Dianne Feinstein’s legacy: Doing what she believed was right for the nation

One of my assigned duties when I was chief of staff to President Bill Clinton was to personally lobby Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) when she was listed as undecided on a legislative priority of the president. That was often the case. On one of those occasions, after I displayed some frustration with her position, she looked me in the eye and said, “Leon — as long as I have been in public life, I always vote my convictions — I vote on what I believe is right for the nation.” 

I never forgot that quote because it is in many ways the ultimate responsibility of an elected leader. Even on the most sensitive issues for the president, she always had a number of questions on why the president had decided on this or that policy, did he consider the consequences, what would it mean for the nation and particularly California, was he willing to listen to her perspective, and was he open to amendments if she felt they were necessary? In the end, she would always vote her convictions and do what she believed was right. 

That was the standard she followed throughout her public life. I first met Dianne over 40 years ago when she became mayor of San Francisco as the result of a terrible tragedy. The city was deeply divided, there were threats to the lives of public officials, and there was a sense that violence would undermine any hope for stability. Mayor Feinstein took firm control of the reins of power, made clear that the work of the city would move forward, and she did what she believed was right. She brought a vision and spirit to San Francisco and God help you if you were not a strong 49er fan.

She brought that spirit and sense of conviction to the halls of the U.S. Senate after she was elected senator. If she was convinced that a policy was important to California and the nation, she became one of the toughest fighters in the Senate for that policy. When President Clinton was pushing for gun control to be part of the crime bill he was ushering through the Congress, Sen. Feinstein brought the amendment to stop the sale of assault weapons to the floor. The president embraced her amendment and it passed the Senate. As chief of staff to the president, I shared with the senator that there was strong opposition developing in the House to the gun control provisions of the crime bill. She made very clear to me that the president had to be tough on gun control if the crime bill was to have any chance of passage. I delivered her message to the president. The bill passed. 

When Dianne became a member of the Intelligence Committee and rose to the position of chairwoman, she developed a reputation as a strong advocate of the intelligence community and its operations. But she also strongly advocated that intelligence had to be conducted in accordance with the law. She made that clear to me when I was appointed to be director of the CIA by President Obama. Typical of her approach to every issue, she had to be convinced that I was right for the job. 

Despite the fact that I had known her personally for over 20 years, she made clear to the press that she would have to be convinced that I was the right man for the job. Needless to say, my first order of business was to hark back to my approach to her when she was uncommitted on a vote during the Clinton administration — request an immediate audience. As always, she asked many questions on intelligence policy, my commitment to the law, my willingness to work closely with the intelligence committee, and my dedication to supporting the intelligence community. She made me promise that I would pick an intelligence professional as my second in command and I did — Stephen Kappes, a long-time veteran of the CIA. She reached out, shook my hand, and wished me good luck in my new position. 

When she wanted to investigate what had happened with enhanced interrogation techniques during the Bush administration, I agreed to set aside a room for her staff and provide the necessary documents. Her office conducted a long and intensive investigation that became more controversial with time. I had left Washington when the final report came out. But Dianne stuck to her view that the enhanced interrogation techniques violated boundaries of just interrogation techniques. Fortunately, President Obama had issued an executive order stopping those techniques the day he took office. 

My best moment with Sen. Feinstein was when I had the opportunity to brief her on what we had found on the possible location of Osama Bin Laden. I told her we had followed Bin Landen’s couriers to a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The compound had high walls on all sides, implemented tight security precautions and had a mysterious family on the third floor. Her eyes lit up and she realized the importance of that briefing. When we completed the mission of bringing Bin Laden to justice, she was my first call. Her response — “Thank you … you did the right thing.” I remembered her first words to me — “I vote on what I believe is right for the nation.” That will forever be her legacy — to do what is right. We will miss her sense of duty to her convictions, to California and to the nation. 

Leon E. Panetta served as a Democrat from California in Congress from 1977-93. He was director of the Office of Management and Budget from 1993-94 and White House chief of staff from 1994-1997. He served as director of the CIA from 2009-2011.