Leon Panetta: What keeps you awake at night?

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The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A long-running fixed question in The Guardian's weekly Q&A questionnaire.

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Attorney and politician; Director of the Office of Management and Budget, White House Chief of Staff, Director of the CIA and Secretary of Defense

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

The toughest job I had as secretary was having to take the time, usually late at night, to write notes to the families of those who lost loved ones.

Chuck Oldham, The Pentagon: 75 Years, Defense Media Network, 24 January 2019 source ↗

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Keren Woodward

Sleep apnoea and tinnitus.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 March 2024 source ↗

Leona Lewis

Thinking about all the children that are affected by all the wars that are going on right now.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 December 2023 source ↗

Louis Smith English artistic gymnast

Thinking about life.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 July 2013 source ↗

Jim Kerr Scottish singer and songwriter

Not much. Given that I’m up and active most mornings around 5am, I’ve had enough of everything by 9pm.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 October 2022 source ↗

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Question What is your favourite side project? Craft & work

I think what we’re trying to do at the Panetta Institute is to try to get all young people to understand that they have a duty to give back to our country in some capacity.

Recorded Chuck Oldham, The Pentagon: 75 Years, Defense Media Network, 24 January 2019 source ↗

Question What important truth do very few people agree with you on? Values & belief

But if our institutions of democracy are not working, that is an even greater threat to our national security

Recorded Cal Fussman, Esquire, 14 December 2012 source ↗

Question What is your greatest fear? Identity & self

The greatest fear I always had in the jobs I was in was that some son of a bitch I never knew or met was going to screw up, and I was going to get blamed for it. [laughs]

Recorded William J. Antholis, Presidential Oral Histories, Miller Center, 30 September 2021 source ↗

Question What does love feel like? Relationships

Love of family is something that is renewed in me every time I see them.

Recorded Cal Fussman, Esquire, 14 December 2012 source ↗

Question When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do? Daily life

When I have a sense that things are screwed up, and I’m just not sure whether or not we’ll find an answer, the thing I do is usually sit at the piano, and I play a song by Beethoven called Para Elisa (Für Elise)

Recorded Leadership in War and Peace, Academy of Achievement, 14 September 2017 source ↗

Question What role should instinct play in major decisions? Craft & work

Now, part of that is the Jesuits at Santa Clara, who taught me about right and wrong. But part of it was just that gut feeling.

Recorded Leadership in War and Peace, Academy of Achievement, 14 September 2017 source ↗

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