HOT! Chuck Hagel to resign TODAY

[American Patriot]

Pressure from inside the administration to make him leave.

He's been at odds with the President for awhile now.

He's also a bit of flub if you ask me.

More on this later

[American Patriot]

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to Step Down

Nov 24, 2014, 9:20 AM ET
By JEFF ZELENY Jeff Zeleny More from Jeff »
Senior Washington Correspondent, ABC News

Follow @jeffzeleny










Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on 'This Week'
ABC News





Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is stepping down, a longtime confidant confirmed today to ABC News.
This is a breaking news story. Please refresh for updates.


http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/defen...ry?id=27132409

[American Patriot]

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Is Resigning

• Michael B Kelley and Hunter Walker

• 16 minutes ago

Kevin Lamarque - Reuters
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is resigning, The New York Times reported on Monday.
A senior administration official subsequently confirmed to Business Insider that Hagel would resign. They said Hagel would announce his decision alongside the president at 11:00 a.m.
"A successor will be named in short order, but Secretary Hagel will remain as Defense Secretary until his replacement is confirmed by the United States Senate," the official said.
The Times characterized Hagel's resignation as a response to criticism of the Obama administration's handling of several major recent global threats.
"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," the Times reported.
The US-led fight against the jihadist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) is going poorly as corruption in the Iraqi military and a lack of coherent US strategy in Syria have hobbled a large international coalition.
More to come ...

[American Patriot]

HAGEL: The World Is 'Damn Dangerous' And Our Army Is Not Ready

• Pierre Bienaimé

• Nov. 20, 2014, 3:54 PM

YouTubeChuck Hagel speaking with Charlie Rose on Nov. 19, 2014.

In an exclusive interview with Charlie Rose at the Pentagon yesterday, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel warned of the unprecedented challenges facing the United States military role on the global stage.
"The world is dangerous. It is damn dangerous," Hagel said.
Earlier on, Hagel conceded to an array of US foreign policy failures read aloud by Rose from the op-ed pages of The New York Times, adding they came in response to an unprecedented and uniquely volatile global environment.
"We live in this imperfect, dynamic, changing, threatening, dangerous, interconnected world that we have never seen before, that we have never seen anything like this before," Hagel said. "And so policies, yes, are predicated on historical knowledge and cultural awareness and all that goes into that. Have we made mistakes over a series of many years? Yeah, I think we have. I think anybody would agree to that. But that's not the issue. That's not the responsibility I have now or the president has or John Kerry. Our responsibilities now are to find ways that we can make it better, find strategies and policies that work within a world of uncontrollables."
Hagel went on to lament the mismatch between these unique challenges facing the DoD and its shrinking budget.
The Defense Department is "being called upon to do more everywhere. I mean, look at the last six months, where — we now are involved where we weren't six months ago," Hagel said. "And our budget continues to be cut. Something doesn't connect here. And that's going to have to change."
Hagel's message echoed part of the speech he delivered at the Reagan Library on Saturday. The location then was an appropriate one; as president Reagan once said that "defense is not a budget issue. You spend what you need."
Perhaps the secretary's only prescription in the hour-long interview — which touched on the threat presented by the jihadist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS and ISIL), the approaching deadline to strike a nuclear deal with Iran, Russia's campaign of careful aggression, and China's growing regional ambitions — was his hope that the new Congress in January would reconsider the department's budget cuts.
Without relief from the cuts Hagel said the United States could find itself losing pole position for the first time since World War II. And that would mean the risk of one day fighting "a fair fight."
"We won't have the readiness. We won't have the capability. We won't have long-term investments that this institution requires to stay ahead of everybody else, as we have since World War II, with the technological edge, with the ability to continue to recruit and retain the best people."

[American Patriot]

Anything to do with it? One has to wonder.


Chuck Hagel To Order Nuke Force Overhaul To Fix Failures



Posted: 11/13/2014 8:09 pm EST Updated: 11/14/2014 1:59 am EST










WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has concluded that problems in the nation's nuclear forces are rooted in a lack of investment, inattention by high-level leaders and sagging morale, and is ordering top-to-bottom changes, vowing to invest billions of dollars to fix the management of the world's most deadly weapons, two senior defense officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.


Hagel ordered two lengthy reviews of the nuclear force after a series of stories by the AP revealed numerous problems in management, morale, security and safety, leading to several firings, demotions and other disciplinary actions against a range of Air Force personnel from generals to airmen.


Hagel's moves, while not dramatic, are designed to get at the core of the problem, the officials said.



The senior defense officials discussed the reviews and Hagel's response to them on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to be cited by name.


Hagel was expected to announce his decisions at a morning news conference Friday and then fly to Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, home of a Minuteman 3 missile unit whose recent setbacks are emblematic of the trouble dogging the broader force.


The Air Force has been hit hardest by the problems, particularly its Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile force based in North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. The AP documented numerous missteps over the past two years, including misbehavior by ICBM force leaders, lapses in training, violations of security rules and exam cheating.
The Navy, which operates nuclear-armed submarines, had its own exam-cheating scandal this year and has suffered from a shortage of personnel.


Hagel's reviews concluded that the structure of U.S. nuclear forces is so incoherent that it cannot be properly managed in its current form, and that this problem explains why top-level officials often are unaware of trouble below them.


The reviews also found that a combination of problems amount to fundamental flaws, rather than random or period slip-ups that can easily be fixed, the defense officials said. They said the nuclear forces are currently meeting the demands of the mission but are finding it increasingly hard to cope.


When he ordered the two reviews in February, shortly after the Air Force announced it was investigating an exam-cheating ring at one ICBM base and a related drug investigation implicating missile crew members, Hagel was said to be flabbergasted that such misbehavior could be infecting the force.


"He said, 'What is going on here?'" one of the senior defense officials recalled.


Among his more significant moves, Hagel authorized the Air Force to put a four-star general in charge of its nuclear forces, the two senior defense officials said.


The top Air Force nuclear commander currently is a three-star. Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson is responsible not only for the 450 Minuteman ICBMs but also the nuclear bomber force. Hagel has concluded that a four-star would be able to exert more influence within the Air Force, the defense officials said.


Hagel also OK'd a proposal to upgrade the top nuclear force official at Air Force headquarters in the Pentagon from a two-star general to a three-star, the officials said.
He concluded that despite tight Pentagon budgets, billions of dollars more will be needed over the next five years to upgrade equipment. That will include a proposal to replace the Vietnam-era UH-1 Huey helicopter fleet that is part of the security forces at ICBM bases. The Air Force declared them out of date years ago but put available resources into other priorities.


The defense officials said Hagel would propose an amount between $1 billion and $10 billion in additional investment. An exact amount had not yet been determined.
Hans Kristensen, a nuclear expert with the Federation of American Scientists, said Thursday that while he had not seen the Hagel reviews or heard what actions Hagel was ordering, he was skeptical that it would make much difference.


"Throwing money after problems may fix some technical issues but it is unlikely to resolve the dissolution that must come from sitting in a silo hole in the Midwest with missiles on high alert to respond to a nuclear attack that is unlikely to ever come," Kristensen said.


A cascade of embarrassments befell the Air Force over the past two years, beginning with an AP story in May 2013 revealing one missile officer's lament of "rot" inside the force. Another AP story in November disclosed that an independent assessment for the Air Force found signs of "burnout" and elevated levels of personal misconduct among missile launch crews and missile security forces.
The AP also disclosed last year that four ICBM launch officers were disciplined for violating security rules by opening the blast door to their underground command post while one crew member was asleep.
Just last week the AP disclosed that the Air Force fired two nuclear commanders and disciplined a third, providing evidence that leadership lapses are continuing even as top Air Force officials attempt to bring stability to the ICBM force.
The most senior officer to be relieved Nov. 3 was Col. Carl Jones, vice commander of the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force base in Wyoming. He had been investigated for inappropriate behavior, including alleged cruelty toward a subordinate.

[American Patriot]

Hagel: 'I Think We Are Seeing a New World Order'

Back to Breitbart TV







on Breitbart TV 29 Oct 2014 1010 post a comment
Wednesday at the Aspen Institute's "Washington Ideas Forum," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said we are living through, "historic, defining times," that will result in a, "new world order.”

When questioned about the ongoing global chaos by the national correspondent for The Atlantic, James Fallows Hagel said, “I think we are living through one of these historic, defining times. I think we are seeing a new world order.”


“What we’re seeing in the Middle East with ISIL is going to require a steady, long-term effort. It’s going to require coalitions of common interests, which we are forming,” he added.
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

[American Patriot]

The Blaze, it seems has been reporting this for some time.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014...n-his-way-out/

[American Patriot]

http://news.wfsu.org/post/defense-se...-stepping-down

9:32 am
Mon November 24, 2014


Defense Secretary Hagel Said To Be Stepping Down

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By Eyder Peralta
Originally published on Mon November 24, 2014 9:34 am


Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, the highest profile Republican on President Obama's cabinet, will step down, the New York Times is reporting citing unnamed senior administration officials.
The White House says President Obama will make a "personnel announcement" at 11:10 a.m. ET.
Hagel, a two-term Republican Senator, came to this post in February of 2013, the first enlisted combat veteran to lead the Department of Defense.
The Times reports that Obama made the decision on Friday after several meetings. The Times adds:

"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."

The news comes just as American troops are completing their combat role in Afghanistan and just as the administration announced a new war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

[American Patriot]

http://www.lawfareblog.com/2014/11/s...nder-pressure/

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is Stepping Down “Under Pressure”

By Benjamin Bissell
Monday, November 24, 2014 at 9:30 AM
Helene Cooper of the New York Times has the scoop today. There is still speculation as to why Hagel is being forced out — stay tuned for more news. Here are some key passages from the article:

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 a beleaguered national security team that has struggled to stay ahead of 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.


Even before the announcement of Mr. Hagel’s removal, Obama officials were speculating on his possible replacement. At the top of the list are Michèle Flournoy, the former under secretary of defense; Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island and a former officer with the Army’s 82nd Airborne; and Ashton B. Carter, a former deputy secretary of defense.

It’s worth noting here that Chuck Hagel’s handling of the recent crises has been under scrutiny for a while. DefenseOne reported two weeks ago that Hagel’s approval rating among national security workers and troops was only 26%.

[Ryan Ruck]

Well, that was a quick tenure. I wouldn't trust a single SecDef under Obama.

[American Patriot]

Nor would I.

[American Patriot]

Hagel, under pressure, resigns as defense secretary

By Phil Stewart and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON Mon Nov 24, 2014 2:22pm EST

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Hagel resigns as U.S. defense secretary, official says




(Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel resigned on Monday, leaving under pressure as President Barack Obama faces critical national security challenges, including fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and revising plans to exit Afghanistan.
It was the first major change to Obama's Cabinet since his Democrats were routed in midterm elections three weeks ago, and Republicans, who took over the Senate and now control both houses of Congress, are looking to bring changes.
Hagel was appointed less than two years ago as Obama pushed his signature program of winding down wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a process now being upended with U.S. re-engagement in Iraq and greater military cooperation with Kabul.
Hagel had privately expressed frustration to colleagues at the administration’s strategy toward Iraq and Syria and at his lack of influence over the decision-making process, a source familiar with the situation said.
U.S. officials said publicly the decision was mutual but privately others said he had been forced out. "There’s no question he was fired," said one with knowledge of the matter.
He raised questions about Obama's strategy toward Syria in a two-page internal policy memo that leaked this fall in which he warned that Obama's policy was in jeopardy due to its failure to clarify its intentions toward Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Obama has insisted the United States can go after Islamic State militants without addressing Assad, who the United States would like to leave power.
REPUBLICANS DEMAND CHANGE OF APPROACH
Senator John McCain, who is in line to become chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which must approve Hagel's replacement, said he hoped Obama would nominate someone with "strength of character, judgment and independence."
McCain, who like House Speaker John Boehner is a fierce critic of the president, called for changes in his approach to defense.
"A successor will be named in short order, but Secretary Hagel will remain as Defense Secretary until his replacement is confirmed by the United States Senate," a senior Obama administration official said.
Congressional sources said that was almost certainly not going to happen until after January, when Republicans take over in the Senate and control the confirmation process.
"This personnel change must be part of a larger re-thinking of our strategy to confront the threats we face abroad, especially the threat posed by the rise of ISIL (Islamic State)," said Boehner.
"We cannot defeat this enemy without a broad, coordinated, well thought-out effort that has the strong support of the American people. Thus far, this administration has fallen well short," he said in a statement.
A Vietnam War veteran and longtime Republican senator, Hagel, 68, had been criticized by some for failing to clearly articulate policy, including during his confirmation hearing nearly two years ago.
Hagel submitted his resignation letter after lengthy discussions with Obama that began in October, officials said.
Obama praised Hagel at a White House event called to announce his departure, saying he had always been candid with his advice and had "always given it to me straight".
Officials said Obama wanted fresh leadership during the final two years of his administration.
FLOURNOY IS POSSIBLE SUCCESSOR
Top potential candidates to replace Hagel include Michele Flournoy, a former under secretary of defense, and Ashton Carter, a former deputy secretary of defense, who were rumored to be contenders for Hagel's job before he was named.
Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, is another possible contender, although his press secretary said he "has made it very clear that he does not wish to be considered for Secretary of Defense or any other cabinet position."
Hagel, who was the only enlisted combat veteran to serve as defense secretary, ran into a wave of opposition when Obama, a Democrat, nominated him.
Republicans objected partly because Hagel opposed the 2007 'surge' of troops in the Iraq war, which eventually helped defeat al Qaeda and other militants and opened the way for a U.S. troop withdrawal.
He was seen as poorly prepared and hesitant during his confirmation hearing, including refusing to answer 'yes' or 'no' when McCain demanded he judge whether he was wrong to oppose the surge strategy.
Hagel, who became an outspoken critic of the administration of President George W. Bush, had also upset many in his party by endorsing Obama in his presidential race against Republican Senator John McCain in 2008.

[Toad]

I wouldn't say he had a very good run, as far as service members are concerned. Presided over pay cuts, Bene cuts, pension cuts, reduced troop numbers... not the worst we've seen, but I wouldn't call this a big loss.

[American Patriot]

I dont think it's a loss either. I don't remember thinking "This is a good man" when he was selected originally. In fact, the only reason this is an issue is the short tenure.

You don't just quit unless:

1) You're under pressure because you don't get along with the boss
2) The Boss wants you out.
3) The cabinet wants you out.
4) You fucked up bigtime (and it's not out yet).


I'm sure there's other reasons... but he's out because something and someone is fucked up.

[American Patriot]

Leak War: How the White House unloaded on Chuck Hagel while firing him



By Howard Kurtz
Published November 25, 2014FoxNews.com


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Now Playing Kurtz: White House spin obscures Hagel firing

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From the moment word leaked that Chuck Hagel had been fired, the spinning began in earnest.
Those ubiquitous senior administration officials wanted it clear that the president had chosen to oust his Defense secretary, thus giving him credit for a post-midterm shakeup and a new aggressiveness in the war on terror. That’s how Washington works: the president has full confidence in his Cabinet members until he, uh, doesn’t.
And if Hagel’s reputation gets scuffed up in the process, well, politics ain’t beanbag. I do wonder, though, why journalists let unnamed sources more or less trash a guy on his way out from behind a curtain of anonymity.
In fact, there were dueling leaks, with a separate set of anonymous voices from the Pentagon, even though the White House has the bigger megaphone.
The only amazing thing, in retrospect, is that the tremors from Hagel’s planned firing weren’t picked up earlier, well before the New York Times disclosed his dismissal yesterday morning.
Here’s the dominant spin in a nutshell, from an MSNBC story: “The White House reportedly lost confidence in Hagel less than two years after his nomination. ‘He himself was uncomfortable with the position,’ said NBC News’s Jim Miklaszewski.”
It’s true that the former Republican senator from Nebraska never seemed like the right fit. He simply wasn’t much of a spokesman on military policy, even when the threat of ISIS was dominating the news. Why have a Pentagon chief who fades into the woodwork?
The more generous spin, which the White House spread like icing across the baked cake of Hagel’s departure, is that the mission had changed. Thus, the New York Times:
“The officials characterized the decision as a recognition that the threat from the militant group Islamic State will require different skills from those that Mr. Hagel, who often struggled to articulate a clear viewpoint and was widely viewed as a passive defense secretary, was brought in to employ.
“Mr. Hagel, a combat veteran who was skeptical about the Iraq war, came in to manage the Afghanistan combat withdrawal and the shrinking Pentagon budget in the era of budget sequestrations.”
Okay, that’s true. But a Pentagon chief needs to be able manage military operations at any time, as the renewed American involvement in not just Iraq but Syria makes clear.
So here’s the kinder, gentler spin: “‘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 the defense secretary 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.”
My definition of fired is when you ultimately don’t have a choice about packing up your office. As for the counterspin, the Times has that too:
“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.”
The Washington Post, to its credit, quickly got an on-the-record assessment from an old Hagel pal:
“Sen. John McCain,R-Ariz., who is slated to take over as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in January, said that Hagel ‘was frustrated with aspects of the administration’s national security policy and decision-making process,’ citing ‘excessive micro-management’ on the part of the White House.
“McCain noted that Hagel’s predecessors as defense secretary — Robert M. Gates and Leon E. Panetta — had both likewise complained in their memoirs about excessive political interference from White House aides.”
The Post goes on to describe Hagel’s “hands-off approach to battlefield operations,” contrasting him with Don Rumsfeld:
“That may have contributed to a view among some senior uniformed leaders of Hagel as a lackluster leader. One defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said many in the military saw the Nebraskan as ‘a perfectly acceptable but certainly not exciting’ manager.”
A defense official, giving his boss a little elbow on the way out.
Politico delves into some behind-the-scenes clashing:
“While a senior administration official on Monday praised Hagel’s ‘steady hand’ during his 22 months on the job, Obama and his inner circle never fully integrated Hagel into the decision-making process and did not hide their concerns about him.
“A senior defense official acknowledged to POLITICO that there had been policy differences between Hagel and National Security Adviser Susan Rice, but said no single disagreement had prompted Hagel’s departure.
“‘Did he and Rice agree on everything? No — but that’s normal, that’s healthy. This is not about him vs. Susan Rice,’ the official said. ‘The secretary is not resigning in protest.’”
The president and his outgoing Pentagon man praised each other at the public announcement. That’s the way it goes. The whispering to reporters provided a much different story.

[Toad]

“McCain noted that Hagel’s predecessors as defense secretary — Robert M. Gates and Leon E. Panetta — had both likewise complained in their memoirs about excessive political interference from White House aides.”

Yea. Reflecting back, it almost doesn't matter which side is in the White House, it's almost just a matter of D.C. being D.C. and all the bullshittery that goes with it.