Panetta has paid $17,000 for commutes to California
Defense secretary required to travel on military aircraft
WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has commuted on military aircraft to his home in northern California more than two dozen times since he took over the Pentagon in July, paying about $630 per trip for a roundtrip flight that costs the Pentagon about $32,000.
The totals detailed by defense officials lay out his reimbursements for the first time, showing he paid the Treasury about $17,000 for the 27 personal trips. Based on fuel and other operating expenses for his Air Force plane, those same trips cost the government as much as $860,000.
As Pentagon chief, Panetta is required to travel on military planes because they have the secure communications equipment he needs to stay in contact with the president and other top civilian and military leaders.
His bill for the travel is calculated according to reimbursement formulas dictated by long-standing federal policies using what a full-fare coach trip would cost. And the Pentagon says it costs about $3,200 per flight hour to operate the small plane he usually uses for the 10-hour round trip.
When he took the job, Panetta made it clear that he would continue to return home to his family on the weekends as he had done as CIA director for the previous two years, and as a member of Congress from 1977-1993. Panetta usually flies out to California on Friday evening and comes back Sunday night.
“No one understands the budget pressures on the Pentagon better than Secretary Panetta, who is responsible for identifying nearly $1 billion per week in defense cuts – or roughly $140 million per day – over the next 10 years,” Pentagon press secretary George Little said. “As a required-use traveler, he must use government aircraft for all travel.”
Panetta’s two predecessors didn’t make such frequent, long trips home. Robert Gates spent most weekends in the nation’s capital, but traveled occasionally to his family home in Washington state. Donald Rumsfeld also lived in the D.C. area, but often spent weekends at his house in St. Michaels on Maryland’s eastern shore.