Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke Thursday night to students and community residents at the University of Louisville.
The Defense Secretary talked about the dangers of cutting the defense budget while America is at war and facing Terrorist threats. His remarks to a crowd of around 1,200 students, faculty, military and public, also touched on the nation’s challenges, leadership and public service.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell introduced Secretary Panetta as part of the McConnell Center’s lecture series.
Earlier this week, Sec. Panetta testified alongside other top military leaders before Congress and defended President Obama’s budget that makes $487 billion in cuts over a decade. Sec. Panetta said he is counting on the Congress to enact further budget savings in order to avoid automatic defense spending cuts in 2013. Those cuts would happen as part of the 2011 debt ceiling agreement.
Sec. Panetta was sworn in as defense secretary last July. He previously served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and was President Clinton’s White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997.