Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta talked about U.S. defense priorities. He said that America’s fight against al-Qaeda was taking a new direction and moving beyond declared combat zones and so requiring more U.S. partnering with foreign special operations forces. Topics included Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan. Secretary Panetta also discussed defense priorities and the impact of the “fiscal cliff” budget cuts to the Defense Department scheduled for January 2013 if Congress does not reach a budget agreement before then. He also said that he had ordered a review of Pentagon ethics training.