That is a bunch of bullchit. He doesn’t need to go back to California that often. I don’t give a rats who he is. Bush made 77 visits to his ranch in 8 years. Panetta took over at the Pentagon July of 2011.
If he can’t stay in Washington to do his job, he needs to resign. If evil corporate business men don’t need to fly on their private jets, then Panetta darn sure doesn’t need to be flying on our dime!
It may not be as it appears. I took military flights from Jordan to Germany when I was working in the RSO in Amman. Cost me 10 bucks to hop that flight. The flights were scheduled in monthly to ressuply the American store and embassy of food and other assorted products. Whether I took the flights or not, they were coming and going.