particularly concerned with Somalia and Yemen. Somalia – as you know, the relationship between Somalis here and in Somalia raises real concerns about the potential for terrorist activity. Somalia is virtually a failed state. Yemen is almost there. And our concern is that both could become safe havens for al-Qaeda, so we are watching those situations very closely.
Obviously, there are a number of other threats that involve our stability and the stability of the world. The DNI – Admiral Blair – in his testimony pointed out the area of economic crisis. And what I wanted to do was to share with you that at the Administration’s request, the Intelligence Community with the CIA in the lead is producing a publication each day focusing on global economic issues.
It’s called the Economic Intelligence Brief, and it will cover overseas developments – economic, political, leadership developments. And obviously, the implications of those developments in terms of the U.S. economy is going to be analyzed as well. That first one went out today, and it will proceed each day and be distributed to key players within the Administration.
The other area obviously related to all of those missions that I just described is that I have to have the best-trained and motivated and capable intelligence officers in the world – those that understand the world and that in many ways reflect and look like the world that we have to deal with. There have been very important strides that have been made here at the CIA with regards to attracting a dedicated workforce – we’ve got a lot of young people. If you just go to our cafeteria, there are an awful lot of young people that are now part of this Agency – I think over half since 9/11, over half of this workforce has come on since then.
It’s a huge development. We get about 100,000 resumes annually – we’ve already gotten about 40,000 just in the first part of this year. So there are a lot of people that obviously are very interested in working here. Our retention rate is very good. We have an attrition rate that is at a historic low – something like 3.9 percent. So obviously I’m very pleased with that.
Having said that, we have got to increase the language ability here at the CIA. At present time, although there have been some increases, it represents almost less than 13 percent of the Agency – those that have a language ability. And what I’d like to do is to get to a point where every analyst and operations officer is trained in a foreign language. I think that’s important, I think they have to – foreign languages are extremely important, not only to communicating but to understanding that part of the world that we have to gather intelligence from.
Obviously, it’s going to involve working with both the Administration and the Congress to achieve that goal. And look, I’m not kidding myself; this is not just a problem we confront, it’s a problem the United States of America confronts. This country does not have sufficient language training nor do we emphasize language training in this country, and that creates an additional problem for us. But I really do feel that our ability to try to do the things that we have to do involves the capacity to not only speak with but to understand other cultures.
On diversity, we’ve also made some progress there. In 2008, about a third of our new hires were minorities, and overall, I think we’re about at 22 percent. I would like to increase that to 30 percent so that we resemble America, particularly doing better outreach for Muslims, Arabs, African-Americans, and Latinos. Those are areas that I think we need to have additional hires. Hopefully, we can reach that 30 percent figure as a result of these efforts.
And the last area I wanted to mention in that discussion is contractors. As you know, I’ve received questions during the confirmation hearing regarding contracting out – there are a number of employees. Since 9/11, clearly there was a need in gearing up to reach out to contractors. Now, it seems to me that we have to begin the effort to bring some of those responsibilities in house. General Hayden began that process in 2008. There was a 10 percent reduction in terms of contractors. This year we’re looking at 5 percent overall, about 15 percent over two years. Frankly, I want to continue that trend. I think we have to bring those capabilities in house.
There’s always going to be a need to bring some contractors on for support to try to meet areas where we simply need to have those particular abilities, but I think overall we can begin to reduce our dependence on contractors and save money as a result of that. So that’s something I’m going to focus on as well.
The other area, obviously, is to try and continue coordination with the DNI and with the other members of the Intelligence Community. The law requires that we coordinate; but frankly the law is not enough to make that happen. It depends really on the people who are involved in these positions and whether they’re willing to do that. And I can share with you that Admiral Blair and I have developed a good relationship. And frankly, it’s what should happen. We do need to coordinate these efforts. I guess I regret that past Directors of the CIA didn’t take that responsibility serious enough in the past. And you know that ultimately this action had to be taken; but having said that, we need to coordinate the Intelligence Community. I think it makes sense for us. We are an operational arm of that Intelligence Community. We have to be tasked, we have to be given missions. But I think it absolutely does have to be coordinated in terms of presenting that information to the President and to policy-makers.
And lastly, the relationship with the Hill has to be repaired. It obviously is one that had a lot of problems, and having – I just appeared before the House members yesterday, and having appeared before the Senate members, there is a common Republican, Democratic, bipartisan complaint that there was not enough notification to the members about what was going on. There was not enough discussion with them getting their guidance. And that relationship was badly damaged as a result of that. I hope to restore the trust between this Agency and Capitol Hill because frankly I can’t do my job unless I have their trust. And since I’m a creature of the Hill and understand what it means to be a member up there and have this kind of information, I’m prepared to try to do whatever I can to try to repair that relationship.
As the President said and he repeated it last night, I don’t think we have to choose between our ideals and the safety of this country. As a matter of fact, if we stand by our ideals, if we stand by the beliefs that we have about what this country is all about, I think it makes us stronger, not only here but throughout the world. Obviously, the CIA has a proud history. The stars downstairs in the lobby that you came into are a reflection of those who gave their lives for this Agency. And I guess my goal as the Director is to try to hopefully continue that proud history in the future. Okay. Open it up.
QUESTION: Could you talk to us a little bit about the Obama rendition program? You said that you’ll continue doing it, but your focus will be on, you know, making sure that nothing bad happens to the prisoners once they are handed over. That’s always been the U.S. policy. How will what you all do be different? And, can you talk to us a little bit about the problem that we’re seeing more and more, which is people who have been rendered to other countries and released and are returning to the battlefield? And can you tell us if any prisoners are ever going back to Gitmo while it’s still open? If not, where they’re going.
DIR. PANETTA: All right, let me start – (chuckles).
(Cross talk.)
DIR. PANETTA: Please, thank you. (Chuckles.) First of all, on the rendition issue: Obviously, the executive order that was issued by the President sets, you know, the ground rules for dealing with that issue. Number one, we are obligated to follow the Army Field Manual, and we will do that. Secondly, we are closing black sites, and we are doing that. And thirdly, rendition is still permitted, but obviously – and it’s been used in the past to obviously send people to countries where there are jurisdictional issues for purposes of trying individuals. If we render someone, we are obviously going to seek assurances from that country that their human rights are protected and that they are not mistreated. And we are going to make very sure that that does not happen. Well, I guess, you know, A, make sure, first of all, the kind of countries that we render will tell us an awful lot about that, number one. Number two, I think diplomatically we just have to make sure that we have a presence to ensure that that does not happen.
On the – what was the other issue?
Q: Recidivism.
DIR. PANETTA: On the recidivism issue, as you know, one of the things that’s going to – that’s provided by the executive order. There are several reviews that are going on as a result of the executive order. One is, with regards to interrogation, there is a review that I am a member of that will look at the issue of interrogation, look at the results of the Army Manual, and also look at the what so-called enhanced procedures and determine, you know, the validity of those efforts if any. And we will then make recommendations based on that review.
The other is the Gitmo review that is taking place. And under that, I am not a member of that review; but obviously that’s led by the Justice Department, and they are looking at, obviously, analyzing those that are at Gitmo, determining which ones can be tried, which ones can be transferred, and which ones will have to remain in prison. I’m not going to second guess the results of that. Obviously, there is always the concern about recidivism, particularly with those that are transferred, and we’ve seen some of the results in Saudi Arabia where they have made an effort to try to see if they can rehabilitate, and it’s had some nix results. So I think all of that is going to have to be taken in consideration as part of this review process.