Leon Panetta

"There was a feeling [Panetta] had not done enough to defend the CIA from the politicians," says a former agency staffer. "People were asking, 'What's the point in having a so-called political expert as director if he can't do that?' "

Read more: Leon Panetta Defends CIA Against DNI, Wins Over Doubters | In this article: CIA, White House, Washington, Eric Holder, and McLean, Va.

"Panetta showed he knows how to stamp on toes in this town," says the retired operations official. "[These] victories have reassured some of the doubters in Langley."

Read more: Leon Panetta Defends CIA Against DNI, Wins Over Doubters | In this article: CIA, White House, Washington, Eric Holder, and McLean, Va.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's office said Friday that he told visiting CIA Director Leon Panetta of "Pakistan's concerns relating to the possible surge of the U.S. and ISAF forces in Afghanistan, which may entail negative implications for the situation in Baluchistan," the Pakistani province that borders Afghanistan to the south.

Read more: Despite U.S. pressures, Pakistan continues to follow its own road | In this article: Pakistan, United States, Taliban, Afghanistan, Yousuf Raza Gilani, Mohammed Omar, Islam, Stanley McChrystal, James Jones, and Hamid Karzai

"Rendered suspects are denied due process because they are arrested without charges and deprived of legal counsel. " During his appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee last February, CIA nominee Leon Panetta, now Agency Director, said, "I think renditions where we return individuals to another country where they prosecute them under their laws, I think that is an appropriate use of rendition," the Associated Press reported.

Read more: Obama Resuming Bush's Extraordinary Renditions | In this article: Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Scott Horton, U.S., Due process, London University, CIA, and Bill Clinton

In his statement, Panetta noted, "I have directed our Agency personnel to take charge of the decommissioning process and have further directed that the contracts for site security be promptly terminated." (He added that the suspension of these private security contracts would save the agency up to $4 million.) Though Panetta's order might have seemed like good news to civil libertarians and critics of the Bush-Cheney administration's detention policies, lawyers for several detainees who had been held in such sites immediately worried about one thing: "We thought they would be destroying further evidence," says George Brent Mickum IV, a lawyer for Abu Zubaydah, a captured terrorism suspect whom President George W. Bush described (probably errantly) as "one of the top three leaders"

Read more: Whatever Happened to the CIA Black Sites? | In this article: CIA, Al Qaeda, Washington DC, and Detainee

Panetta and Gilani agreed on "operational functioning between the two militaries and intelligence agencies" to eliminate the terror threat, it said.

Read more: 'US strike' kills eight in Pakistan | In this article: Pakistan, United States, Islamabad, Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Barack Obama, Afghanistan, Yousuf Raza Gilani, and CIA

In April, 2009, CIA director Leon Panetta announced that the "CIA no longer operates detention facilities or black sites," in a letter to staff and that "emaining sites would be decommissioned".

Read more: Black site | In this article: Central Intelligence Agency, Detainee, European Union, United States, Dick Marty, Michael Hayden, Poland, George W. Bush, and Allegation

Leon Panetta, head of the CIA, says: "As we disrupt [al-Qa'ida], they will seek other safe havens. Somalia and Yemen are potential al-Qa'ida bases in the future."

Read more: Johann Hari: The three fallacies that have driven the war in Afghanistan | In this article: Al-qa'ida, Taliban, Afghanistan, US, Barack Obama, David Petraeus, and Osama bin Laden

"Decision makers need information and analysis on the effects climate change can have on security. The CIA is well positioned to deliver that intelligence," said CIA Director Leon Panetta in a statement announcing the center's opening.

Read more: Thomas Kostigen's Ethics Monitor: Cloak-and-dagger climate change | In this article: Climate change, Central Intelligence Agency, John Barrasso, Al Qaeda, Somalia, Ideology, and Desertification