Leon Panetta to speak in Charleston

A former U.S. Secretary of Defense and a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency will be in West Virginia’s Capital City next month.

On Wednesday, officials with the state Democratic Party announced Leon Panetta would be the keynote speaker for the annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner which is scheduled for Oct. 11 at the Charleston Civic Center.

“We are thrilled to have Leon Panetta, one of the great statesmen of our time, coming to West Virginia as we enter to the homestretch to November,” said Larry Puccio, state Democratic Party chair, in a statement.

Panetta served as CIA Director from 2009 to 2011 and as Defense Secretary from 2011 to 2013 under President Barack Obama.

He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California from 1977 to 1993 before leading the U.S. Office of Management and Budget from 1993 to 1994 during the Clinton Administration and serving as President Bill Clinton’s Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.