Panetta focused on job right now: Pentagon

No comment on question if he will stay as US Defence Secretary in the second term of Obama administration

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta is focused on his job right now, and not on his "personal future", the Pentagon has said while refraining from making any comment on the question if he will stay or leave in this position in the second term of the Obama Administration.

"Secretary Panetta is focused squarely on his job today. He's focused on the missions of the Department of Defence, and he's not focused on his personal future," the Pentagon Press Secretary George Little told reporters at his news conference yesterday.

"There's always a temptation shortly after an election to engage in what I call Washington parlor games and to speculate about personnel changes that may or may not occur in the future," he said responding to questions on whether or not Panetta has decided when or if he will leave his office and what his plans may be for the future.

Panetta, who will turn 75 in June, has been the Defence Secretary since June 2011. Before that he was the CIA Director in which capacity he oversaw the killing of Osama bin Laden.

It is too early to say on whether the US President Barack Obama would contemplate changing his defence secretary in his new cabinet.

In case that the former Under Secretary of Defence Michele Flournoy is said to be topping the list of probable candidates for the top position in Pentagon along with the Deputy Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter.