WASHINGTON: Leon Panetta will be sworn in as US defense secretary on Friday at a private ceremony at the Pentagon, where a looming budget battle may be as big a challenge as the wars he will inherit.
Panetta, who is scheduled to arrive at the Pentagon at 8:30 am EDT (1800 hrs IST) and take the oath of office 15 minutes later, has served as CIA director for the past two and a half years, at a time when the lines between US covert and military operations have blurred. He comes to the Pentagon two months after a covert raid killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, and a week after President Barack Obama announced a faster-than-expected US troop drawdown in Afghanistan. (PTI)
