Leon Panetta | featured news

A German official is saying Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has told NATO allies that the U.S. will leave between 8,000-12,000 American troops in Afghanistan after 2014, when combat ends.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is telling Congress that if automatic budget cuts kick in on March 1 he may be compelled to furlough the "vast majority" of the Defense Department's 800,000 civilian workers....

The US defence secretary says for the first time that he supports arming Syrian rebels, a proposal reportedly over-ruled by President Barack Obama.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta arrived in Kabul Wednesday afternoon to take stock of the war as the Obama administration weighs how quickly to draw down troops over the next two years. The trip, likely his last official visit to the war zone, will give Panetta a chance to consult with U.S. commanders and Afghan President Hamid Karzai about the future U.S. role here as the decade-long war comes to an end.

Citing a string of ethical lapses by senior military officers, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff to review ethics training and to brainstorm on ways to steer officers away from trouble.

A senior U.S. official says Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has demoted the former head of U.S. Africa Command who was accused of spending thousands of dollars on lavish travel and other unauthorized expenses. The official says Panetta stripped Gen. William "Kip" Ward of a star, which means that he will now retire as a three-star lieutenant general despite some arguments against the demotion. Ward will also repay the government $82,000.

The U.S. military did not quickly intervene during the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya last month because military leaders did not have adequate intelligence information and felt they should not put American forces at risk, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday.

Whether North Korea's new leader will follow the dangerous path of his father is unclear, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, despite worrying behavior by the reclusive state during Kim Jong Un's first year in power.

The man expected to become China's next leader, Vice-President Xi Jinping, appears in "good shape", US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said after talks in Beijing. The talks marked Mr Xi's first official meeting since he went missing two weeks ago without further explanation.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday that Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft represents the "future of tactical aviation" for U.S. and British forces, as Britain prepares to take delivery of its first test aircraft.