By Greg Hazley
Newly minted Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has named his top public affairs lieutenants, including a top PA aide during his tenure as CIA director and a PA advisor to Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
George Little, director of PA for Panetta at the CIA since October, moved to the Pentagon on July 19 as deputy assistant secretary of defense and press secretary. He takes over for Geoff Morell, a former ABC News correspondent who stepped down last month with the exit of Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Panetta has also tapped Mullen PA aide Capt. John Kirby as deputy assistant secretary of defense/spokesman and director of media operations. A Navy PA officer, he has been on Mullen’s communications team for 10 years and will take up the new post in August.
Doug Wilson remains the Pentagon’s top PA official, to whom the new recruits will report. Wilson, in a statement, called Little and Kirby “two of the most respected and trusted communicators in Washington.”
|