Leon Panette becomes the first Secretary of Defense to visit Hampton Roads

Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, sworn in as Secretary of Defense on July 1, 2011. photo: abhi ahmadadeen/BMLTV©

U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner,servers on the Senate Banking Budget, Commerce and Intelligence committees. photo: abhi ahmadadeen/BMLTV©


Amongst the many were military commanders, elected officials, and members of the Hampton Roads business community. photo: abhi ahmadadeen/BMLTV©

“I am honored to be here because of the entire Hampton Roads community, you have provided unflinching support to thousands of men and women in uniform who are stationed here”

(BMLTV) NORFOLK VA., October 22, 2012 - On his very first visit to Hampton roads Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave an Inaugural State of the Military Address at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott before a huge audience. Amongst the many were military commanders, elected officials, and members of the Hampton Roads business community. 

Guest speaker U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner spoke of the significance of Leon Panetta’s visit. “We are very lucky to have the First Inaugural State of the Military Address with the Secretary of Defense. I’ve known Secretary Panetta for about twenty years; sense my early involvement in politics. He has served with distinction for our country in a variety of ways. Leon Panetta served in Congress, he was Chairman of the Budget Committee, he served as President Clintons Chief of Staff, has served with enormous distinction as head of the CIA, and most recently he has taken on what is clearly the most important Cabinet position for our nation, Secretary of Defense. 

"There is no one who serves our country with more commitment, more dedication and more willingness to lay out the straight truth than the Secretary of Defense.” 

Panetta opened up by expressing that he was honored to have a chance to be in Hampton Roads, to come down to this great place that is so important to our National Security and important to our effort to everything we can do to protect our country.

 “I admire also by the presence of so many civic leaders and elected officials, Republicans and Democrats and Senior Military Leaders, to a lot of my friends in the Military from installations from across the region. I am also honored to be here with you members of this chamber as Congressman I had the opportunity to speak honestly to the chambers in my District on a regular basis, and the reason I did that is because the chamber represents the heart and soul of communities. 

"You’re the business, the business heart beat of our Global Economy’s. And your willingness to be engaged, to be involved in what ever business you are a part of, to work hard, try to serve the public, that is what keeps our communities going. I pay tribute to you; my dad ran a restaurant back in Monterey. I know what the sacrifices are, I know how hard he had to work and really dedicate himself to the day to day job of serving the public."

So I commend you for your leadership, the spirit that you represent is what frankly keeps our country strong, and I thank you for that.” “I am honored to be here because of the entire Hampton Roads community, you have provided unflinching support to thousands of men and women in uniform who are stationed here and I thank you for that, whether it is at Norfolk Naval Station, whether it is at the Joint Base Langley Eustis, whether its at Naval Air Station Oceana where the more than two dozen other military facilities that are located throughout this region.”

 "Hampton Roads is a powerful testament, powerful testament to the unrivaled strength of America’s Armed Forces. Simply put this region houses perhaps the greatest concentration of Military mite in the world. Support offered by this community to its service members, its veteran, to their families is an incredibly important part of what makes this area the strategic national asset that it is.

Your dedication, your commitment, your service, your patriotism is critical to the Military and very greatly critical to our National Security. Let me be clear as Secretary of Defense I want to everything that I can to keep this community strong in terms of its Military for the future. 

This is special to me as Secretary of Defense to have communities like this that are dedicated to insuring that they’ll do everything possible to keep United States of America safe and keep our military strong. I know what it means, believe me I know what it means to have a community this devoted to the military". “Believe me, I know the importance of the military to the local economy and I also know the impact when a facility is lost.” 

Panetta warned of the threat of defense reductions because of automatic budget cuts of $1 trillion over 10 years that are set to start in January. Half the reductions, known as sequestration, would be in defense and half in discretionary domestic programs. 

Inaugural State of the Military Address which was founded by Hampton Roads Chamber Commerce, was two years in the making, sought to explore defense strategy, current and future Department of Defense spending, and the economic impact of the Federal presence in Hampton Roads.

 by abhi ahmadadeen