Born in June 1938, Leon Panetta was a member of Congress from 1977 to 1993. He served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997. In January 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Panetta to be CIA Director, a post for which Panetta was confirmed by the full Senate the following month. On April 28, 2011, Obama announced the nomination of Panetta as U.S. Secretary of Defense to replace the retiring Robert Gates.