Hagel Said to Be Stepping Down as Defense Chief Under Pressure
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is stepping down under pressure, the first cabinet-level casualty of the collapse of President Obama’s Democratic majority in the Senate and the struggles of his national security team amid an onslaught of global crises.
The president, who is expected to announce Mr. Hagel’s resignation in a Rose Garden appearance on Monday, made the decision to ask his defense secretary — the sole Republican on his national security team — to step down last Friday after a series of meetings over the past two weeks, senior administration officials said.
The officials described Mr. Obama’s decision to remove Mr. Hagel, 68, as a recognition that the threat from the Islamic State would require a different kind of skills than those that Mr. Hagel was brought on to employ. A Republican with military experience who was skeptical about the Iraq war, Mr. Hagel came in to manage the Afghanistan combat withdrawal and the shrinking Pentagon budget in the era of budget sequestration.
But now “the next couple of years will demand a different kind of focus,” one administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. He insisted that Mr. Hagel was not fired, saying that he initiated discussions about his future two weeks ago with the president, and that the two men mutually agreed that it was time for him to leave.
But Mr. Hagel’s aides had maintained in recent weeks that he expected to serve the full four years as defense secretary. His removal appears to be an effort by the White House to show that it is sensitive to critics who have pointed to stumbles in the government’s early response to several national security issues, including the Ebola crisis and the threat posed by the Islamic State.
Now that the news has broken, more details are beginning to leak out of the White House concerning Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s departure, first reported by the New York Times.
According to NBC News Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszweski the White House forced Hagel to resign, having lost confidence in his ability to manage the Pentagon in the face of chronic foreign policy challenges.
“He wasn’t up to the job,”[Geezus, that was obvious at his confirmation hearing...didn't anybody at the White House watch that?... ] said one administration official, speaking, natch, on the condition of anonymity.
Hagel, Obama’s sole Republican cabinet member, became Defense Secretary in February 2013 after a bitter confirmation process. His term has seen the rise of ISIS, Russia’s antagonism in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, the ebola threat, and other crises.
Per the Times’ report, Hagel was selected to lead the Afghanistan drawdown and oversee budget constrictions; with a long fight against ISIS looming, Obama wanted someone with a “different kind of focus.”
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
] said one administration official, speaking, natch, on the condition of anonymity.
