Panetta Declines to Speculate About Future with Administration

Will he retire or stay on as defense secretary?

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta refused to speculate on Monday about how soon he might step down and even joked that he couldn't rule out spending another term in the job, saying: "Who the hell knows?"

There is intense speculation at the Pentagon that Panetta might retire within months following President Barack Obama's re-election, spurring a guessing game about a successor.