WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is stepping down from President Barack Obama’s Cabinet, senior administration officials said today, following a tenure in which he has struggled to break through the White House’s insular foreign policy team.

Hagel is the first senior Obama adviser to leave the administration following the sweeping losses for Obama’s party in the midterm elections. It also comes as the president’s national security team has been battered by multiple foreign policy crises, including the rise of the Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

A senior defense official said that Hagel submitted his resignation letter to Obama this morning and the president accepted it. Hagel agreed to remain in office until his successor is confirmed by the Senate, the official said.

The official said both Hagel and Obama “determined that it was time for new leadership in the Pentagon,” adding that they had been discussing the matter for weeks.

Obama was to announce Hagel’s resignation today. The president is not expected to nominate a new Pentagon chief today, according to one official.

Hagel is a Republican who served as senator from Nebraska and became a critic of U.S. involvement in Iraq.