Spinning the Door into the CIA [1]
Submitted by Bob Burton [2] on
Leon Panetta [3], former Chief of Staff to the President Bill Clinton [4] and Barack Obama [5]'s nominee to head the Central Intelligence Agency [6], earned over $1 million in 2008 as a corporate consultant and guest speaker. On the eve of a confirmation hearing before a U.S. Senate committee, Panetta's disclosure to the Office of Government Ethics was publicly released. In it, Panetta revealed that in 2008 he was paid $120,000 as a member of the advisory board [7] of the global PR firm, Fleishman-Hillard [8] (F-H). On its website, F-H describes the 16 member board [9] as "a powerful client resource" which can "author op-ed pieces" and "provide counsel to clients -- in person, via video, or through calls to decision-makers." Other board members include the former Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich [10] and former Homeland Security Secretary, Tom Ridge [11]. Another board member is Barry R. McCaffrey [12], who was a participant in the Pentagon military analyst program [13].