Hagel resignation comes at messy moment for U.S.
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is resigning at a particularly tough time for U.S. foreign and defense policy, with one war ending, another just beginning and the Pentagon struggling with the prospect of deeper budget cuts ahead.
It also raises the prospect of policy shifts as President Barack Obama seeks to sign up his fourth Pentagon chief in six years.
During a White House ceremony Monday after Hagel had submitted his resignation, Obama said he and Hagel agreed it was an “appropriate time for him to complete his service.” Neither the president nor Hagel cited specific reasons. Hagel aides said he had initiated private talks with the president in late October but was not leaving over policy conflicts.
Hagel, 68, never broke through the White House’s notoriously insular national security team. Officials privately denigrated his ability to publicly communicate administration policy and more recently questioned his capacity to oversee military campaigns against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
Hagel is the first high-level member of Obama’s national security team to step down after both a disastrous midterm election for the president’s party and persistent criticism about the administration’s policies in the Middle East and elsewhere.
It’s unclear whether Hagel’s forced resignation signals the start of a broader shake-up of the president’s team.
Obama said Hagel agreed to stay on the job until his successor has been confirmed by the Senate next year.
The timing sets up a potential confirmation fight. Republicans, who are about to take control of the Senate, have been deeply critical of the president’s foreign policy.
With Hagel’s ouster, Obama will be the first president since Harry Truman to have four defense secretaries.
Hagel’s predecessors, Robert Gates and Leon Panetta, complained after leaving the administration about White House micromanagement and political interference in policy decisions.
Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, suggested Obama consider his own role in his administration’s foreign policy struggles rather than seeking another makeover at the Pentagon.
“When the president goes through three secretaries, he should ask, ‘Is it them, or is it me?”’ said McKeon, R-Calif.
