Secretary of Defense Panetta Regrets Expense of Weekend Trips Home

What about when he was CIA Director?  Did he also take weekend trips home?  Why take a job in DC when you know you are going to return home every weekend when you are asking the US taxpayers to foot the bill?  We are not talking about going to Virginia or Maryland for the weekend, we are talking flying over 3,000 miles one way each weekend at taxpayers expense.  Yet the members of Congress who are blind to DoD expenses say they shouldn't be cut.  VIP travel has always been a big budget item for the Air Force because reimbursement is so small compared to the cost of travel.  First class ticket from National to San Francisco is $1,608.80.  Seems the reimbursement people are leaving off $1,000.  Anyone knows that head of agencies always fly first class.

This is a public relations nightmare that Panetta returns home every weekend and the actual cost is $860,000 not the $17,000 he has reimbursed.  I understand he has to stay in contact but he does not have to take trips back to California every weekend.  That is beyond ridiculous.  Saying he makes trips to military bases on Thursday and Friday near California is just taking boondoggles so he can be closer to home for the weekend. Know how that works -- planned enough VIP official visits over time to coordinate with private events that were happening to know how the system works.

Why was Panetta made Secretary of Defense is probably the best question because he has no credentials but then he had none for the CIA either.  His credentials to be CIA Director and Secretary of Defense:

Among his credentials are tours as White House chief of staff and director of the Office of Management and Budget under Bill Clinton. A former nine-term California lawmaker, Panetta also is well-connected on Capitol Hill, and is expected to win easy confirmation as DoD chief

His credentials when looked at were who he knew.  Now we have a SecDef who must return home every weekend.  Just maybe he should have stayed in California when asked to serve.

Leon Panetta Regrets Expense Of Weekend Trips Home        
LOLITA C. BALDOR 04/16/12 04:55 PM ET, AP

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Monday he regrets the cost to taxpayers for his weekend trips to his California home, but says it's important "just to get your mind straight and your perspective straight." 

Panetta said he'd try to find some savings, with each round trip costing approximately $32,000.
"I regret that it does, you know, that it does add costs that the taxpayer has to pick up," Panetta said during a Pentagon briefing Monday, speaking publicly for the first time about the flight costs. "A taxpayer would have to pick up those costs with any secretary of state or secretary of defense. But having said that, I am trying to look at what are ... the alternatives here that I can look at that might possibly be able to save funds and, at the same time, be able to fulfill my responsibilities, not only to my job, but to my family." 

The Associated Press earlier this month detailed the costs of the 27 roundtrip flights home Panetta has taken since he became Pentagon chief last July, as well as the amount he has reimbursed the government for the trips. 

Panetta is required to travel on military aircraft so he can remain in constant, secure contact with the White House and other top civilian and military leaders. And he routinely works, makes phone calls and, when necessary, travels a short distance for secure video conferences while he is at home at his family's walnut farm. 

His bill for the travel is calculated according to reimbursement formulas dictated by longstanding 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. 

He has reimbursed the Treasury about $17,000 for the travel, based on a government formula, or about $630 per round trip. 

Based on fuel and other operating expenses for his Air Force plane, the 27 trips have cost the government as much as $860,000. 

Typically Panetta flies on an Air Force C-37 – somewhat comparable to a Gulfstream jet – which is the lowest-cost aircraft that can carry the necessary communications equipment.
Panetta did not detail what alternatives he may be looking at in order to find some savings.
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 H. Rumsfeld also lived in the D.C. area, but often spent weekends at his house in St. Michaels on Maryland's Eastern shore. 

(snip) 

On nine occasions so far, Panetta has scheduled domestic trips to bases and other events on Thursdays and Fridays, allowing him to travel part way across the country for business, then fly the rest of the way to California for the weekend. In those cases he reimburses the government for the difference between the cost of the full trip minus the cost of flying directly to the base or official event location and back to Washington. 

Excerpt:  Read More at Huffington Post