Leon E. Panetta

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Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, addresses Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta and Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as they testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, on the Defense Department's response to the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta (left) and U.S. Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrive to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, to answer questions on the Defense Department's response to the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, in September. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta (center) arrives to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, to answer questions on the Defense Department's response to the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, in September. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta will testify to a Senate panel that hopes to get satisfactory answers Thursday to questions about the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** Former Sen. Chuck Hagel stumbled through his Senate confirmation hearing last week, but Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said “the political knives were out for” him. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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Army Lt. Col. Tamatha Patterson of Huntingdon, Tenn., waits for Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta to hand her the memorandum he has just signed ending the 1994 ban on women serving in combat on Jan. 24, 2013, during a news conference at the Pentagon. (Associated Press)