Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to receive WSU’s Foley award for public service

Leon Panetta, former secretary of defense and former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, will accept a public service award at a ceremony in Spokane scheduled for April.

The Thomas S. Foley Award for Distinguished Public Service, bestowed by Washington State University’s Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service, recognizes individuals who have demonstrated integrity and courage in their commitment to public service and whose body of work has had a lasting impact.

The criteria for selection include ethical leadership and integrity, a belief in bipartisanship and finding the common good, and a commitment to democratic values, a news release from the Foley Institute said.

The inaugural annual award was given to former Defense Secretary James Mattis last year.

“Secretary Panetta has a long and distinguished history of public service, and has worked in both Democratic and Republican administrations,” Cornell Clayton, director of the Foley Institute, said in a statement. “His illustrious career includes directorship of the Office for Civil Rights during the Nixon administration, 17 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, directorship of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and White House Chief of Staff for the Clinton administration.”

Panetta served under President Barack Obama as director of the CIA from 2009 to 2011 and as secretary of defense from 2011 to 2013.

He is the current chairman of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy at California State University, Monterey Bay.

The award ceremony is set for April 24 at the John J. Hemmingson Center on the Gonzaga University campus. The Spokesman-Review is serving as the media sponsor.

Tickets with dinner and table sponsorships are available for purchase from the Foley Institute. Panetta will provide a keynote speech, followed by a question-and-answer session.